Daily # Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume LXXI, Number 15
Los Angeles, California Wednesday, March 2, 1977
‘Easy’ classes harder to find as university fights inflation of grades
By Richard Meese
Staff Writer
Micks — easy classes — just keep getting harder to find as the university tightens the belt around grade inflation a few more notches.
A definite decrease was shown in the number of As and a slight increase in the number of Cs given to students in the 1975-76 academic year compared to grades given in the 1974-75 academic year, the Grade Distribution Trends Report from the Office of Institutional Studies said.
Part of the reason for the decrease was concern over grade inflation asexpressed in a memo from John Marburger, dean of the College of Letters, Art^ and Sciences, to department chairmen throughout the campus.
According to Marburger, the concern over grade inflation was not confined to the university.
“There has been a general tightening up throughout the country,” Marburger said. “I think society is looking for more professionalism, and school systems throughout the country are going back to the basics. This return to fundamental education is in direct contrast to the mid-60s when grades were being called ‘irrelevant’ in the learning process.”
Courses in humanities, performing arts and cinema showed the highest decreases in As.
On the 100 level, humanities gave out 7% fewer As from fall ’75 to spring ’76. Performing arts gave out 9% fewer As during the same period of time and cinema
was even less generous, giving out 17% fewer As, the report showed.
Nearly all of the departments showed a decrease or a stabilization in the percentages of As given out. Exceptionstothis rule were architecture and fine arts, which showed 10 and 15% increases respectively.
The greatest decrease of As came at the 100 level. Freshman English, for example, showed a 7% decrease in the number of As given out, according to the report.
“Many ofthe freshman English courses are taught by TAs,” Marburger said. “The structure they worked under formerly made it easy for them to give out higher grades. Now that we have changed the structure, I think they have responded well.”
The 200-level courses remained the same in grade distribution with decreases in As being reported in mathematics and natural science. A slight increase was seen in the business school and philosophy department.
On the 300 level, dramatic decreases were shown by the report in the journalism department and in comparative literature courses.
Little university-wide change was seen in the 400- and 500-level courses.
“It’s really hard to say what the change means,”, said Veronica Tincher of the Office of Institutional Studies. “All we can actually say is that there has been a change.”
Marburger felt the changes
did hold some significance.
“I am generally happy with the report. I think w'e are comparable to schools like Berkeley and Stanford.”
The present level of 34% As and 24% Cs on the 100 level is still a far cry from the 1969 figures that showed 25% As and 32% Cs, but Marburger is not concerned.
“Grading is such a relative thing,” he said. “As long as we keep with the rest of the nation, we’re doing fine.”
Electrical explosion disrupts area power
By Pat McKean
Staff Writer
An explosion in an electrical power-distribution tap box under University Avenue blew a 50-pound manhole cover 10 feet into the air Tuesday morning and caused power shortages in several buildings.
“It is very fortunate nobody was walking in the immediate area of the manhole cover,” a Campus Security officer said just moments after the blast. “It could have killed someone.”
Although no injuries were reported, a group of buildings north of 34th Street and east of Hoover Boulevard were without power late into the afternoon. It was not certain when the power would be restored, said Arnold Shafer, executive director of University Facilities. Half an hour after the explosion, Shafer called the situation an extreme emergency.
The blast occurred at 10:10 a.m. between Founders Hall and Waite Phillips Hall. Several Campus Security officers and three fire engines from the Los Angeles Fire Department responded.
Many buildings suffered a split-second loss of power while another group was without power until 12:30 p.m. The second group of buildings was finally placed on an alternate power source. Shafer said. He could not estimate a monetary value of the damage.
Buildings that still were without power in the late afternoon included Bruce Hall, the School of Education Library, the Science building and some Division of Cinema structures.
The group of buildings north of Exposition Boulevard and east of University Avenue suffered a power loss for nearly two-and-a-half hours. Those buildings included the Law Center, the School of Social Work. Bridge Hall and Hoffman Hall.
Most classes in those buildings went on as scheduled if there was adequate light from windows, but some classes had to be cancelled or moved to another location. Telephones remained working, although their lights and bells were not always functioning. Shafer’s office received no reports of people trapped in elevators, but many
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Enrollment seen as lesser budget factor
The university is comingto the point where it can no longer increase enrollment regularly and balance its budget by that increase, said J. Jerry Wiley, chairman of the Long-Range Fiscal Planning Commission.
The commission, meeting Tuesday for the first time in 11 months, discussed a variety of topics concerning the university’s future. It focused on the improvement and expansion ofthe university balanced with the increasing inflationary factor and rising labor costs in a competitive market.
“We have seen the example of Stanford, which foresaw the decrease in enrollment expansion and moved itself over a period to its present steady-state management,” said John Curry, assistant to the executive vice-president and a member of the commission.
“We should endeavor to establish a predictability of tuition increases. Again we have the example of Stanford, which decided a few years ago to raise tuition annually by an amount of the rise in the Consumer Price Index plus 4.2%, and thus rose by over 10%. At the same time they made some severe budget cuts of at least $16 million.
“They assessed the long-range educational objectives, growth rate and elasticity of the market, manipulated the internal cost index, and created a
model with more importance added to tuition revenues.
“Here at the university, we must make these same assessments. . .Stanford found their enrollment market to be inelastic, while ours may fluctuate with higher tuition rates,” Gurry said.
The commission also discussed the academic objectives of the university, which could range from emphasis of the research faculty to a similar emphasis on a teaching faculty. This w’as tied with the faculty requests for pay raises.
“The faculty says that they ought to be paid at a certain higher level," Wiley said. “They should be obliged to show that the academic and educational achievement is at that level. Accordingly, we should have measurable academic objectives. Many will ask, ‘Why aren't we getting what Harvard’s faculty make?’ and the answer to that would be, ‘are we accomplishing what they are at Harvard’?”
The commission was charged in late 1975. before Wiley’s chairmanship, with formulation of a university-wide contingency plan for fiscal emergencies, endowment objectives for all elements of the university, a university-wide surplus funds contingency model and long-range policies for compensation, tuition and fees.
ACTION, PLEASE — An actress gone coed tantalizes the aquatic life of the Alumni Park fountain in Universal Pictures' television pilot Off the Wall. Actor Sandy Heiberg, playing the frogman, braved gusty winds and trucked-in water, which created the makeshift fountain, to clamber after his prey yesterday. DT photos by Scott Footlik.