The Curriculum Committee decided Monday to indefinitely table a proposal to move up the P/NC deadline. The proposal, which the committee considered earlier this semester, would change the P/NC deadline to coincide with the add deadline.

According to Commissioner of Academic Affairs Richard Sun ’01, the proposal first arose as a side issue to matters of faculty feedback. Students had complained about not receiving any graded work from their professors by the P/NC deadline, making it difficult to make an informed decision as to whether or not to P/NC a given class.

While considering what to do about this problem, the discussion turned to the purpose of the P/NC option, and Curriculum Committee Chair Judd Emerick proposed that the deadline be moved up.

According to Sun, the faculty members of the committee agreed that the purpose of the option was to allow for academic exploration, not to protect GPAs. Some committee members felt that the P/NC option was leading to grade inflation, a position with which some student members of the committee disagreed.

"I agree that grade inflation is a problem, but this is not the way to solve it," Sun stated.

In an informal straw vote, the Curriculum Committee initially agreed to make a recommendation to the faculty endorsing the proposal. The committee reconsidered this position after Registrar Margaret Adorno presented data to show that although grade inflation has increased steadily in recent years, the number of P/NCs have not. In fact, according to Adorno, a relatively small number of classes are taken on a P/NC basis each semester.

Based on this information, the Curriculum Committee moved to indefinitely table the motion, meaning that it will not be presented to the faculty unless the Curriculum Committee decides to revisit the issue at some later date.