Spring Break
In a banner meeting, Faculty Senate evaluates evaluations
Derek Simons
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: News
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The Missouri legislature passed an omnibus education bill (SB389) in the spring.
Faculty Senate Chair Dr. Gary Ebersole said many in the University of Missouri System "held their noses" while supporting the bill as, besides the good things it contained, there were also many unfunded mandates.
One of the requirements Ebersole listed is for all public universities to post certain consumer information on their Web sites. This includes the academic credentials of every instructor from graduate teaching assistants up to the highest levels of professors and their respective student evaluations.
In an agreement signed recently with the Missouri Department of Higher Education, each campus will be able to design its own questionnaire for the evaluation.
"Faculty across the state resisted the idea of putting up something that would be the equivalent of Pick-a-Prof," Ebersole said.
He recommended meeting with representatives from the Student Government Association.
"This can be very simple," Ebersole said. "Maybe only five questions that ask about things the students actually have the ability to judge. For instance, was the course challenging or not? Did a professor show up for class, or not?"
Because student participation will be voluntary, Ebersole said he will press for a statement on the site indicating the results of the evaluations are not scientifically accurate.
Senator Dan Hopkins, College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), voiced concerns about the online evaluations.
"Even if these comments are anonymous, shouldn't they still count as libel?" he asked. "With some of the nonsense they [the students] write on those forms."
Senator Bob Schubert, Staff Council representative to the senate, asked if the Web site would encounter problems with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
"In several venues, I have publicly argued that this violates the privacy rights of faculty and that we need a FERPA for faculty," Ebersole said. "I think we will get to the point with more and more regulations coming down the line that we may have to begin lobbying for something of that sort."
The Web site must be active by fall 2009. Failure to comply with the mandate could result in loss of state funding, according to Ebersole.
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