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Volume XCI Number 4	University of Southern California	Thursday, September 3, 1981
University to employ plus-minus grading system
Professor participation is voluntary; campus reaction varies
By Wendell Mobley
Staff Writer
Beginning this fail, university instructors will have the option of using a new grading system based on pluses and minuses.
The designations will appear on all student transcripts and will add or subtract 0.3 of a grade point to the grade point received in a class.
For example, if a student receives a B plus, the grade point will be 3.3. Grades of A plus, F plus, and F minus will not be used in computing averages.
Not everyone seems satisfied with the choice in grading. “It’s one more step to urge people to compete against each other -- for the wrong reasons,” said Evan Hundley, a graduate student studying urban planning and public administration."The plus and minus will come down to the final week of classes. If you talk and speak up in class, you're going to get the higher grade. An A is an A,” Hundley said. “Are they (the instructors) going to spell it out on the syllabus — what’s a B minus or a C plus?”
Another student saw advantages of both sides.“I think it’s (the new grading system) fair,” said Quynhthu Thai, a freshman studying biology. “Pluses and minuses will determine whether you’re a little better than the rest,” Thai said. "On the other hand, pluses and minuses are not needed. When you obtain a level of quality, you shouldn’t be penalized if you’re a little off,” she explained.
Lori Putnam, administrative assistant to the registrar, said the university did not make such an option available earlier because the machines that processed the grades were not capable of making the change. She said the machines could not transfer the grades from a grade sheet to a tape. The new machines the university now operates handle the plus and minus designations, Putnam said.
The Academic Standards Commission said, in a memorandum, the faculty did not have to use the designations. “They (the designations) may be used in the large majority of courses where they seem appropriate in distinguishing the quality of work performed,” the memo stated.
“I've always been in favor (of the designations) because ... it gives a clearer picture of performance,” said Gerald A. Larue, a professor of religion.
Cinema course discrepancy causes large financial loss
By Ken Alexander
Assistant City Editor
Cinema 190, an introduction to film class, has always been a popular course, usually filling its allocated 680 spaces very easily. This semester, however, only 548 students were enrolled as the first class sessions met, causing concern among staff members in the Department of Cinema /Television.
Human error caused the class meeting times listed in the Schedule of Classes, published in the first week of May, to read Tuesday and Thursday instead of Tuesday and Wednesday.
The course, taught by Marsha Kinder, is an introductory level class that meets general education requirements for arts and humanities. The class meets once a week for four hours, encompassing a lecture and a movie screening. Students must also enroll in one discussion section a week.
Between the time the cinema department sent the Letters, Arts and Sciences office its-listings for class times and the University Publications Office received the class listings, someone mistook a Wednesday for a Thursday. As a result, the school finds itself $100,000 poorer.
“We’re facing a very crazy mess,” said Herb Farmer, an associate director of Cinema / T elevision.
The figure of $100,000 comes from the anticipated revenue generated by 680 students paying $840 in tuition plus a $25 class fee. That would have generated $588,200. Of that figure, Cinema would have received $17,000 from the class fee, plus 90 to 95 percent of the tuition dollars, or at least $520,000.
But because only 208 students registered for the Wednesday class session, at least $100,000 anticipated by the department will be lost.
The master copy the cinema department sent to the LAS college shows the class meeting on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. However, the copy University Publications has on file shows Tuesday and Thursday. An intermediate person, who retyped the master list from the film school, probably made the mistake, the associate director said.
“This happens pretty regularly,” Farmer said, adding that new procedures are being planned.
A spokesman for the Registrar’s Office said the department involved should notify them if a mistake appears in the Schedule of Classes.
Cinema notified the Registrar in May, and the correction was noted. It is not clear who was then responsible for notifying students who preregistered for the Thursday class of the change to Wednesday.
The Registrar’s Office asserted that the department involved should alert students. But the film school apparently did not do so.
Meanwhile, the department is considering what to do about the anticipated loss. Farmer, who plans the budget for the division of Cinema/Television, said they try to be conservative when anticipating revenue and assessing income and expenditures. Next week the department will reassess its budget. Farmer hopes those students who dropped Cinema 190 because of the Class Schedule error will choose other cinema classes.
Students enrolled in the Tuesday sessions also had some problems. The four Tuesday morning discussion groups were cancelled.
Larue said he believes that a student who receives a “strong B” deserves a B plus instead of a B. “Ultimately, an A is an A but some students deserve recognition to get awarded with a plus,” Larue said.
Sumako Kimizuka, a professor in the East Asian Languages Department, said she looks forward to working with the new grading system. “Language is not just a matter of only one or two points. How can a 91 percent be better than a 89 (percent)?” she asked. Kimizuka said she can now give a grade that more accurately depicts a student’s performance. “I think students will like it — a B plus is better than a B," she said
Photo by Junji Yasuda
FIRST WEEK FESTIVITIES - A jazz quartet including a keyboardist a drummer, a bass guitarist and a horn player, entertained at the E.F. Hutton Park on campus yesterday. Their program included original compositions and Bill Withers numbers.
Seminar given at ATO fraternity
Health department offers tidy tips
By Suzette Hein
Staff Writer
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services has decided to use an educational ploy to improve health conditions in university fraternities instead of repeated inspections.
Arbary Robinson and Robert S. Hammond, senior public health sanitarians, came to the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity Wednesday to teach the fundamentals of health and safety and to stress the importance of preventive measures.
The seminar by Robinson and Hammond was not expressly directed at fraternity members, as many dorms and apartments in the area also need to upgrade their health standards. “We’ll quarantine the whole area,” commented the health and safety officals
when informed of community health conditions.
Students do not realize the importance of precautionary measures to avert the inception or spread of micro-organisms and communicable diseases, stressed Robinson, pointing out the necessity to: 1) clean dishes soon after eating and 2) open kitchens shared by a large number of people only during certain hours. Both these measures alleviate the buildup of any dirt or food particles which attract flies, pests and rodents.
To reinforce the need for cleanliness in the minds of those present, Hammond aired a narrative film titled An Outbreak of Salmonella Infection. The film opened by showing a few officers in an Army base who are later sickened from ingesting food contaminated
with salmonella organisms. Graphic visual effects abound in a scene depicting the uncontrollable vomiting of the ailing men.
The highlight of the film was the informative sequence. The narrator briskly announced, “This is detergent. This is hot water. This is a brush. And these are hands. Use them together to get rid of salmonella organisms.”
Other tips were also offered to avoid germs.
—	Never keep food between 45 degrees (refrigerated foods) and 140 degrees (low burner heat), as these are within the temperatures in which bacteria thrive.
—	Use screens, trash can linings and covers to avoid congregations of flies.
—	Seal or fill in cracks or crevices where cockroaches and
(Continued on page 15)