Graduation honors change passes 34-33

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by Brooke Wooten

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The general faculty voted Tuesday to increase the distribution of graduation honors from 20 percent to 30 percent of the senior class.

The proposal was the result of a student body petition presented by the Student Association on Feb. 6. Chemical Engineering Professor Constantine Armeniades presented the proposal to the faculty along with research comparing the number of honors awarded by Rice with other comparable academic institutions.

Rice's percentage of honors recipients now equals that of Yale University. Harvard and Princeton Universities remain leaders in total honors conferred with 85 and 45 percent honors awarded, respectively. Handouts presenting such statistics were distributed prior to the meeting and served as the primary support for the proposal.

"The universities that are more generous than Rice are private universities considered to be academically comparable to Rice," Armeniades said.

Several faculty members addressed the increasing competition in admissions with each new class. The increase in SAT scores and competitiveness of Rice since the 1970s, when the previous percentage was adopted, was mentioned and debated.

"We have a much better student body now," English Professor Jane Chance said.

The increased academic standards of the Rice student body served as another point of debate. The faculty were also urged to seriously consider the fact that the petition was presented by Rice students.

Professor Steven Zeff of the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Administration was the primary voice against the proposal. He said that it was the "stinginess" of Rice in awarding honors that makes it exceptional as an institution of higher learning.

"With 30 percent receiving honors, it loses a certain amount of significance," Zeff said during the meeting.

"Twenty percent is enough. And I think honors for virtually one third of the student body is not enough of a distinction," Zeff said.

Others voiced similar concern that increasing the percentage would cheapen the honor for students. It was debated whether the increase would enable the university to recognize students outstanding among the Rice student body, instead of among a national trend.

Zeff also said that the current percentage gives semester incentives for academic performance. He argued that graduation honors do not make much difference in terms of entering graduate schools or finding jobs due to the lateness in the school year of honor announcements.

"Most students do not think about graduation honors until they are seniors, that is except for the SA," Zeff said during the meeting.

Following 25 minutes of debate with only a minority of the faculty present, the question was unanimously called, and a vote was subsequently taken. The proposal passed narrowly with 34 in favor and 33 opposed.

"The faculty meeting constituted only a small part of the faculty. It does not represent all the opinions of the faculty," Armeniades said.

"Since I support the petition, I am pleased that it passed, even if only by a small margin."

Several members of the faculty were surprised by the narrow margin of the vote. "I was very surprised at how close the vote was. I'm glad the matter is finally decided," Zeff said after the meeting.

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