Beginning in the fall 2011 semester, undergraduates will be able to take certain University-required courses pass/fail, according to Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe. The proposal, which was approved at the March 10 faculty meeting, will allow students to take classes that satisfy non-Western, quantitative reasoning and school distribution requirements to cover their final grade with a P if so desired. According to the motion approved at the March 10 faculty meeting, students will not be able to fulfill the oral communication and writing intensive requirements. They also will not be able to fulfill the University Writing Seminar or the final semester of the language requirement with a class whose grade is covered with a P under the new pass/fail program.

In an interview with the Justice, Jaffe said that many students have recently voiced their desire to change the current policy and to allow a university requirement to be taken pass/fail. According to Jaffe, many faculty members felt that it would encourage students to be more exploratory and take bigger risks in terms of what classes they chose, particularly for their distribution requirements. There was also some concern on the part of faculty members that students may not work as hard in a required class taken on a pass/fail basis.

"I think there is an underlying tension in that, for some students, it's definitely true that pass/fail allows them to stretch themselves and allows them to take risks that they would not otherwise take," said Jaffe.

Jaffe continued to say, "I think some faculty were concerned that it sends the signal that we don't take the requirements seriously if you can satisfy them taking a course pass/fail."

Ultimately, the majority of faculty members were convinced that most students are participating seriously in the classes that they take pass/fail. Thus, it was a reasonable compromise to allow students to take one required class per semester on a pass/fail basis, according to Jaffe.

"The vast majority of faculty felt that, given the theory of the pass/fail system that we have here, which is that students are using it to explore, [students] are still working for good grades in most cases," said Jaffe. He added, however, that there was a serious debate on the issue, and that it did not pass unanimously. Usman Hameedi '12, junior representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that he is excited about what these policy changes will bring to the Brandeis community.

"I think it will encourage Brandeis students to explore disciplines that they normally would shy away from. Ultimately, a liberal arts education should enable one to appreciate knowledge whether or not it coincides with an individual's desired concentration." wrote Hameedi.

Hameedi explained that this particular set of proposals has been debated over since spring 2010, and it is only now that they are finally being voted on. According to an April 25, 2010 Justice article, the Faculty Senate originally approved the proposal by the Student Union to allow one university-required course to be taken pass/fail, but a vote on the issue was postponed until this year due to concerns about its implementation. Although the UCC has considered pass/fail issues in the past, there has been no other recent legislation, according to Hameedi.

Hameedi, who began serving on the UCC in spring 2010, stated that the UCC's work on this proposal is now essentially done, and they are awaiting a faculty vote on a second part of the motion. Currently, students are required only to receive a D in a class taken pass/fail to enable them to cover the grade with a P. The second part of the motion proposes that the minimum grade be raised from a D to a C- for all classes taken pass/fail. This proposal will be voted on at the next faculty meeting on April 14, and Hameedi believes that it is very likely to pass.

Rejected at the latest faculty meeting was a proposal to give professors the knowledge of which students are taking a class pass/fail. According to Jaffe, many faculty members felt that this might help alleviate some of the concerns a professor might have when he or she notices a student who is performing at a low level in a class, as poor grades could simply be attributed to a poor effort when a student is taking a class pass/fail. After dialogue between faculty members and the UCC however, it was decided that the rules would not be changed because the vast majority of students at Brandeis are still working to receive good grades in classes they are taking pass/fail.


-Fiona Lockyer contributed reporting.