And just like Harvard, none of the other schools are going to endanger their students by acting alone to bring down grades.

What needs to happen to take the danger out of the picture is simple: a new standard must be set, and made universal very quickly.

If students from Brown, Yale, Columbia, Stanford and Harvard, for instance, all had the same change made on their transcripts, the danger would be removed.

At the very least, if Harvard transcripts were misinterpreted, those in competition for spots would face the same misinterpretation.

And in the best case, the top schools across the country would return to the days when a B was a good grade and professors could distinguish between work that is merely above-average and work that truly deserves an A.

In order to change the amount of effort equated with specific grades at top schools, Harvard cannot act alone. Schools other than Harvard need to admit that inflation is out of control and reassess what a B means.

It shouldn't be hard for the Ivy's to get together; they colluded on financial aid illegally for many years, to their respective benefits. Now, they have the opportunity to collude on something that would benefit both the institutions' reputations and the general well-being of their students.

In order to make these broad changes, someone must show leadership. The obvious choice is the president of the most prestigious school in the country.

I challenge Neil L. Rudenstine and his counterparts to change history, and actually do something about grade inflation before this issue becomes more of a crisis. If Rudenstine can take some steps toward bringing down grade inflation in the highest echelons of higher education, he will have done something people at this institution have been trying to do since before my birth.

Harvard's president should turn his attention from non-controversies like the benefits of diversity to long-standing, deep-seated problems in higher education.

Otherwise, I have a feeling the Crimson will be publishing articles in October of 2016 about the CUE committee and a proposal for transcript reform.

Valerie J. MacMillan is tired of seeing so many high grades on her transcript.