Harvard University recently graduated 84 percent of its seniors with honors. Harvard's average grade is now an A- to B+. At a panel discussing inflated grades, a Harvard senior commented, "In some departments, 'A' stands for 'average.' " 36 percent of Cornell's grades are now A's, a rate that has doubled from 1965 to 1993. The rate at which Cornell offers C grades dropped over the same period from 40 percent to 12 percent. Princeton offers A grades to over 41 percent of its students. At Brown University, anything below a C grade is not entered on student transcripts. "When you send in your résumé, do you put down all the jobs you applied for and didn't get?" asks Dean Sheila Blumstein in defending the policy. "A Brown transcript is a record of a student's academic accomplishments."

[Ed.: In giving in to pressure to inflate grades, Harvard political scientist Harvey Mansfield supplied students with two grades: one of which went on their transcript, and the other of which he thought they really deserved.]

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After Congress ended a decades-old honey subsidy program, beekeepers responded by asking the International Trade Commission to approve duties on Chinese honey under a Cold War-era law allowing sanctions on communist countries. China supplies 20 percent of America's honey. The ITC agreed to 25 percent tariffs, but that wasn't enough for beekeepers. They accused the Chinese of dumping honey below cost in the United States, and the Clinton administration then proposed tariffs of up to 157 percent.

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The Portland State University Daily Vanguard:

"Trees are smarter than people sometimes," said PSU President Judith Ramaley at the gathering.

The tree was planted as a memorial for the victims of the bombing and to give respite to the Arab and Muslim communities who may have felt excluded from the national day of mourning on Sunday, April 23, [ceremony coordinator Bishara] Costandi said.

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