Boston University will delay fully implementing changes to the school’s Latin honors program, developed in 2002, and instead combine the old and new systems for this year, BU officials announced Tuesday.
President ad interim Aram Chobanian said Tuesday night that university officials made the change because he realized students did not know as much about the changes as they should have.
“The decision was made to defer the honors because it was brought to my attention the fact that the communication with students had not been as open and as appropriate as I had originally thought,” he said.
The old system gave students honors based on grade point average cut-offs determined by each school every year – for example, 3.2 for cum laude, 3.5 for summa cum laude and 3.8 for magna cum laude. The new system, which university officials had planned to start for the Class of 2004, would have given honors based on a student’s rank in his or her class – the top 5 percent would have received magna cum laude, the next 10 percent summa cum laude and the next 15 percent cum laude.
Because of the decision announced Tuesday, students who would have received honors under either of the systems will graduate with the honors on May 16. The university will fully implement the new system for the Class of 2005, officials said.
While BU officials did not say how many more students would receive honors because of the change, a statement said, “The actual number of students eligible for honors under the previous system and who would not have received honors under the new system was small, but the University Council expressed concern that they not be excluded.”
The University Council voted unanimously to make the change.
The council meets two times a year “to consider and recommend action on any matter that is of common concern to faculty and administrators and that affects two or more schools and colleges of the university,” according to a statement on the provost’s website. The council has about 50 members, according to BU spokesman Colin Riley.
Faculty Council Chairman Herbert Voigt, who attended the University Council meeting and said he was pleased with the results, said the issue of deferring the new system came up within the last month. He said Provost Dennis Berkey called him Tuesday morning to tell him that he was “ready to support delaying it for a year.”
“I think the central administration and Faculty Council have showed some considerable empathy for these students, some of these who have been expecting honors since they were freshmen,” he said. “I am pleased the University Council took this issue so seriously and acted so rapidly.”
BU spokesman Colin Riley said the changes were made because of “a shared concern by the provost, the president and Faculty Council representatives that the change had not been adequately communicated to the graduating seniors.”
Students who will now receive honors but would not have before the decision came down will still have honors written on their diplomas because the certificates have not yet been printed, according to Voigt.
Students who would receive honors higher than they were originally supposed to because of the changes will most likely receive the higher award, although “we are looking into each of the situations as individuals,” Chobanian said.
Despite helping bring up the idea of delaying the new system, Voigt said he is still glad the changes will be made next year.
“I am in full agreement with the university to change the standards for the Latin honors,” he said. “We are one of many universities who are changing our policies.”
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