Lee implements new threshold for academic honors
Photo by Sydney Pressley
Effective fall 2020, Lee will change its GPA requirements for awarding academic honors. The designation of cum laude will be awarded to students with a GPA of 3.7, raised from the current 3.4 requirement. The designation of magna cum laude will increase to 3.8 from the current threshold of 3.7. The highest honor of summa cum laude will remain unchanged for students with a GPA of 3.9 or higher.
The first students to be affected by the new academic honors system will graduate in December 2020. This change does not affect students graduating in the spring or summer 2020; they are still considered for academic honors based on the current scale.
Lee’s academic leadership originally considered changing the threshold in 2015 after noticing the amount of students graduating with academic honors was unusually high. The new system was approved by Lee’s academic council, which consists of the deans, chairs and program directors. Next, the threshold change was presented to the faculty, who gave their approval.
The Latin phrase cum laude means “with praise,” while magna cum laude means “with great praise.” The most distinguished honor of summa cum laude means “with highest praise.” Most universities have adopted this scale of academic excellence to recognize their highest-achieving graduates.
Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Debbie Murray said more than 55% of Lee’s graduating class in the spring of 2019 graduated with honors. Although this rate of student success is encouraging, the faculty sought to make academic honors more selective.
“I think that honors isn’t honors if everyone’s getting it,” said senior English major Jonathan Beal.
Murray believes this change will leave students with a more genuine sense of accomplishment as they reach their academic goals. Murray said this shift will also allow students’ final semester to be counted toward their academic honors.
“We have a very diverse population, as far as academic preparation and academic performance. We want to recognize those who really are at the top,” Murray said. “The new system is going to count all your grades through your last semester. I think that is an advantage to the students.”
Freshman Emma Chase believes the new GPA scale could bring about more recognition for students who earn an honors designation.
“The adjustment will bring a new sort of prestige to the honors that they didn’t have before,” Chase said. “Maybe students will be motivated to work harder to obtain them.”
