Jacob Franklin
Opinions Editor
Early this semester, students were notified of a sudden change to the required GPA benchmark in order to be admitted onto the Dean’s List. Previously, students with or above a 3.625 GPA would be honored with this academic accolade. However, with this new change, students would need at least a 3.8 GPA. “I don’t think students were necessarily upset that the change itself happened,” Sofie Behr (C ‘24), President of the Order of the Gown, said when asked about the student response to this change, “but more so the way it was communicated. If anything was going to be a cause for concern, that would be it.” The overall critique of the means by which the Dean’s office communicated this information to the student body led to the required GPA for all students to earn a spot on the Dean’s List to remain at 3.625 for the entirety of the 2023-2024 academic year.
This begs a questioning of the value of having a Dean’s List. If the list’s standards can be changed, then how concrete is its value on campus? Is the list arbitrary? Can we trust the list to be a true marker of academic excellence?
These questions led The Purple to the office of Associate Dean Alex Bruce of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, in order to gain more insight into the mechanics behind this decision of changing the benchmark GPA of the Dean’s List. Dean Bruce is one of our two Associate Deans, alongside Interim Associate Dean Deon T. Miles for Inclusion and Faculty Development, who works with Interim Dean Betsy Sandlin to facilitate affairs within Sewanee. Dean Bruce described his job as “helping students at the high-level academic questions. Some of the things that come to me are fundamentally ‘I’m not gonna graduate, unless…’ I’m interacting with students in that way.”
The Purple first inquired about the value of such a standard as the Dean’s List. “A year ago, Dean Papillon reflected on [the Dean’s List] and thought it would be appropriate to change that level, and with the input of the Standards Committee, found a new standard.” Dean Bruce said. “I think anytime there is an honor being awarded, we kinda pause and say, ‘what is the definition of an honor?’ When a person is receiving an honor, it ought to be reflective of someone being above and beyond.” Behr resonated with similar ideas, stating, “I think it’s important as an academic institution to honor our high-achieving students and have reached a certain standard of academic success.”
Some people might think that this change was to motivate students to do better work or generally improve student performance and motivation. However, Dean Bruce said differently. Dean Bruce said, “I hope [this] wouldn’t affect [performance] at all because I would like to believe that Sewanee students are going to do the best possible work they can do no matter what.”
While still disappointing initially, I have to empathize with the difficulty of the exchanging of power from one Dean of the College to another, especially considering that this decision was not made by Interim Dean Sandlin, but instead, by Dean Papillon, who is currently on sabbatical, and stepped down last spring. Given the transition, I think it is important that we keep in mind that the new Dean’s List policy might have been more difficult to communicate than we might realize.
However, the conversation Sewanee students should be having is not necessarily about the communication of this information concerning the Dean’s List, but rather, whether there is any value of a Dean’s List. As indicated by Dean Bruce, the purpose of this list is not to motivate students academically. Behr also stated that “earlier on in your Sewanee career, [making the Dean’s List] is a higher priority, but after you get gowned and have other activities going on, it’s not as much of a worry.” By-and-large, students, especially upperclassmen, do not seem to care about making the Dean’s List. If students do not seem to care about this marker of success, then one must wonder why it matters.
Additionally, the Dean’s List does not account for the different factors that play into a student’s potential for success. “Everyone has individual factors that play into what they look like academically and what they are able to achieve,” Behr said. “It’s important to recognize that everyone is coming to Sewanee from different backgrounds and take things like the Dean’s List and getting gowned with a grain of salt. Yes, it’s an awesome achievement, but every student comes to Sewanee with different tools in their toolbox.”
The honor of the Dean’s List cannot be ignored. It is important that students who are capable of achieving this accomplishment are praised. This honor, however, can only be so valuable. When the Deans listen to student voices, such as the ones who critiqued the communication of the Dean’s List’s changes, there is more of a chance that everyone can cross that line with a group of mentors and peers cheering them on. The fact that the Deans are listening to students only increases the value of the Dean’s List, as it will ensure that as many factors as possible that could influence student success are accounted for.