On a campus as large as UW, students must use every academic resource available to plan the courses they take. The online course evaluations provided by ASM are one such tool, providing students with the ability to peruse course evaluations with the simple click of a mouse.

This valuable resource allows students to see how their peers rated both classes and professors in past semesters. It will allow students to sift through the sea of confusion. While only quantitative data is provided, the online service can give students a general idea of the quality of the professor or course. Sounds like a fairly practical resource, doesn’t it? Well, some UW academic departments apparently think otherwise.

Under UW Board of Regent policy 74-13, academic departments at UW are required to administer course evaluations every semester. These evaluations then become public information upon request. This, however, seems to be a problem for some academic departments. Of the total 119 academic departments on campus, 107 departments have turned in their course evaluations for spring 2003. With spring 2004 upon us, several departments are simply unwilling to supply the information as required by law, as interpreted by the Wisconsin Attorney General’s office in 1994, and then clarified again in 1998.

This lack of compliance creates a hassle for ASM staff members, who must repeatedly follow-up with the departments and attempt to get them to cooperate. University departments not complying with this simple policy are wasting the time of ASM staff members and are doing UW students a great disservice.

If 107 departments are readily willing to comply, there is absolutely no reason why the remaining departments are balking at ASM’s request. With the exception of the two departments that only have qualitative data available to turn over to ASM for this semester, but will have quantitative data available for future semesters. All of the non-compliant departments should stop playing games with ASM. These departments need to turn over their course evaluations immediately.

Students have a right to basic information about courses they are considering taking. Regent policy reaffirms this. The 10 UW departments withholding course evaluation materials must abide by this policy.

 

The following departments have refused to provide ASM with their course evaluation information:

Asian American Studies - Hemant Shah - [email protected]

Chicano/a Studies - Camille Guerin-Gonzales - [email protected]

Civil and Environmental Engineering - Erhard F. Joeres - [email protected]

Computer Science - John Strikwerda - [email protected]

Continuing and Vocational Education Program - Elisabeth R. Hayes - [email protected]

Geological Engineering - Tuncer Edil - [email protected]

Jewish Studies - Steven Nadler - [email protected]

Military Science - LTC Donna L. Williams - [email protected]

Naval Science - Captain Randal L. Bahr - [email protected]

Physician Assistant Program - Jeffrey G. Nicholson - [email protected]