GThe
UILFORDIAN
New plus and minus grading policy now in effect
Suzanne Moore
Copy Editor
Guilford Students will be evaluated by a
new grading policy this fall semester. The
new policy, which went into effect during
Guilford's summer session, will replace the
traditional grading format, and allow pro
fessers to define grading "beyond five let
ters."
The former policy assigned only whole
numbers to the letter grades (for example a
C+, C, and C- were all considered a 2.0).
The new policy will assign a different
number for each grade, taking into account
professors' plus and minus suffixes. Ac
cording to the Guilford College Handbook,
one quality point will be assigned for each
credit of D work, two for C, three for B, four
Historic registry may save Guilford woods from Painter Blvd.
Linda Kreem
Staff Writer
The good news is that Guilford has been
listed in the National Register of Historic
Places. The better news is that the listing
could help save our woods from the threat of
Painter Blvd.
For those new to the Guilford community,
Painter Blvd. is a proposed four-lane road
which will loop around Greensboro. Three
routes for the road are currently being con-
Senior art major Alice Van Buren takes advantage of a sunny afternoon to
work on a project for one of her classes/photo by Charles Almy
Vol. 75 No. 1 Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C.
for A. No quality points will be assigned to
work receiving the grades of F, XF, or WF.
Plus and minus suffixes will either add or
subtract .3 to the numerical value of the
grade.
Floyd Reynolds, the official registrar of
Guilford College, said the old grading policy
"was not ideal." He added that the new
system will allow Guilford to be more uni
form with other academic institutions in their
grading policies.
Many students are expressing concern over
the new system j feeling that it could be
detrimental to their cumulative grade point
averages. The cumulative grade point aver
age is calculated by dividing the number of
quality points by the number of credits the
student has attempted. Students who nor
mally earn more minuses than pluses will
sidered by the state* one of which cuts through
the Guilford woods, a large tract of undevel
oped land situated on the edge of Guilford's
campus.
The plan, which had first been discussed
several years ago, was revived by city offi
cials and voted on by Greensboro residents
about two years ago. Students, faculty and
administrators have been fighting to save the
woods ever since.
While the college's efforts to be recog
nized in the National Registry are not a direct
find that their G.P.A. could drop signifi
cantly. Under the old policy a student could
get four B-s and still have a 3.0. Their
average with the new policy would be a 2.7.
Mary Rinaldi, a junior French major from
Atlanta, remarked, "I didn't even know the
change had occurred until I noticed Senate
Minutes posted at the end of [final] exam
week. And I thought how will anyone else
know since half of the students had already
left. I also didn't feel as though I had any
voice in the matter."
Academic probation still occurs with a
cumulative grade point average below 2.0.
Students who in the past have managed to
keep a 2.0 by earning C-s will now need to
earn Cs so that they will not fall below the
cut-off. When questioned as to whether or
not it would be more difficult to earn an A or
result of the Painter Blvd. threat, the applica
tion process began at around the same time
the road plans were being reactivated.
A National Registry listing does not pro
vide absolute protection against develop
ment, but it does force the state to give
serious consideration to other possible routes.
While the woods are not yet completely free
of threat, "Itsure looks better," said Guilford
President Bill Rogers.
Almost all of Guilford's 300-aere campus
qualified for the registry. This is unusual,
since normally only single buildings or land
scapes achieve registry status. The woods
are one of the first tracts of undeveloped
North Carolina land to be approved for the
registry.
The campus qualifies on the basis of its
landscaping, which reflects the Quaker pre
servationist land ethic, and for its interpreta
tion of the American pastoral style of Freder
ick Law Olmstead. The buildings, 19 of
which are listed in the registry, exemplify the
Georgian Neo-Classical and the Colonial
Renewal styles of architecture.
In the college's registration application, a
Raleigh architectural historian wrote that "the
campus at Guilford College combines the
Quaker vision of an earthly Garden of Eden
with the characteristics of modesty, thrifti
ness and industriousness that defined early
Quakers."
The campus was originally the site of the
New Garden Community, the largest com
munity of Quakers in North Carolina. Levi
Sept. 10,1990
less difficult to get a C- from professors,
Reynolds doubted that professors "will play
that game."
The new grading system is not retroactive.
Grades from previous semesters will not be
affected. Also the college still docs not count
former G.P.A.S from transfer credits, so those
credits will not be affected either.
Ngw grading Seal?;
A 4.0 C 2.0
A- 3.7 C- 1.7
B+ 3.3 D+ 1.3
B 3.0 D 1.0
B- 2.7 D- 0.7
C+ 2.3 F 0.0
Coffin, a resident of that community, has
been called the founder of the Underground
Railroad, and may have operated a "depot"
hidden in the Guilford woods.
"Levi Coffin wrote in his autobiography
about going into the woods and taking provi
sions to runaway slaves," said Damon Hickey,
curator of the college's Friends Historical
Collection.
In addition, the area in and around the
woods was the site of several Revolutionary
War skirmishes, as American troops con
fronted the British on their way to the Battle
of Guilford Courthouse in 1871.
Guilford was officially placed on the reg
istry June 21.
INSIDE
Changes and im
provements at the
new Hege Library 4
On-campus minister
Max Carter 5
Fresh faces on the
Guilford sports
scene . 72