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Your Turn Reassessing Faculty Evaluations Like anyone who has been a professor for a long time, I've spent hours serving on committees that determine faculty promotion and tenure at the depart- ment, college, and university levels. While I believe it's critical for instruc- tors to participate in evaluating teach- ing methods and techniques, I see a real problem with the system that's currently in place: It's rarely fair. Too often, faculty serving on ten- ure and promotion committees must assess a colleague's teaching abilities in areas that aren't their own special- ties. It's so challenging for committee members to balance student evalua- tions with comments from the dean and department heads that some are tempted to base their decisions on the effectiveness ratings these profes- sors have received from students over time. Universities sometimes rank teachers' scores by department and college, and those receiving higher scores are generally interpreted as being better instructors. Yet there is so much room for error in these scores that I think members of promotion and tenure committees must ask themselves some nagging questions. Is it fair to rely on student opinions to deter- mine merit rewards and promotion eligibility for faculty? Is it fair to compare scores in a number-oriented department like accounting to scores in a writing-oriented class like man- agement communications? I think the answers are no. I would argue that the numerical student scores given to faculty are flawed and should be significantly revised, if not eliminated. I believe that, instead, schools should apply due process guidelines to faculty 64 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 assessment. They also should rely on alternative evaluation processes— such as the student outcomes data required by accrediting bodies—to evaluate professors. In the end, I think, higher education institutions and their faculty both would benefit by employing methods that more accurately assess classroom learning. Due Process in the Classroom One reason a numerical score is unfair is that it gives professors no way to defend themselves against harsh or untrue criticism. It allows for no due process, a term I bor- row from the legal field. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitu- tion states that the government can't take away someone's rights to "life, liberty, or property without due process of law," and the Fourteenth Amendment extends the principle to state legal actions. Essentially, due process guarantees that an individual will be treated fairly under the law. But universities that rely on student evaluations ignore a professor's guaranteed rights to fairness. When due process is granted under the American legal system, the accused is told in a timely manner who has made a complaint against him, and he's allowed to cross- examine his accusers. He can compel individuals to appear in court if their testimony will help in his defense, and he has the right to legal counsel. All actions take place within a reason- able time period, in the place where the alleged activities occurred. On the university campus, none of this occurs. Evaluations are com- piled after the semester is over, and specific students are never identified by Donald Epley as the authors of complaints. These measures are in place so the instruc- tor cannot retaliate against students who grade him unfavorably—but they also prevent the instructor from questioning the students or even instituting meaningful dialogue with them. Once the class is disbanded, there is no chance to carry out due process in the room where the course was held, or to call in accus- ers or witnesses from the classroom. And "counsel" usually means a department chair or a representative of the dean's office, most of whom do not have legal training. I believe that, if schools instituted a due process procedure, evaluations would be more fair. Faculty could meet with students and get a clearer idea of the perceived problems. They could also present their own cases to administrators and undo any damage caused by false student evaluations, while petitioning to have an unfair score expunged from their files. At the same time, administrators would be able to judge the accuracy of student evaluations. For instance, they might find that low student eval- uations are disproportionately given to professors in large classes and dif- ficult courses, while high marks are given in number-based classes like accounting. Such discoveries might cause administrators to do away with student evaluations altogether. Student Opinions There's another reason I believe stu- dent evaluations are unfair to profes- sors: In some respects, students aren't qualified to judge whether the profes- sors are doing their jobs or not. Most of today's business profes- sors have two roles. They teach, and they conduct research within their disciplines. Conducting the research