For the last semester here at Brooklyn College, students have been missing the comment section of faculty evaluations when choosing classes for their next semester.
The comments section was crucial for some students who did not fully trust outside professor evaluation sites like “Ratemyprofessor.com”. “Without this comment section we go in blind and are unable to select the professor who best meets our individualized needs as students,” said psychology graduate student, Teddy Boynton, “It places students at a deficit,” he said.
Brooklyn College students now have little to no reliable source when choosing a professor that best suits their educational needs.
BC students now have to rely on less trustworthy sources, and word of mouth, rather than viewing the comments in the student evaluation section. “I wish that I’d get to see what other students had experience-wise when it came to certain professors, and how they liked it because it would impact me if I would choose them for a specific class,” said Film major and freshman Sophia Savidis, “Some teachers have different teaching methods, and a lot of how we do in a class depends on the professor.”
The comments section was not only for the students’ benefits, but also for faculty benefit. Professors were able to gain a sense of the impact their lessons had on students, and get ideas of how to make their curriculum more efficient.
“I wish when I was choosing classes and professors that I could have known past students’ experiences with the professors,” said freshman psychology major, Olivia Livingston, “I think while the feedback was good for professors to see, it was also beneficial for the students enrolled in the college to be able to see as well.”
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Anne Lopes released a statement on the reasoning behind the removal of the comments section: “Students’ evaluations of courses and instruction are critical to assessment and provide helpful information to faculty, administrators and students. Students sometimes included written comments about other students in the class in the comment section. Because we could not redact the comments, we made the decision to not publish the written comment section of evaluations.”