The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences recently changed its policy regarding course evaluations, enabling both the numerical and written parts of the course evaluations in CALS to be made public. However, many of the deans at other colleges are hesitant to create the same level of transparency with regard to course evaluation policies.
College of Arts and Sciences Dean Peter Lepage is worried that the evaluations would serve too many purposes if made public.
“Faculty members are using them to get feedback on the course, details of the course structure, whether the textbook works, and department chairs are using them to keep an eye on the quality of the teaching,” said Lepage, adding that this would hinder their usefulness to students.