In the 25 years Registrar Mark Albertson has worked at Elon, the academic standards regarding gradation with honors had only changed once—until this year.

Earlier this semester, the Academic Standing Committee, comprised of a group of faculty members and administrators, voted to raise the requirement for graduation with Cum Laude honors from a 3.4 GPA to a GPA to a 3.5. The requirements for Magna Cum Laude and Summa Cum Laude remain the same.

"I think this change is in order," Alberston said. "With any kind of honor distinction, if the group gets too big you compromise the distinction of that honor."

In last year’s graduating class, there were 105 students that graduated with honors under the Cum Laude distinction. Under the new system, 49 of those students would not have graduated with honors.

Alberston explained that as the university continues to grow and attracts students with higher academic credentials, an increasing number of students are becoming eligible for graduation with honors. He characterized the change as an adjustment necessary to keep up with Elon’s changing population. Alberston was at Elon when the previous change to the graduation standards was implemented in 1989.

Unlike the current revision, the change in 1989 became effective immediately. Academic standards have no set time frame they must follow before being implemented, so many are put into effect immediately. The graduating class of 1989 was held to the new figures when determining whether or not they met honors criteria, even though the decision to change was made just before the start of their senior year.

However, this time the committee voted to implement the new standards with the class of 2005, justifying the decision with the theory that those students still have enough time left in their academic careers to adjust for the change. Sandra Seidel, chairwoman of the Academic Standing Committee, says she feels this is the right way to handle this situation.

‘There truly are some students who work to achieve this goal and a senior working [to keep] a 3.4 [GPA] simply does not have time to adjust for the higher criteria," Seidel said.

However, some students in the effected class have a different view of the situation.

"I think it is a good idea to raise standards," said sophomore Darris Means. "But it really concerns me that there was no student representative on the committee to give direct input into the decision."

The committee based their decision to adjust the requirement on data compiled from ANAC, the Association of New American Colleges. The goal was to compare Elon to universities of similar size, demographic and mission.

Alberston says he feels this is a good move for the university.