Harvard faculty to vote on proposal to limit number of A grades in each course
(www.theguardian.com)
The university I went to is a state university that isn't nearly as well known as Duke and Harvard are.
Letter grades spanned the whole spectrum. I had one friend fail a calc class two times before finally passing with a B on his third attempt.
Is the issue that professors are afraid of giving lower grades? Seems like a simple pass/fail would be more effective if the letter itself has no meaning.