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The Harvard Undergraduate Association held a town hall meeting on Sunday to gauge student opinion on the contents of a report on the College’s grading practices released last week by the Office of Undergraduate Education.

Roughly 30 students gathered in the Smith Center Sunday to discuss the report, in which the OUE found that A’s make up more than 60 percent of undergraduates’ grades — compared to just a quarter two decades ago — and suggested that the College consider awarding A+ grades, among other proposed solutions.

“The recent grading updates from the Office of Undergraduate Education have brought about concerns, and we want to create a space for your voices to be heard,” HUA Co-President Abdullah Shahid Sial ’27 said at the town hall. “This is more of a listening session of sorts than an actual town hall.”

Last week the HUA also circulated a survey among the student body to gauge opinion on the report’s findings. One of five questions on the survey asked students to choose between the “status quo” and changes such as the addition of A+ grades or listing median course grades on transcripts. Sial and HUA Co-President Caleb N. Thompson ’27 announced at the town hall that 117 of the more than 240 respondents ranked the “status quo” option first.

About 50 percent of respondents from each class year said that grading policies should differ by concentration. The OUE report stated that some students complained about such a grading disparity, writing that undergraduates “perceive there to be disparities in grading between concentrations, between courses, and even between sections of the same course.”

At the town hall, students debated whether a disparity in grading across courses is justified. The Crimson agreed to report only on comments from students who individually agreed to speak on the record.

“I certainly do think there’s a disparity in the different subjects you can study and how easy it is to get good grades in each subject,” HUA International Student Liaison Alfred F.B. Williamson ’28 said. “I do think it would be better to level out that playing field.”

“There’s a problem of gross generalization in the Econ and Gov departments, and people feel that everyone’s taking very easy classes within both of these departments. And I think that’s not true,” Sial said. “I know a lot of people who take very hard Econ classes, which a lot of even STEM concentrators do take and suffer with.”

Some argued that the problem is not with different departments offering harder courseloads, but the ability for students to “coast through Harvard.”

“It’s not an issue with the degrees in themselves or the classes offered by those departments, it’s an issue of just being able to go through Harvard doing well without really putting substantial effort in or caring or striving to be extraordinary in any kind of way,” Williamson said.

In the HUA’s survey data, a disparity between class years also emerged. Around 30 percent of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors who took the survey agreed that Harvard should “refocus on academics” — while 49 percent of participating seniors said they agreed.

At the end of the town hall, the HUA asked audience members for specific action items they would like to be heard and addressed by the administration. The body’s leadership also emphasized that students should continue to share any forthcoming concerns.

“For those who didn’t make it to our meeting, they can always submit their opinions on the survey and get their voices heard,” HUA Academic Officer Hyunsoo Lee ’28 said. “We can always have this town hall multiple times. This doesn’t have to be the last one.”

“I just encourage people, if you do care, if you do want to get involved, we’re here and we want to involve you,” Thompson said. “We want to listen to what you have to say.”

The town hall was held after the HUA’s weekly meeting open to the general student body, which lasted seven minutes.

—Staff writer Claire L. Simon can be reached at claire.simon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @ClaireSimon.

—Staff writer Nina A. Ejindu can be reached at nina.ejindu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @nina_ejindu.