ABSTRACT
Should one desire to start a barfight in a community tavern, the topics of politics, religion, and maternal heritage are likely precipitants. If one wishes to start a verbal brawl in a university faculty club, the desirability of extra credit is incendiary material. Extra credit in college is, in the words of one of our survey respondents, “the gadfly to end all gadflies.” Some faculty equate extra credit with low standards and grade inflation; for others it denotes additional work and exceptional circumstances.
