Students E-Evaluate Profs

Let the academic angst fly—at least at Princeton, where students are now free to criticize their professors through a new Web site that allows undergraduates to e-mail feedback anonymously to their professors.

Since the site went live on Feb. 19, it has received about five to seven comments for professors each day, said Princeton’s student government president, Robert D. Biederman.

According to Biederman, comments submitted to the site are reviewed by student government representatives to ensure no hostile or coarse language is used, and they are then forwarded to the intended professor.

Biederman said yesterday that students and professors were both taking the comments seriously.

“Every single e-mail has been perfectly legitimate,” he said, adding that a professor put more textbooks on reserve in the library after receiving an e-mail from the Web site.

And when a student criticized an economics professor for pushing a socialist viewpoint—through the anonymous e-mail system—the professor explained his teaching in a mass message to the class and changed the course problem sets to reflect a wider perspective.

Joshua R. Weinstein, vice president of Princeton’s student government and the site’s creator, said its inception “was sort of spontaneous.”

Weinstein added that he got the idea for the Web site after hearing about a similar system at the University of Virginia from a visiting professor.

This is not Weinstein’s first Web site—the sophomore drew attention when he created a “Crush Finder” Web site that matches students with their crushes. According to Weinstein, that site has over 1,300 participants and 875 matches, and its coding served as the foundation for his anonymous course feedback site.

Undergraduate Council President Ryan A. Petersen ’08 said that while the UC already had a similar site, the Harvard version was geared toward teaching fellows and not professors.

“I think the truth is that students at Harvard often interact more closely with [teaching fellows] than professors,” he said after last night’s UC meeting.

Harvard Professor of Sociology Martin K. Whyte said he considered Princeton’s new program unnecessary.

“I’d rather have students come and tell me without it being anonymous,” he said yesterday.

But some Harvard students, when told about Princeton’s system, said it seemed like a good idea.

“They should have had this when we were young,” said Mirla Urzua ’07, adding that the system would be even better if it were opened up both to administrators and faculty members.

“I think it’s great,” said Rehema Kutua ’07. “You never want to go against a professor or TF or anyone in control over your grade.”

Kutua added that the site could even allow students to send compliments to professors without looking obsequious—a trend that has been seen in Princeton’s messages, according to Biederman.

—Staff writer Alexander B. Cohn can be reached at abcohn@fas.harvard.edu.