The Princeton Crier/Toddler, announcing P/D/F reform

The Princeton Faculty voted late Monday afternoon to approve substantial reforms to the P/D/F policy.

Ben Lund ‘10, the USG Academics Chair, called the reform “a huge win for the student body.” Lund and Helen Chen ‘10 wrote the new policy and then presented it last spring to the USG Senate and Deans Malkiel (Dean of the College) and Quimby (Deputy Dean of the College. Lund and Chen brought the reform to the Committee on Course of Study and the Committee on Examinations and Standing, both of which approved the measure. The faculty was the final group that needed to approve the reform before it could be put in place.

So what does the reform actually change? Under the old policy, students could choose to Pass/D/Fail a class until the beginning of the fifth week of the semester. You could rescind the P/D/F later in the semester and take the course for a grade, but the course still counted as a P/D/F (students are allowed to P/D/F four courses over their Princeton career).

With the new policy, students don’t elect to P/D/F a course until the seventh week of class, and have until the ninth week to decide. That means that everyone is technically taking the course for a grade for the first seven weeks, even if they plan on ultimately P/D/Fing. Because you can choose to P/D/F a course through the ninth week of the semester, you will no longer be able to rescind the P/D/F option once you elect to do it.

“The USG’s proposed PDF policy was extremely popular,” said Connor Diemand-Yauman ‘10 in an email to The Ink. “I am extremely pleased with the outcome of the faculty vote and proud of this administration for pushing through the first major reform in grading policy in over a decade.”

Analysis after the jump!