SA endorsed a report March 4 pushing the University administration to make its Latin honors system more “equitable.”
Latin honors are distinctions given by many universities to graduating students with strong academic records. At UR, the top level is summa cum laude, which encompasses the top two percent of the graduating class. The other two levels, magna cum laude and cum laude, are awarded to the following 10 percent and 20 percent respectively. In total, 32 percent of each class year graduates with Latin honors. However, those percentages come with astonishingly small GPA windows.
In 2024, to graduate cum laude, a student needs a GPA of at least a 3.77. For magna cum laude, that number is 3.92, and for summa cum laude, a student needs a 4.0.
In order to graduate with the highest honors, students can achieve no less than a perfect score in their time at UR, a requirement that has contributed to a competitive culture rewarding students who place academics above their physical and mental well-being — a state commonly referred to at UR as “Toxic Meliora.”
“Such behavior is dangerous, and while the culture of Toxic Meliora would most likely exist even without Latin Honors, the effects are needlessly exacerbated to higher levels due to our system of Latin Honors,” wrote Senior and SA Senator Jacob Edwards in a report analyzing the honors system.
According to Jacobs, the most frequent cause of college students’ mental health problems is dealing with academic pressure, specifically achieving high GPAs. This appears to be the case at UR. According to the director of the CARE Network Alex Samors, roughly 22 percent of all concerns brought to the CARE Network in Fall 2023 were related to academics.
“It is no surprise that having an academic honor that requires a 4.0 GPA would exacerbate these issues on our own campus since a 4.0 is the highest GPA one can achieve at the University of Rochester,” the report states.
The report also found that many high-level universities follow much less stringent standards than UR does, highlighting Cornell and NYU as private research universities on par with UR within New York State. NYU awards Latin honors to the top 30 percent of their students, with the top five percent receiving the highest honors, followed by 10 percent for the mid level, and 15 percent at the lowest level. Cornell has announced that starting with the class of 2026, they will follow a model identical to NYU’s.
The report agrees that while the 32 percent of students that receive Latin honors is a fair percentage, the divisions within that number should be adjusted. Edwards proposes that the highest honors should be widened to include the top five percent of students, and the next two levels should include the following 12 and 15 percent respectively, a division that more closely resembles those at UR’s peer universities, and would make achieving these honors less of a pressure on students’ mental health.
“The proposed change in our Latin Honors system would benefit both our student body and University administration in multiple ways, all without sacrificing the prestige of Latin Honors,” the report concludes.
The College Curriculum Committee has approved the proposed changes, starting with the class of 2025.
