A majority of students oppose the addition of pluses and minuses to Brown's grading system, according to the results of the online Undergraduate Council of Students poll released to The Herald yesterday. The poll's results also show that a majority of students supports the University finding its own renewable source of energy.
The poll, which was conducted on WebCT from Feb. 27 to March 3, had 2,024 responses, representing 35 percent of the 5,853 undergraduates eligible to take it. The 37-question poll included questions on overall UCS performance, interaction with professors, economic diversity on campus, renovations in Faunce House, meal plan changes and the SafeRide service.
80.9 percent of respondents were opposed to plus/minus grading, while 14.4 percent were in favor. 4.7 percent gave no answers. A majority of students said they thought plus/minus grading runs counter to Brown's educational philosophy and would encourage "grade-grubbing."
The percentage of students against plus/minus grading was higher in the UCS poll than the results of a Herald poll released Feb. 9, which found that 70 percent of students opposed the measure.
"The results were about what I expected," said Sarah Saxon-Frump '07, president of UCS. She added that a key difference between the UCS and Herald polls is that the former was self-selecting, meaning that students with stronger opinions would be more inclined to take the poll.
UCS Communications Chair Michael Thompson '07 said the results corroborate feedback UCS members have received from students.
The poll also showed 77.4 percent of respondents said they would support the University if it spent money to obtain its own source of renewable energy. 14.5 percent would not support such a policy, while 8.1 percent gave null responses.
Various student environmental action groups have been pressing the University to look into alternative energy sources, according to both Saxton-Frump and Thompson.
The poll contained several questions about UCS itself. Only 31.4 percent of students said they feel welcome attending UCS meetings, while 45.1 percent said they did not feel welcome. 23.8 percent of students did not provide an answer.
"I was disappointed but I wasn't surprised," Saxton-Frump said. "(UCS meetings) can be intimidating, and we're trying to make them more inviting."
Saxton-Frump added many of the respondents had most likely never attended a UCS meeting.
"It was intimidating the first time I went to a UCS meeting," UCS Vice President Zachary Townsend '08 said. He added that UCS must learn how to make the organization "more open in a procedural sense and an image sense."
The poll also included questions about the Napster pilot program UCS helped to begin for the current school year. 44.4 percent of respondents thought Brown should continue the Napster program, while 40.4 percent thought the program should be discontinued. 15.6 percent gave null responses. A strong majority - 72.7 percent of respondents - said the University should provide a legal downloading service for students.
Saxton-Frump said she was not surprised by the results of the Napster question because students had given her similar feedback.
"(The University) is apparently trying to switch (to another program) - they think there's a better fit," she said.
But Townsend said he was surprised by the results. He said he knew few students who used Napster and expected a lower number of positive responses.
The poll results did not include information about the sample's composition - such as gender, class year or ethnicity - because the poll did not ask such questions, according to Townsend.
"In retrospect, that's something we should have included," he said.
Because of its methodology, the poll also did not contain a margin of error for its responses.
