OUR VIEWS Consensus Opinion

Survey says

Recent results of the National Survey of Student Engagement offer compelling data on the state of academic advising at Tech. Freshmen rated advisement 2.87/4.00, while seniors rated it 2.68/4.00. Although these results indicate some improvement, they show that many students are unhappy with the resources provided to them by the administration.

In response to the survey results, the SGA committee on Academic Advising has developed uniform department-wide advising policies based on programs at schools that have high overall advising quality ratings. These policies are aimed at the centralization of many advising services. If implemented, they could potentially lessen confusion and improve student satisfaction with advisement services. These policies also call for more accountability on the part of advisors, requiring them to follow up with students who are struggling.

Although the committee currently states that general advisement should not be mandatory, they should consider proposing that advisement be mandatory for all first-semester students. These students often require assistance in course selection and are least familiar with Tech. Such a policy could benefit students as well as advisors; making advisement mandatory will provide more opportunities for students to give feedback.

Departments could request that students fill out exit surveys after mandatory advisory visits. With more feedback, individual advisors as well as departments could continue to improve significantly. If the departments show improvement, students will in turn be more willing to participate in the advisement process and advisors will be held accountable to those they serve.

No matter what the final policies are, student feedback and accountability are vital to improving the quality of advisement.

Clarifying the code

The decision to review the Student Code of Conduct and its appeals process has long been awaited by the student body. The current appeals process can be tedious, sometimes taking as long as multiple semesters to complete and leaving students in a “pending” status during the waiting period. Long appeals on academic violations hold up transcripts and can delay graduation.

After necessary changes are made, it is vital that the changes be known to students. It is imperative that all procedural changes be described clearly. The code should also be explained to all incoming students so fewer violations are committed by students who do not understand or know the rules.

Consensus editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.