EVALUATIONS MAY BE PUBLISHED

by Doug Harrison

At Wednesday's Student Government Association assembly meeting, President Jim Avery will suggest that the assembly organize, solicit and publish student evaluations of instructors.

Not to be confused with the departmental evaluations students fill out in their classes already, Avery said he'd like see students complete an additional evaluation from SGA.

"It would have a slightly different write up," Avery said. "It would probably ask for a one to five rating of the instructor's overall and it would also ask for any additional comments."

Avery said he would like to publish the results and post them on the SGA website as early as the winter semester. According to Avery, the published report would list the instructor by the class he or she teaches, a summary of the responses made and a numerical breakout of the ratings.

"The major problem is the number of people necessary to implement the program," Avery said. Though he said he hasn't discussed the idea with any faculty members or department heads, he said he would like to see if they would be interested in helping in the effort.

Avery plans to pitch idea to the assembly Wednesday. If it approves of his suggestion, he said he will recommend forming a committee of representatives and moving forward with the plan.

Dan Raftery, business senior, said he thought the idea could be of help to students.

"Some new people who don't who the instructors are or who to ask for opinions might benefit from it," Raftery said. "But it would depend on how subjective the evaluation was."

Raftery said he asks around among his friends to see what instructors are good and bad if he has a choice.

"A lot of times, you have to take the class regardless of the instructor," Raftery said. "It may be the only section offered.