Grade Deflation is Dead

 At exactly 5:00 PM, the Princeton faculty voted to eliminate the restrictive grading policy, commonly known as grade deflation.The policy, first implemented in 2005, restricted academic departments to giving out a maximum of 35% A- range grades in their classes. The policy was often construed to mean a cap of 35% of A grades per class, leading to anger and consternation among students.The faculty meeting in the half-filled Faculty Room of Nassau Hall lasted for just over half an hour, with President Eisgruber presiding over the proceedings. No faculty member voiced opposition to the elimination of the policy, although some were concerned that the new policy could potentially re-lead to inflation in grading. It was approved almost unanimously, with only a handful of dissenting votes.The new policy that will be taking its place is outlined in the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Policies Regarding Assessment and Grading, which can be found here. The recommendations were released in early August, endorsed by President Eisgruber and sent to a faculty subcommittee for review, before they landed before the whole faculty for a vote today.The faculty also voted to dissolve the Committee on Grading, a faculty committee that had the focus of setting policies to assist in the "limiting [of] grade inflation."Thanks to photographs by Zhan Okuda-Lim '15, an outline and copies of the policy changes are below.