Mullen Is AppointedWai{e Forest DeanDr. Thomas E. Mull en, an assistant professor in 1959

associate professor of history, and an associate professor inwas appointed dean of the 1964.college of Wake Forest Univer- A native of Memphis, Tenn.,sity yesterday. he has held a F u 1b rig h tMullen succeeds Dr. Edwin Fellowship for study in the

.G. Wilson who was appointed I United Kingdom and has par-provost, or vice president, of ticipated .in the Coo~e~'ativethe university last October. Program In the Humanities atWilson has been acting both as Duke University and theprovost and dean of the college Universit~ of North Carolina atsince then. Mullen's appoint- Chapel Hill.ment is effective July 1. He also has been coordinator

" of the interdisciplinary honorsMullen s appointment w ~ s I program at Wake Forest.

approved by the university I .trustees at their April meeting. M,!llen IS a 1950 graduate of

Rollins College, where h eA specialist in European received the B.A. degree. He

diplomatic history of the 19th holds the master's and Ph.D.and 20th centuries, Mullen degrees from Emory Universityjoined the Wake Forest faculty and also has studied at theas an instructor in 1957, became University of London.

, Continued From Page Blhared to 14 per cent in 1966.> Any number of different ex-planations have been offeredfor the rise in grades. But oneof the most obvious reasons, itappears, is the increase in theIJ3ngth of time most schoolspow give a student to drop a.cOurse. As one of N.C. State's,6wn publications. noted last~pring, "a student who enrollsin seven courses and is failingthree of them at midterm canafOp the courses he is failing~nd still be eligible for thede-an's list."Another factor is the smaller

nl!mber of required courses atmost schools these days, enabl-ttlg a student to take fewer.ourses in areas in which he isneither interested nortalented."In 1969," says Dr. James

Uaskin, dean of the college ofarts and sciences at ChapelHill, "an entering freshmanhad to take math and a foreignlanguage. The next year, hehad a choice of one or theother. "Another factor has been the

development of "pass-fail," inwhich a student takes a course,not for a letter grade, but foreither a "P" or an "F." If astudent passes, he gets creditfor taking the course, but it isnot figured into his average.At most schools, the

rationale behind pass-fail wasto allow students to takecourses in areas where theyhad no particular expertise.But in' most cases, it appears,students have just used thecourses as "slides" where lit-tle or no work is required. Un-til Carolina limited the numberof pass-fail courses to one persemester, students often"saved" most of their pass-failcourses until their finalsemester and, as Gaskin says,..then spent a couple of monthsat Myrtle Beach."Other reasons have also been

suggested: That as a universi-ty grows larger, the number orcourses increases, and someare bound to be' easier thanothers. Gaskin says the ex-plosive growth of faculties inthe '60s meant that older facul-ty members could no longer .acquaint every newcomer withthe accepted grading stan-dards of the school. AndMullen says the increasingtrend toward essay, ratherthan short answer exams hasmade it harder to enforce stan-dards."In a multiple-choice test,

there are no shadings ofmeaning," he said last week."An 89 is an 89. That's it. Youcan figure out your curve, andif a student complains, you justshow him where his grade fellon, the curve. It's hard to do

that with an essay test."And while the Vietnam war

used to serve as a rationale forgiving higher grades -students might flunk out ofcollege directly into the in-fantry - now the intense com-peti tion for 'positions ingraduate and professionalschools is cited by some as acause of more lenientmarkings. The crunch is par-ticularly evident inprofessional schools, since thetightening academic jobmarket has made graduateschool in many liberal artsfields practically useless, atleast in terms of' gaining amarketable skill.But officals of both the law

and medical school here saythe grade inflation hasn'tseriously affected their ad-missions policies."It's so widespread that you'

know ho deal with it - youknow tha what used to be a Cis now a B," says BuddyHerring, assistant dean of theWake Forest law school, where1,450 people have applied forthe 150openings in next fall'sfirst year class. "The problem·comes when you're, trying todecide about someone whograduated from college in 1968or 1969or 1970.A 2.75averagefrom then is worth at least a3.0 now, maybe more."Dr. Richard Janeway, the

deal) of the Bowman GraySchool of Medicine, which has5;750applications this year for108 places, says his schoolcould fill its entire freshmanclass with students who finish-ed college with a perfect 4.0average."But other factors are im-

portant too - how someonedoes on the medical ad-missions test; and thena per-son's persona l ity andwillingness to help are so im-portant for a physician,"Janeway said. "And we likediversity - that's why we take30 per cent nonscience ma-jors."Janeway scoffs at the notion

that say, a C in organicchemistry will destroysomeone's chance of evergetting into medical school.But with the number' ofapplications to Bowman Graydoubling in five years, and theaverage first-year student hav-ing a 3.55 college average, it'sstill understandable why someundergraduates now takeevery course so seriously.It seems, too that most

students are' somewhat moreserious about college thantheir counterparts of fiveyears ago. Indeed, Mullen says.at least a few faculty membersat Wake Forest worry thatthey are perhaps grading theirstudents too harshly.

JE;dmwn~fmJGl~;d;'i~ii;ti~~mNoted at Some~()11~g~8"The average grade of a 'probably brutse a lot of

Duke chemistry major is' academic .eges, since stan-above S," he says. "But on the' dards vary wlldly: not onlygraduate review examination, ..Irom schooljn.school, but in,our 'chemistry majors con- ':some instances' from .depart-:sistently score in the top 70r 811-mentto department, At UN<::-'per ~ent. So I d.on't thi~k , G, for example, the perc~ntA~ethere s any grade lnfla on in of A's ranges -.from 13 mour chemistry depa ent.] biology to 59 in,a departmentOur students deserve those I Wells refuses to identify;, ",'grades." " ,"While truscontlnues," 'says'Many students apparently. Mullen, "the colleges are rea1~·

agree with that point of view. t Iy doing the student a disser-!A Wake Forest student recent-r vice', because once .'leiives:!y criticized faculty memberSt~jcolJ~g.e;·peopl~~"-': to';In the student newspaper about \start" telling •.hi 'their concern with high grades. I"abOut' whal;s - ., .. ,But at UNC-G, says Herbert .;.,.;;.~;;.;...,....,_..;.,':;:....;;...,..;.-~~Wells, the assistant vicechancellor for academic af-fairs, the students themselveshave recommended a tougherpolicy on pass-fail courses. Acolumn in the Daily Tar Heelrecently advocated a grade, ineffect, above A.It appears that few schools

have taken any official actionon grade inflation, preferringto make faculty membersaware of the problems in moreinformal ways. Gaskin saysthe preliminary findings of asurvey of 1400 students' andteachers at Chapel Hill in-dicates that most everyoneagrees there is a problem butthat there is no clear consen-sus about what to do about it.Any attempt to formallytighten grading policies would

\ .

rise is that it has coincidedwith the steady drop in scoreson the Scholastic Aptitude Test(SAT) - the standard measureof high school students'academic ability - that beganin the mid- '60s. .At UNC-G, for example, the

average entering SAT score ofa female freshman in 1968was1050 (out of 1600); this pastyear it was 975. But, between1969 and 1974, the gradeaverage of the typical UNC-Gfreshman increased from 2.2 to2.6.At N.C. State the average

freshman's SAT score hasdropped some 80 points since1968. But about a third of theeligible student body nowmakes the dean's list, com-

~ .

Is Grade Inflation Nearing End?By Howard Carr

St.H Reporter

At Duke University lastsemester, almost 79 per cent ofthe grades received by un-dergraduates were either A'sor B's. At the University ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill,the requirements for Phi BetaKappa are probably going to beraised for the second time infour years, since morestudents now get in with the re-quired 3.5 average than used toget in when required gradeswere lower.About 20 per cent of the

grades given out at Winston-Salem State University areA's; a decade ago the figurewas closer to 10 per cent.The problem is "grade in-

flation" - the rapid jump in

grades given to un-dergraduates. Thephenomenon first began todraw national attention in themid-'60s, about the timeAmerican troops were firstsent to Vietnam in largenumbers. And at-many schoolsnow - particularly in theNorth - the number ofsuperior grades has risen sodramatically that, as aprofessor observed recently inthe Wall Street Journal, "Mostof these institutions seem to bemaking the implausiblestatement. 'The overwhelmingmajority of our undergraduatestudents are above average orsuperior when compared to ourtypical or average un-dergraduate students.' "

But now, with grades about a

half-letter higher on theaverage than in 1960, the infla-tion - at least at some areaschools - appears to havereached a peak. And at someschools grades have begun todecline.

Despite the continuing largenumbers of A's and B's atDuke, the number of A's givenin the fall of 1975 actuallydeclined by 1.2 per cent com-pared to 1974. At NorthCarolina State, where A's andB's make up about 58 per centof the grades, the number ofA's dropped one-tenth of apercentage point this past fall.The number of A's at Winston-Salem State peaked in thespring of 1974 and has declinedminutely since.And, perhaps more

significantly, at Wake Forestthis past semester 200 fewerstudents - 1,100 - made thedean's list than the previousfall.

"It's hard to say what caus-ed the drop," says Dr. ThomasMullen, dean of the college atWake Forest. "The ad-ministration hasn't taken anyofficial action on the gradeSituation, but it may be thatenough faculty members haveread about grade inflation sothat they're taking a harderlook individually. And then, itcould be that part of it is thatthe kind of ability required towrite essay tests is declining."But at almost every school

grades are much higher thanthey were 10 or 15 years ago.And one of the ironies of the

G~alinilwt

iLiMiMIst.pittlnsh:calbe

Harriet Lieberman adds a loop.

trawStars Grace German ChristmasUy Rebecca Angell

SiaH Reporter

Abit of the flavor of aGernan Christmas comesaliv( every year through thenirnlle fingers of three friendswhoenjoy working together.~ery fall Mrs. Edward

L i ~~e r man, Mrs. Han sMit~meijer and Mrs. TomMul n get together for strawsta mak ing- They shapepiece of straw and strands ofthread into delicate star-shap~ decorations that theycarefully enclose in packets tobe gJ,ren as gifts or sold incraft ~hops.

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Although Mrs. Lieberman isAmerican, Mrs. Mittemeijerand Mrs. Mullen are German,and the stars are reminders ofpast Christmases when theywere growing up in Germany,where their parents still live.The stars are traditional

throughout Germany, wheresome people leave them hang-ing at windows year-round.For most people, though, theyare Christmas tree ornaments.

The tree is usually set up onChristmas Eve and hung withstraw stars and other or-narnents that might include

small flat stars cut from goldmetallic paper, glass or-naments and candles that arelit when the whole family ispresent - although there'susu~ a bucket. of water bythe \lIeIorin case of a mishapwith the candles, Mrs. Mullensaid.The procedure for making

the straw stars is simple, but ittakes an accomplished hand tomake some of the moredelicate and intricate ones.First the straw is cut in sec-

tions about six to eight incheslong that are soaked a few

hours or overnight in ~ater un-til they are flexible.Then the straws are slit and

ironed into flat strips. Using a .fingernail or m a a icu r escissors, the women cut andtrim the strips and weave yarnor thread around the pieces ofstraw to form a star.The variations are endless.

For tiny stars made of finestraw, the women sometimesIeave the straw in its naturalcylindrical shape. The starsare usually flat, with as manypoints. as the maker wishes,but they can be three-dimensional or hung in

mobiles.The women usually leave the

straw its natural color,although they occasionallyvary their designs with straw,that is dyed red or orange.They also glue together fine

strips of wood shavings forstars with softer, more round-ed points.They pick some of 'their

straw from plants in theiryards, but a friend in Germanybuys most of their supplies at ashop and sends it to them.What they really need, theysay, is to find a farmer whowill give them a chance at hiswheat field before bringing inthe combine.Mrs. Lieberman, Mrs.

Mittemeijer and Mrs. Mullenbegan working together on thestars about ten years ago, andfor the past three years theyhave sold them at the annualPiedmont Craftsmen Fair.Their stars are also carriedthrough the North CarolinaLeague of Creative Arts and

Crafts, the West End Galleryand the gift sho atMuseum of Art in Raso- far, their workdone more forfor profit.