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At Harvard University, earning straight A's is about to get harder. Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday that it would limit the number of A grades awarded to undergraduates, adopting one of the most ambitious efforts by a major university to curb grade inflation. The decision was made by faculty vote earlier this month. The move comes after top grades became so common that some Harvard faculty argued they no longer reliably distinguished exceptional work. More than 60% of all grades awarded to undergraduates in recent years were in the A range, according to university data cited by faculty members who supported the measure. Harvard is not the first elite university to confront grade inflation. Princeton University adopted a policy in 2004 to limit A-range grades to 35% of those awarded, though it abandoned the system a decade later after criticism that it disadvantaged students in competition for jobs and graduate school admission. Nationally, grade-point ...
There was an explosion early Saturday at Harvard Medical School that appears to have been intentional, but no one was injured, authorities said. A university police officer who responded to a fire alarm tried to stop two unidentified people who ran from the Goldenson Building before going to where the alert was triggered, university police said in a statement. The Boston Fire Department determined that the explosion was intentional and officers did not find additional devices in a sweep of the building, police said. Police released grainy photos of two people wearing face coverings and what looked like sweatshirts.
The Trump administration escalated its fight with Harvard University on Friday, placing the Ivy League school under extra financial oversight and threatening sanctions if it does not provide additional data on its admissions practices. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the department was placing Harvard under heightened cash monitoring, forcing the school to use its own money to pay out financial aid for students and then seek reimbursement from the government. She also threatened further enforcement action if the school does not turn over records to prove it no longer is considering race in admissions. Harvard did not respond to a request for comment. The moves are part of the administration's crackdown on Harvard as President Donald Trump seeks to eradicate what he describes as liberal bias at colleges around the country. Since taking office, Trump has used the Education Department in unprecedented ways, cutting federal research grants for schools that do not accede to his .
Harvard University says it has started receiving notices that many federal grants halted by the Trump administration will be reinstated after a federal judge ruled that the cuts were illegal. It's an early signal that federal research funding could begin flowing to Harvard after months of deadlock with the White House, but it's yet to be seen if money will arrive. The government has said it will appeal the judge's decision. Reinstatement notices have started arriving from several federal agencies, but so far no payments have been received, Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton said late Wednesday. Harvard is monitoring funding receipts closely, Newton said. A federal judge in Boston last week ordered the government to reverse more than USD 2.6 billion in cuts, saying they were unconstitutional and used antisemitism as a smokescreen for an ideological attack. The Trump administration started cutting federal research grants from Harvard in April after the Ivy League school rebuffed a lis