Prior to this vote, Associate Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought Lawrence Douglas sought to introduce a substitute motion that would return the subject of distribution requirements for English honors back to the floor of the Faculty. Douglas' motion called for one level of English honors awarded to the top 25 percent of the class who fulfilled the distribution requirement of two classes in four out of six categories, as detailed by Professor of English and Russian Dale Peterson's motion from the previous meeting.
The merits of the motion itself were never discussed because it was ruled out of order by President Tom Gerety after Douglas and Parliamentarian and Professor of Computer Science Lyle McGeoch discussed the "germaneness" of reconsidering distribution.
"I believe it is not germane and therefore out of order. Our previous discussion was about distribution, this is the same question, albeit with one level of honors," said McGeoch.
"I made an effort to make the substitution somewhat germane by changing to level of honors awarded to the top 25 percent," said Douglas. "I was aware of the potential problems and vetted them with the Committee on Educational Policy (CEP) and the Committee of Six. When we began the discussion of the new honors system it was always in the spirit that we could go back at anytime and revise our decisions. It was in that spirit that I was bringing this motion forward."
Professor of Biology Patrick Williamson echoed Douglas' sentiments. "The CEP having considered all of those issues, elected to do what we've just done," said Williamson. "We wanted to do the best we could to consider this in one way or another. There wasn't a simple way to bring this back to the floor. We we were aware of the germaneness and that's it's an old issue, but we thought it was not unreasonable."
Ultimately, Gerety ruled on this matter, deciding that the substitute motion was not germane; the Faculty continued the discussion of Motion E, which had been tabled at the previous meeting.
Motion E called for two levels of English honors, High Distinction and Distinction, awarded to 10 percent and the following 25 percent of the class respectively. Professor of Russian Jane Taubman rose to introduce an amendment to Motion E.
"The top 10 percent will already be awarded by Phi Beta Kappa. I want just one level of honors. One reason I want to do this is the old Harvard system that awards a cum in general studies that we have discussed before," said Taubman. "I move that we cut point 1 [of the motion]."
The motion to replace Motion E with Taubman's amendment passed by a voice vote with two abstentions and the Faculty next considered the merits of the amendment.
"Distribution was the teeth of English honors, now all we have is GPA; it's too large a number," said Professor of Chemistry David Hansen. "One category based at 25 percent strikes me as a reasonable step forward."
Other faculty members weighed in on the consequences of defeating the motion. "Were we to defeat the motion in front of us, we would return to a system of honors that rewarded 55 percent of the class," said Professor of Chemistry Mark Marshall.
The motion passed as amended by a voice vote and Professor of Philosophy Alex George immediately rose to introduce a motion that would couple English honors to distribution requirements. The motion differed from Douglas' in that it added a seventh category of humanities to the distribution and required students to fulfill two courses in five of the seven areas.
George defended his motion, articulating the consequences of determining English honors by class rank or GPA alone and noting that English honors tied to a distribution requirement would yield "de facto distribution."
"If we do away with English honors-the likely consequence of leaving them unelaborated-we will find ourselves with precisely the same problems that so exercised us before [with the honors system abandoned in 1995]," said George.
"But I would like to end by accentuating the positive. I want to do so by trying to deal with an argument that seems to have taken root-amongst both students and faculty-like some kind of tenacious weed," he added. "It can be summed up in four words: 'de facto distribution requirement.' On our present system, the only way of attaining summa is by writing a thesis. Has anyone ever said that we now have a de facto thesis requirement?"
George agreed to withdraw his motion, pending revision, until the next faculty meeting, to account for the Faculty's decision to have only one level of English honors.
Williamson moved to table the discussion of the remaining three motions that would modify Latin honors to "a date not certain and revisit not before three years of implementation have passed." The discussion of honors ended with a motion by Professor of Geology Peter Crowley to table Williamson's motion.