Department chairs want Portal grade distribution info nixed
A group of department chairs voted Wednesday to approve a resolution to remove grade distribution information from the Central Michigan University Portal.
Grade distribution allows students to view the grades professors awarded students in past semesters.
The resolution was voted on by approximately 15 members of the Council of Chairs with one dissenting vote, said Hajime Otani, department psychology chairman.
“(The council) agreed that posting of this information is not very helpful to what we want to do,” he said. “We want students to look at class descriptions and select based on what they need to learn, not on how many ‘A’s and ‘E’s are given out.”
Students can access grades from spring 2009 by logging into CMU Portal and clicking “Grade Distribution Reports for Spring 2009” under “Academics.”
The resolution made by the Council of Chairs provided four points.
“First, the practice is not consistent with raising or maintaining academic standards, because there is potential for shopping around for easy classes,” Otani said.
The council is concerned about the danger of grade inflation, the impression that classes are consumer goods and increased pressure on professors to make their classes easier. Finally, the faculty was not consulted when grade distribution was made available, he said.
Approval of the resolution means the council will send a letter to Interim Provost Gary Shapiro and Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe, Otani said.
Roscoe said he has not reviewed the letter.
“The provost and I will talk about this and probably try to gather some data, at which point we will have a position,” he said.
Some members of the council believe the necessary information is already available.
“It is useful for students to have information about classes before they enroll,” said Mary Senter, professor of sociology, anthropology and social work. “That is why the master course syllabi are available to students and why descriptions of courses are in the Bulletin.”
Continued support
Interim journalism department chairman Tim Boudreau voted against the resolution.
“I support the notion of a free flow of information. It would be a bit hypocritical of me to restrict the flow of this information,” said Boudreau, who teaches JRN 404: Law of Mass Communication. “It won’t prevent students from accessing this information because it’s already available elsewhere.”
The Student Government Association, who made grade distribution available on the Portal, remains in support of keeping it online. Grade distribution also can be found on CDs the Charles V. Park Library.
“We’re increasing transparency and providing students with more information for their academic experience,” said SGA Vice President Brittany Mouzourakis.
Having the information available online provides a better alternative to RateMyProfessor.com, as the site is inherently biased because it generally attracts outliers, the Garden City senior said.
“We want to provide the most information possible,” she said.
