"A number of faculty members felt the policy was not pedagogically sound because it [allowed] people to finish their involvement in a course before the end of the course," Wolcowitz said. "They felt it built in a great deal of inequity and grade inequities. For example, an economics concentrator in a math course could take a senior hourly and thus be exempted from final examinations, but math students in the same class would not be able to."

Not all faculty members, however, are in complete agreement that senior honors hourlies have become unnecessary.

Assistant Professor of Economics Douglas W. Elmendorf, who offers students the option of taking senior honors hourlies in the course "American Economic Policy" that he co-teaches with Baker Professor of Economics Martin S. Feldstein '61, said that honors hourlies allow students to better budget their time.

"We offer senior hourlies because it gives seniors a chance to rearrange their schedules in ways that make it easier for them to get their work done," Elmendorf said.

Carlos R. Perez '91, a government concentrator, said he agrees with Elmendorf. "I think people should still be given the option," Perez said. "It definitely lightens the workload. I think most people welcome the possibility of having an earlier exam in a course even if it is shorter."

Although Elmendorf said he has not sensed any inequity in offering honors hourlies, he pointed out the difficulty of designing an hour-long exam that adequately covers a full semester of coursework.

"While we have not had any complaints regarding inequities between students, we do find it hard to write a one hour exam that covers the full course of material," Elmendorf said