The Real Cause of Grade Inflation

Since pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses began waning, culture warriors have been casting about for a new controversy in elite higher education. Last October, Harvard handed them one.

Amanda Claybaugh, the school’s dean of undergraduate education, took the unusual step of making public an internal report titled “Re-Centering Academics at Harvard College.” In doing so, she thrust a long-standing conservative grievance back into the headlines: grade inflation.

Of all...