On the Campus In the News

Princeton’s new CAPITAL CAMPAIGN, which kicks off in November, will seek to raise $1.75 billion by Reunions 2012, officials said last month. Robert Murley ’72, campaign co-chairman, said that more than $500 million has been promised during the “quiet phase” of the campaign. In the Ivy League, Columbia and Cornell each have $4 billion campaigns under way; Yale is seeking $3 billion, Brown $1.4 billion, and Dartmouth $1.3 billion. An analysis of the University’s needs and what donors can be expected to give determined Princeton’s goal, Murley said.

Three years into the University’s new GRADING POLICY, the faculty has “demonstrated conclusively” that a concerted effort can lower inflated grades, according to the Faculty Committee on Grading. In the three academic years from 2004–07, 40.6 percent of course grades were A’s, compared to 47 percent in 2001–04. In April 2004 the faculty approved “grading expectations” that A’s should account for less than 35 percent of the grades in undergraduate coursework and less than 55 percent in junior and senior independent work. In comparing the three-year averages, the committee reported that all but three departments had made “significant” progress, and those three — all in the natural sciences — already had been grading in line with the policy. Some departments still need to grade more rigorously, the committee said. Rob Biederman ’08, president of the Undergraduate Student Government, said that while grade deflation has had some positive effects, skepticism continues among students. “It remains a monumental task to constantly reinforce the now-substantial difference between a Harvard and a Princeton GPA,” he said.