High-achieving students at Ohio State are now finding it easier to graduate with a Latin honor, thanks to a re-examination of the requirements to attain such a status.The Council on Enrollment and Student Progress proposed last spring that OSU revamp their policy on awarding Latin honors to make the process more fair and consistent for its top graduates, according to university registrar Brad Myers, who oversaw the implementation of the change. “The new rule is strictly based upon grade point average,” Myers said.As in past years, graduates achieving a 3.9 or higher grade point average will receive a summa cum laude designation. The magna cum laude honor will go to students with a minimum 3.7 GPA, while students with at least a 3.5 will graduate cum laude. But under the old system of awarding Latin honors, a student’s class rank as well as his or her GPA was taken into account, according to Myers.”Previously, no more than 10 percent could graduate with a (Latin honor),” Myers said. He explained that the former policy required that each college at OSU could award the summa cum laude honor to no more than 3 percent of its students, magna cum laude to no more than 3 percent, and cum laude to no more than 4 percent. Myers said that the council pointed out several problems with this system. For instance, he said, the percentage of students with high GPAs fluctuates from year to year, resulting in a yearly adjustment for each college.”It was a moving target,” Myers said. “And it’s hard to shoot for something if you don’t know what you’re shooting for.”Jack Cooley, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said that consistency is a must. “We needed to provide a constant set of GPAs so students will know exactly what they’ll need to target to achieve honors.”Christina Krivanek, a junior honors student in international studies and Russian, said students can have more control over whether or not they’ll be able to graduate with a Latin honor. “This way, you can shoot for a specific GPA from freshman year on,” Krivanek said.Another problem with the old policy, Myers said, is that some units at OSU are more selective than others, making it extremely difficult for “even the best students” in some programs to obtain a Latin honor.In some colleges, a student might need a 3.97 GPA to be in the top 3 percent of his or her graduating class and thus graduate summa cum laude under the old system, Myers said.As a result some colleges compromised, “tweaking” percentages to try to be responsive to students that deans felt were deserving of an honor. “Some colleges awarded Latin honors to students in the top 13 and 14 percentages of their class,” Myers said.Dan Farrell, associate provost for Honors and Scholars Programming, also noted that each year Ohio State becomes more selective, students with higher abilities and levels of preparation are coming to OSU.”We needed to take this into account,” Farrell said, adding that these students are earning increasingly higher grades, therefore expanding the pool of qualified graduates.Cooley agreed that OSU is attracting a growing number of high achievers which he anticipates will continue in the future, making a review of the Latin honor awards necessary.Myers said that the council visited other institutions across the nation last year to compare other policies for awarding Latin honors. It found that there was no standard pattern, “but ours was more atypical,” he said. At the end of last spring quarter, the Board of Trustees approved the change suggested by the council.Myers said that each unit at OSU was given a “year’s-grace period.”