P/D/F Reform Passes Faculty Vote; to be Enacted Fall 2010

The Princeton Faculty voted late Monday afternoon to approve substantial reforms to the P/D/F policy.Ben Lund '10, the USG Academics Chair, called the reform "a huge win for the student body." Lund and Helen Chen '10 wrote the new policy and then presented it last spring to the USG Senate and Deans Malkiel (Dean of the College) and Quimby (Deputy Dean of the College. Lund and Chen brought the reform to the Committee on Course of Study and the Committee on Examinations and Standing, both of which approved the measure. The faculty was the final group that needed to approve the reform before it could be put in place.So what does the reform actually change? Under the old policy, students could choose to Pass/D/Fail a class until the beginning of the fifth week of the semester. You could rescind the P/D/F later in the semester and take the course for a grade, but the course still counted as a P/D/F (students are allowed to P/D/F four courses over their Princeton career).With the new policy, students don't elect to P/D/F a course until the seventh week of class, and have until the ninth week to decide. That means that everyone is technically taking the course for a grade for the first seven weeks, even if they plan on ultimately P/D/Fing. Because you can choose to P/D/F a course through the ninth week of the semester, you will no longer be able to rescind the P/D/F option once you elect to do it."The USG's proposed PDF policy was extremely popular," said Connor Diemand-Yauman '10 in an email to The Ink. "I am extremely pleased with the outcome of the faculty vote and proud of this administration for pushing through the first major reform in grading policy in over a decade."Analysis after the jump!It seems like a great deal for students - instead of realizing eight weeks into the semester you're getting an "A" in AST 203 and having to burn your P/D/F, you just never elect to P/D/F in the first place. Rather than trying to gauge the difficulty of a course from online reviews and friends' advice (I'm looking at you, John Monagle '12 -- Bridges is not a cake-walk), you can actually try the class for a couple months and see for yourself.The reform also seems like a win for the teachers, many of whom refuse to offer a P/D/F option for fear of students slacking off. Sure, there will continue to be people who know from day 1 they are P/D/Fing and probably won't be affected by the reform. But there will be some kids who realize they're actually doing pretty well, and maybe they'll stick it out and take the course for a grade (especially considering cases where students are taking pretty easy courses P/D/F).Lund said he thinks the faculty will benefit from the reform."More students will stay engaged in their courses rather than adopting the mindset that they are P/D/Fing and, therefore, no longer invested in the course," said Lund.Ultimately, the reform can't possibly be worse than the system already in place, and it can only help. And P/D/F policy is something that affects the vast majority of Princeton students. Data from the class of 2009 shows that over 96 percent of students P/D/F'ed at least one course, and more than half P/D/F'ed three or four. The reform won't go into place until next fall, so enjoy one final semester of pass/fail roulette.(image source: princeton.edu)