The University Senate voted in favor of a mandate Thursday that will require all professors to post the quantitative portion of their CTECs online.
Under the legislation, quantitative evaluations of 100-, 200- and 300-level classes that enroll five or more students must be published. Professors can still opt to withhold the student comment portion of the evaluations, although about 90 percent have already been posting their CTECs in totality, said Stephen Fisher, associate provost for undergraduate education.
Before the mandate, professors could either post complete evaluations or withhold the information in its entirety.
The legislation will go into effect for courses taught Fall Quarter 2006. CTECs withheld from publication in previous quarters will not be posted.
“The past is the past and there’s nothing we can do about that,” Fisher said. “If an evaluation was not published, that’s not going to be changed. The legislation looks forward, not backward.”
A proposal for the legislation was drafted by the provost’s ad-hoc CTEC Advisory Committee in November 2005. It was approved by the General Faculty Committee in February and was brought to the University Senate for the final decision.
The large student interest in a mandate played a key role in the decision, Fisher said. Recommendations from the General Faculty Committee, the CTEC Advisory Committee and Associated Student Government also factored into the decision, he said.
Recently elected ASG Academic Vice President Jordan Fox’s campaign platform included lobbying for the CTEC proposal. Fox said she was pleased with University Senate’s decision and said the legislation is the first step toward more improvements.
A majority of the University Senate voted in favor of the mandate during a quarterly meeting, which was enough for it to pass, Fisher said. The University Senate comprises all tenure and tenure-track faculty in Northwestern’s nine schools.
“There was at least one voice raised in opposition, but to my ear and (Provost Lawrence Dumas), it was overwhelmingly endorsed.”
Fisher said it is “conceivable” for the University Senate to alter the legislation, but the group does not plan to revisit the issue. Fisher called this legislation a “small change” in the CTEC system.
Weinberg freshman Ina Jani said she supports the mandatory CTEC legislation because she chooses her courses based on student evaluations. Although the quantitative ratings are helpful, student comments are most useful in determining how professors grade and test, she said.
Fox said she has started talking with Fisher about incorporating student comments into all CTEC evaluations. The CTEC Advisory Committee’s November proposal called for the mandatory publication of the quantitative portion, not the comment section. Fox said the committee wanted to pass a legislation to make publishing all sections mandatory but didn’t think administrators would approve mandatory student comments.
Fox said there was some faculty concern over mandatory student comments, but said she wants to revisit the issue.
“We want to make sure we’re talking to administration, and we’re finding a way to take all concerns into consideration,” Fox said.
Reach Margaret Matray at [email protected].
