n I am a senior at Boston University and a member of the Class of 2004. I am writing because BU has once again pulled a fast one on its students and hurt a significant number of them.
On Dec. 5, 2002, BU amended its Latin honors policy. The school did not consult any alumni before making the decision or notify any graduating seniors of the Class of 2004 until a year later via email in December 2003. The policy states that for Summa Cum Laude, you need to be in the top 5 percent of the class, Magna Cum Laude top 20 percent and Cum Laude top 30 percent. The policy was first put in writing in the 2003-04 Undergraduate Student Bulletin for the Class of 2007.
The requirements when the Class of 2004 entered BU as outlined by the Undergraduate Programs Student Bulletin, which is only distributed in bulk to the new freshman class were as follows: Summa Cum Laude, a grade point average of 3.7 and work with distinction; Magna Cum Laude, a GPA of 3.5; and Cum Laude, a GPA of 3.2. The new policy has stripped away academic honors from hundreds of people. The school will not allow the Class of 2004 to graduate with the requirements outlined in their bulletin. Rather, we have to adhere to the new ones.
The issue is not whether or not the policy is bad, but whether or not it should apply to the Class of 2004 because the requirements were only put into the latest student bulletin.
A contract has been broken. As a result, students and parents have been sending in letters and placing phone calls. The school has largely ignored our requests to allow us to graduate with the standards we started with. However, over the last 3.5 years we have been expected to follow all the requirements as outlined by our 2000-01 Student Bulletin. Furthermore, Boston University has not felt the need to publicly acknowledge and adequately inform its alumni and students about this major decision by the Board of Trustees and administrators. As for this change, it took place well over a year before graduating seniors and faculty were officially notified. Parents were not notified of the change at all.
As a result, an entire senior class has been left with a sour taste in its mouth toward its soon-to-be alma mater. Because of this, BU will most likely never receive a penny in alumni donations from a significant portion of the Class of 2004. Tuition will continue to rise in order to make up for the lack of alumni donations and a diminishing endowment.
In one swoop, BU has alienated an entire class. BU has set a terrible precedent regarding the involvement of the BU community in a decision that has affected an entire student body. This policy of grade deflation has hurt not only the Class of 2004 but also the entire school and will undoubtedly affect future generations of BU students. To this day, BU has not offered any bona fide de facto evidence that BU’s grades or honors bestowments are higher than education-industry norms. Clearly there is no evidence to support BU’s claims. The school is simply punishing our class and its students.
Joseph L. Dimino
CAS ’04
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