Word: summas
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...summa is a hard-to-get commodity, and the Social Sciences area is the worst place to do the shopping. The recent report to the Faculty on this uneven situation merits consideration and action from those departments which were cited for their relatively high number of summas, as well as from those with a relatively low total. The report revealed that the fields of English, Government, Biochemistry, and especially Economics and History awarded far fewer summas to students who, on the basis of grades, would be qualified, than most fields in the Humanities and Natural Sciences...
Representatives of these fields--Bio-chemistry, English, History, Government, and Economics--revealed last weekend that there are no immediate plans to change summa standards in their departments and that only a few faculty members are disturbed by the situation as described in the report...
James S. Duesenberry, professor of Economics and co-chairman of that department's Examining Committee, admitted that "We're pretty fussy" in awarding honors degrees. He said, however, that a summa cum laude degree in Economics was intended to be "a very high recommendation," limited to students "likely to become creative scholars if they continue in their field...
Samuel H. Beer, professor of Government and Chairman of the Department, said that "no one has suggested any change, but some are concerned that a summa doesn't mean as much in other departments as in ours...
...Summa cum laude" degrees are harder to win in the Social Sciences than in the Natural Sciences or the Humanities, according to a report which the Faculty will consider at its meeting today...