Harvard students revolt over new grading policy they call 'racist'

Some Harvard students have launched a petition urging the university to abandon plans to pursue grading reform, calling it "racist." 

The modified reform will institute three significant changes, namely delaying the implementation by a year, adjusting how the cap on A grades is estimated, and adding a new grade within the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (SAT/UNSAT) grading system.

"To everyone reading this letter, we want to reiterate that FGLI students of color are no less capable, intelligent, or deserving than their more privileged peers," the letter continued. "What differs is the burden we are forced to carry. Policies like this shift the costs of institutional decisions onto marginalized students while dismissing the resulting harm as accidental or nonexistent. So-called 'neutral' standards can produce racial outcomes without discriminatory intent (Inoue, 2023). History shows where this leads, and ignoring those lessons only ensures the harm will be repeated."

Agostini and her co-signer also called Harvard's history "sexist, racist, and classist," and urged the faculty not to repeat that history.