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Some Harvard students have launched a petition urging the university to abandon plans to pursue standards reform, calling it “racist.”
“This petition calls on Harvard to rescind the proposed grading policy, saying it is not only flawed but racially damaging,” the statement said. request on Change.org started by Angelina Agostini, a freshman at Harvard College, reads as follows.
“We place racism at the core, arguing that while the policy is framed as a neutral ‘difference’, it functions as a ranking and sorting system that mirrors and reinforces existing racial and socio-economic hierarchies,” the petition reads. “Because first-generation, low-income (FGLI) students and students of color are disproportionately affected by structural inequities long before they reach college, the policy will compound those disadvantages rather than correct them.”
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Students walk in front of banners hanging from Memorial Church on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on May 27, 2025. (Sophie Park/Bloomberg)
On March 30, Amanda Claybaugh, director of Undergraduate Education, announced that Harvard College will postpone its controversial change of standards to the fall of 2027 and use a new “SAT+” grade, the Harvard Crimson. report.
The first version of the change was “a strict limit on A grades,” which “caused a lot of student backlash and a lot of teacher anxiety,” the student newspaper reported.
In February, the Harvard Crimson noted that the proposal came following an October 2025 report from Claybaugh that found that more than 60% of grades Harvard students graduated with A’s, compared to only a quarter of the grades 20 years ago.
The report found that low-level inflation began to rise in the late 2010s, rising over time The covid-19 pandemicand now it is rising.
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A view of Harvard University’s Business School campus in Cambridge, Mass., on April 15, 2025. (Faith Ninivaggi/Reuters)
The proposed change will include three key changes, namely delaying implementation by a year, adjusting the way the AA grade cap is measured, and adding a new grade within the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (SAT/UNSAT) grading system.
In a a book addressed to “Harvard College Undergraduate Students, FAS Faculty, Amanda Claybaugh, the Undergraduate Educational Policy Committee, and anyone else this may concern,” Agostini and another student wrote, “The proposed grading policy is blatantly discriminatory. Its harm is unimaginable and has a history of overwhelmingly harming and burdening students of color and first-generation (FGLI) students.”
“To everyone reading this letter, we want to emphasize that FGLI students of color are no stronger, smarter, or more deserving than their privileged peers,” the letter continues. “What is different is the burden we are forced to bear. Policies like these change the cost of school decisions to disadvantaged students while dismissing the resulting harm as accidental or non-existent. So-called ‘neutrality’ can produce racial effects without discriminatory intent (Inoue, 2023). History shows where this leads, and ignoring it will only reaffirm it.”
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People enter a gate as they leave Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on April 15, 2025. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)
Agosdini and a co-signer also called Harvard’s history “sexist, racist, and classist,” and urged faculty not to repeat that history.
“We urge you to focus on the well-being of your students rather than worrying about dignity,” they wrote. “Don’t act on the whims of the moment and forget how we will be remembered. Harvard’s history is sexist, racist, and classist. Whatever the intent, this policy will reinforce that legacy.”
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Massachusetts Hall and Johnston Gate are seen in Harvard Yard, the historic center of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Cortizas Jr./Getty Images)
They continued, “Let’s work together to build a future that supports all students while also expanding Harvard’s strong academic environment. This means creating targeted resources that recognize differences in experience and identity, embrace diverse academic teaching, and promote the enriching academic experience expected at Harvard.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard and Agostini through Change.org for comment.
