A new policy on teacher evaluation forms will allow department chairs to have access to student comments.
The Faculty Personnel Policies Council (FPPC) created this policy and presented it to the Academic Senate, where it was amended, changed and ultimately approved.
“The primary change on the new policy is that department chairs will have access to student comments, which previously they were not allowed to look at,” said Carl Fisher, FPPC chair. “Student comments went just to the instructor and the instructor had no obligation to show them to anyone.”
The FPPC works under the Academic Senate and is responsible for proposing new policies regarding university matters.
“[The policy] will allow department chairs to mentor instructors,” Fisher said. “There are little things that an instructor could be doing that will simply make the classroom experience better.”
The format and process of teacher evaluation forms will remain the same.
Some students said they thought the change could show improvement in teachers’ performance.
“If [the form] goes just to the teacher, it doesn’t matter,” said Kelsey Solomon-Dowsey, senior international studies major. “They can disregard it as they see fit if they get a bad review or not.”
Prior to these changes, some students already thought someone other than their professors could read their comments.
“I used to think that [the evaluation form] was going to the department chair, but now that I realize it was going to the professor the whole time, I’m blown away,” senior Spanish major Andrea Limon said. “I’d much rather prefer [the forms] going to the department chair because then they can do something about it.”