The University of North Carolina apparently ignored a troubling incident in the background of its recently chosen chancellor at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), Stacey Franklin Jones. ECSU is a small, historically black constituent university of the UNC system.

Jay Schalin has criticized the selection on a SeeThruEdu post. Dr. Jones was a dean at Benedict College, a private school in South Carolina, when the college president implemented a policy called “SEE,” or “Success Equals Effort.” In 2002, the president ordained that in the freshman year, 60 percent of a student’s grade in each class would be based on “effort”—attending class, turning in homework, taking part in labs, etc. The rest would be based on actual learning. In the sophomore year, the percentages would change. (The current policy is 60/40, but when the AAUP criticized the policy in 2005, it said that the sophomore-year division was 50/50.)

Dr. Jones defended the policy in a local newspaper, in a rather brusque column chastising those who disagreed. And she fired two professors in her school who refused to adopt the policy. One of them said he tried it for a semester but when he had to give a C to a student who failed all the exams he stopped implementing it.

Those concerned with academic quality are undoubtedly appalled at the “E for Effort” grading policy. On the other hand, you have to wonder how bad the situation must have been if the solution was to reward mere attendance and completion of homework so heavily. I can imagine that such a policy might improve the atmosphere of a school that was behaviorally out of control. I don’t think there have been any reports about its effectiveness, however. (And how would one measure the effectiveness? Higher graduation rates would be suspect).

Certainly, treating the freshman year differently is not unprecedented. Fifty years ago at Wellesley, freshman grades were not included when student’s GPA was calculated upon graduation. (Otherwise, I would never have become a Wellesley College Scholar, and even then it was close.)

There are other implications from the selection of a chancellor who championed this policy, but I’ll leave them to others. This one is worthy of attention all by itself.