Students began completing professor evaluations this week – and three University Senate members would like students to see some of the results.

The student senators plan to continue seeking faculty evaluation information at the senate meeting at 3:30 this afternoon in Garrett Ballroom.

Student senator Troy Ransdell said the student senators plan on “definitely going forward with some kind of proposal,” whether it is their proposal from the March meeting, another proposal or both.

Student senators Josh Collins, Dana Lockhart and Ransdell submitted a proposal at last month’s meeting requesting that portions of teacher evaluations be made accessible to students.

The March 18 proposal requested information from the questions “my instructor is actively helpful” and “overall, my instructor is effective.” But quorum was called more than two hours into the meeting before the proposal could have its first reading.

The student senators are considering submitting a proposal that would add separate, additional questions to the professor evaluations that would then be made available to students.

“We want any proposal that we put forth to be sound and reasonable,” Collins said.

History professor Andrew McMichael, who is also a semate member, said SGA should make their own professor evaluations for students.

“The more knowledge and power students have, bring it on, the better, but some of it they’re going to have to bring on themselves,” he said.

He said the questions the student senate members want access to “are so vague and so objective” that they would not be helpful to students.

Collins said the student senators believe some of the items on the professor evaluations can help students make decisions about which classes are “best suited for their learning style.”

He said making some questions available would also help students understand how the class functions.

Patricia Minter, a history professor and senate member, said a compromise was made during the 2000-01 academic year which allowed SGA to develop a separate evaluation that the organization would collect and distribute to students.

In return, SGA agreed not to pursue an open records request with the state attorney general’s office, Minter said.

The student senators planned on working on the possible proposals up until today, Collins said.

Reach Ashlee Clark at [email protected]