The United Students Government at BSC is working on compiling student surveys that evaluate professors on campus. Chris Ring, assistant vice president of academics for USG, is organizing the project, and is hoping to have the results ready one week before fall registration.

Even though departments on campus have students fill out professor evaluations at the end of the semester, Ring said some students feel as though students do not benefit from the results . While the evaluations passed out by the departments might not result in any action, the evaluations from USG will have a more direct result .

"I hope it will help students make a more informed decision on the professors and the courses they choose to take," Ring said.

Although the evaluations will not help students that must take classes taught only by one professor, students taking classes taught by multiple professors could benefit. There is no cost to participate in the evaluations, and all evaluations will be included in the final report. The surveys ask questions such as:

• Was the professor's grading methodology fair and accurate?
• Would you recommend this professor to other students?
• Rate the difficulty of the course.
• Explain the professor's teaching style (lecture, class participation, etc.)
• Explain the professor's testing style (multiple choice, essay, etc.)

David Hunter, an associate professor in the philosophy department, said that although he thought having student evaluations was a good idea, the questionnaire was incomplete.

"A student who is not doing well might be inclined to think the course is more difficult than a student who is doing well," he said. "Also, freshmen have a harder time with classes than seniors do."

Hunter suggested adding two questions: “What grade do you currently have in the class?” and “What year you are in?”

Michelle Curtis, the assistant vice president of student life for USG, said the evaluations provided an excellent means of giving freshmen an understanding of the opinions held by upperclassmen .

"I think the USG evaluations are more effective than the end-of-semester evaluations the departments pass out because these are being released for the students to see, whereas the departments' evaluations are kept confidential," she said.

E-mail: carlenepeterson5@yahoo.com