Students Publish Evaluations Copies Of Faculty Appraisals Distributed To UI Students

Less than a month after a judge ruled in its favor, Associated Students University of Idaho finally distributed thousands of copies of student evaluations of the school’s 1,485 faculty members.

“It’s a satisfaction knowing that we can be of service to students in providing information we feel they need,” said Travis Quast, a senior and Associated Students advertising manager who successfully sued the school to distribute the evaluations.

On Tuesday, 4,000 copes of the spring 1996 evaluations were made available at campus residence halls, the administration building, student union, library and bookstore. The printing expense was covered by Associated Students.

Second District Judge John Bengtson rejected the university policy that the evaluations could be reviewed in the provost’s office but not copied.

Teachers were evaluated on preparation, organization, effectiveness, responsiveness, relevance and whether students would recommend the courses to others. Each received an average score up to a maximum of four in each area for every class.

“I don’t know how well it really reflects on the teacher’s ability,” said Ernest Brannon, who received 3.9s and 4s for courses in the Aquaculture Institute that he runs. “A friendly personality can also affect that.”

Steven Brunsfeld, associate professor of forest resources, would prefer more detailed questions that could provide specific information he could use to improve his teaching. Still, as long as there are no personal comments, Brunsfeld does not oppose publicizing the evaluations.

His ranged from 2.3 to 3.8, but he maintains that students should be denied the chance to fill out an evaluation if they miss too many classes since “now they have the right to publicly humiliate me.”