Administration debates Latin honors system

Last semester, members of the Academic Committee of the Student Government Association (SGA) approached the deans of the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences (KSAS) and the Whiting School of Engineering (WSE) regarding the installation of a Latin honors system at Hopkins.

Latin honors are used to distinguish the highest-achieving students in an academic institution. Most often, there are three levels: cum laude (with honor), magna cum laude (with great honor) and summa cum laude (with highest honor).

Currently, there are no Latin honors at Hopkins, but rather “General Honors” are awarded to any student with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.50 or higher, which encompasses roughly half of each graduating class — the average GPA at Hopkins is a 3.33. In addition, many departments offer “Departmental Honors,” which are determined by a student’s cumulative GPA within the department as well as by a senior thesis project. However, no special honors exist beyond these.

Each college or university has its own way of defining the levels of Latin honors; for example, Cornell University (where the average GPA is 3.36) defines cum laude as any student with a GPA between 3.479 and 3.50, magna cum laude as between 3.75 and 3.99 and summa cum laude as a 4.0.

On the other hand, Harvard University — with an average GPA of 3.53 — breaks up the three levels in accordance with percentage rankings according to GPA: cum laude encompasses the top 50 percent of the graduating class, magna cum laude includes the top 20 percent and summa cum laude consists of the top five percent.

If the plan to move to Latin honors at Hopkins is adopted, the administration intends to remove General Honors completely and categorize Latin honors by percentage. As of now, the tentative rankings stand at 25 percent for cum laude, 15 percent for magna cum laude and 5 percent for summa cum laude.

“The proposal [percentages] for. . .summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude are based on examining practices at other comparable universities and in response to the SGA desire that Latin honors convey distinction,” WSE Vice Dean for Education Edward Scheinerman wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

Compared to other academic institutions of the same tier, the list of self-reported average GPAs at Hopkins is towards the bottom.

“The hope was that with Latin Honors, we could present GPAs as a number on a 4.0 scale and then follow up with ‘But this means I am in the top 10 percent of my class.’ Our intentions were always to have Latin Honors help contextualize Hopkins grades and thereby help the students,” SGA Academic Affairs Committee Chair Andrew Griswold wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

SGA Academic Affairs Committee member Tiffany Yang, however, is among those in the student body who feel that these numbers are too restrictive.

“The Latin honors system may contextualize the Honor Award based on name; however, cum laude will be harder to get at Hopkins than it will be compared to other universities such as Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and Cornell. These other universities have higher average GPAs and broader Latin honor ranges,” Yang said.

Hopkins is a member of the Consortium of Financing Higher Education (COFHE), a group of 31 top-tier private liberal arts colleges and universities.

Much of the pressure to adopt Latin honors comes from the fact that 75 percent of the COFHE schools already use this system.

“[This] means they carry an extra benefit of being more recognizable than general university honors,” Griswold wrote.

The SGA Academic Affairs Committee’s original proposal to the Curriculum Committee, which was shared with The News-Letter, included two propositions for the three tiers: Option 1 categorized the levels by percentage rank, whereas Option 2 defined them by numerical GPA. Both options provided for a significantly more inclusive group of students than the 25-15-5 percentages will allow.

Option 1 proposed that cum laude, the lowest tier, begin with the top 40 percent of the graduating class. The Academic Affairs Committee felt confident that this drop from 50 percent would not cause a significant increase in competition, however.

“Because the exact GPA needed for Latin honors is unknown, there is no magic number to stress over senior year,” the proposal reads. Furthermore, the proposal recommends that Hopkins not publish GPA cutoffs after graduation should it adopt this method.

Option 2 held the current 3.50 GPA cutoff for General Honors as the benchmark for cum laude. The Academic Affairs Committee did not seem as enthusiastic about this choice, citing grading inequality amongst institutions as a concern.

“These suggested GPA cutoffs are based on those used to determine Latin Honors at other COFHE schools. This system does not help put Hopkins’ GPAs into context compared to other peer institutions — it simply reinforces the idea that numeric GPAs are equivalent across institutions,” the proposal reads.

As of last Wednesday, both the KSAS and WSE Curriculum Committees approved the change. Both Curriculum Committees are comprised of faculty as well as students.

“The Krieger School Curricular Committee was divided about the desirability of moving to Latin honors. Some members liked the idea as rewarding exceptional academic evidence, while others saw it as a needless break with tradition that will encourage grade grubbing,” KSAS Vice Dean Steven David wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

Now, Scheinerman and David will forward the proposal along to the Homewood Academic Council. If it is approved here, a plan to phase the system in will be developed. Scheinerman elaborated that there are a few ideas in the making, but nothing is definite as of yet.

“One thing we considered was the history of our own system of ‘university honors.’ We looked at the percentage of the student body that received this distinction over several years,” Scheinerman wrote.

About 40 years ago, General Honors were only awarded to the top 20 percent of the graduating class. In 1990, this standard was amended to encompass all students with a 3.5 GPA or higher, which is the current method.

The percentage of students who meet this criteria has increased steadily over the years from 30 percent in 2000 to almost half now.

“In other words, the meaning and value of ‘university honors’ has degraded over time,” Schienerman wrote.

Yang, once again, disagreed that this proposal would be an improvement.

“While this system would supposedly increase recognition for students, the removal of General Honors would still remove a quarter of the graduating class from their current honors,” Yang said.

“This system will undermine the original goal of leveling the playing field with Hopkins students and those of other universities. Instead of increasing recognition for well-deserving students, this plan will strip hard-working students of honors.”

Griswold advocated for adopting a Latin honors system, if not in the currently proposed form.

“Personally, I think implementing the three-tiered Latin honors system would serve the students by contextualizing academic performance,” Griswold wrote.

“Furthermore, this system would be better (and probably more inclusive) than simply reducing the number of students receiving general university honors back to its 1973 level. I would like Latin Honors to be more inclusive than the suggested. . .cutoffs for summa cum laude, magnum cum laude and cum laude. Unfortunately, that decision is not the students’, SGA’s or even the Curriculum Committee’s; ultimately the decision of what Hopkins will consider ‘honors’ is solely the Academic Council’s choice. . .It is important to note that everyone agreed that some mechanism should be in place so that any change will not affect current students,” he wrote.

Students of all years around campus have expressed varied opinions regarding the proposed changes.

“I think Latin honors are good because it is important give recognition to students who have worked especially hard at such a prestigious university,” freshman Katie Rubery said.

Others were more concerned.

“We go to a school that is famous for grade deflation. Cutting 25 percent of the students who get honors is not doing a good job of putting Hopkins grades into perspective,” freshman Connor Welsh said.

At this point in the process, it all comes down to the consideration of the Academic Council, which is comprised of seven Ex Officio members (including President Ronald J. Daniels and both the WSE and KSAS deans) as well as 12 elected members, all current professors.

The Academic Council will have the final say on the particulars of the system, including the percentages for each distinction.

“Hopkins is known for its innovation and trailblazing attitudes,” Yang said.

“We firmly believe that the student body and the administration should build its own unique system instead of conforming to the Latin honors protocol of other institutions.”