Universities must make professor ratings public

By Jacob Houska

Published Aug. 21, 2007

Any student from a Missouri college or university will soon be able to find out what others think about their professors on their school's Web site.

The Missouri General Assembly passed a new bill requiring public institutions to post the names of all faculty members, their academic credentials and student ratings. They must also distinguish whether or not a teaching assistant is in charge of teaching the class.

Zora AuBuchon, the Missouri Department of Higher Education's general counsel and legislative liaison, said she believes the new information will be useful for students.

"The intent of this part of the bill was to give students as much information as possible as they chart their academic courses," AuBuchon said.

Under the new rules, college students in Missouri will have free access to information about their classes.

"It will also require institutions to post course schedules, the name of each instructor assigned to the course and to each section of the course, and whether the individual teaching any course or section of a course is a teaching assistant," AuBuchon said in an e-mail.

Others, including Missouri Students Association President Rachel Anderson, said they have concerns about the law. Anderson said she supports the statute but fears the law might have some side effects. She said she believes some students could allow personal beliefs unrelated to the course to influence their choice if another student mentions it in their review.

"It is good that our school is open about faculty qualifications and experience, but we inevitably run the risk of some student, parent or community member fixating on a single area of research that they disagree with and criticizing the qualifications of the faculty members who have researched that area," Anderson said. "It is important that everyone keeps in mind that not every avenue of research is supported by everyone, but that does not detract from its overall academic benefit."

As with any new program, cost has been a factor in weighing the advantages of the new law.

"Our guess was when this first came up, it might cost $130,000 to develop and maybe another $50,000 a year for the people to manage it," Provost Brian Foster said. "But those figures are just a very broad estimate."

Foster said information about how students can view the new available information has not yet been determined.

Foster also said the new Web site could be helpful in course selection, but it wouldn't guarantee that every student would be satisfied with their choice.

"Information is useful, but there's no magic bullet here," Foster said. "Different students relate to different faculty. Students have different styles and different things they like about different faculty."