The national grade inflation trend has hit Penn State. Although the increases in average GPAs have only risen slightly year to year, there is a decisive increase when comparing 1987's 2.8 average to 2002's average of 3.05, according to a report presented to the Faculty Senate last week.

National GPAs have risen the same percentage in the same amount of time.

Higher grades may temporarily please students. Some students might even be happy that A's are easier to get and therefore choose a college, instructor or major based on this. However, these are not the students we want at Penn State. Our namesake, reputation and academic integrity are worth much more.

This is not going to be an easy issue to tackle, but this could be one of the most serious issues facing Penn State.

There appears to be a connection between the start of the Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTE) and the onset of bloated GPAs. The SRTEs are surveys completed anonymously by students, and high scores help determine if instructors will receive tenure or a pay raise.

We hope the GPA increase is not because instructors are becoming more concerned about money or job security than true academia. Instructors should not pacify student egos because it makes a degree from Penn State worth less.

Also, students should be held accountable. They should not be ranking instructors based on how easy the class was because it completely discredits the SRTE system.

The report recommended that officials define, implement and maintain standards for GPA stability and fix the situation when standards are being compromised. However, the report did not advise how to take steps to fix the problem. We hope this problem is addressed in a way that brings real and immediate results, instead of becoming bogged down in red tape.

Perhaps the university could implement a system that did away with or complemented GPAs. Students could be ranked among their major and graduation class in a percentile system. This would lead students to compete for higher percentile ranking than their peers and this could alleviate some grade inflation troubles.

Also, specific departments and individual instructors should be analyzed to pin point where inflation problems are coming from.

Grade inflation is a huge problem. A university should be a center of learning. Scholarship is the one thing that cannot be compromised.