Three years after Harvard drew intense public scrutiny for grade inflation, Princeton is considering an unprecedented proposal, announced Wednesday, that would cap the number of A-range grades its faculty award.

The measure—to be voted on by professors at an April 26 meeting—calls for departments to ensure that A-pluses, A’s and A-minuses comprise less than 35 percent of total grades in undergraduate courses.

Last academic year, about 47 percent of grades awarded by Princeton were in the A-range. And a Princeton study found that in recent years, A-range grades represented 44 to 55 percent of grades given at 11 elite colleges—the Ivy League schools, Stanford University, MIT and the University of Chicago.

Harvard has seen its own share of controversy over grade inflation. After a series of articles published in the Boston Globe in 2001 revealing that an overwhelming number of College students graduate with honors, University President Lawrence H. Summers committed to addressing the problem.

But a report from Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 this past February revealed that the number of A-range grades given actually increased last academic year, from 46.4 percent to 47.8 percent.

“The data show that the mean grade in undergraduate courses rose slightly in 2002-03; they also suggest that grade compression continues to be a concern,” Gross wrote in a letter accompanying the report. “These trends are both best addressed through ongoing discussion at the departmental level.”

And how exactly the College will tackle the issue remains unclear.

“I wish it weren’t so,” Summers said in February about the data. “We need to think about what to do about this.”

A PRINCETON PRIORITY

In addition to capping A’s in undergraduate classes, Princeton’s proposal—sent to Princeton faculty by Dean of the College Nancy W. Malkiel—would also seek to hold A-range grades to less than 55 percent of grades given for independent work, such as junior papers and theses.

While grade distributions would vary among classes, the proposal calls for departments to conform to the grading guidelines and for departmental grade data to be made public. The new policy would also provide “clear guidelines...about the meaning of letter grades.”

Malkiel declined to comment last night.

But in a cover memo accompanying the proposal, Malkiel wrote that department chairs had asked her to take the lead in setting an ambitious universitywide grading policy.

“Curbing grade inflation will require more aggressive steps than we have taken,” she said.

And within the actual proposal, Malkiel wrote that the proposal would put Princeton ahead of other schools in the national fight against grade inflation.