The Undergraduate Student Government’s Academic Affairs committee is working on a proposal to make Ohio State list all professors in every course before students schedule.
The scheduling window has been open since the beginning of February and Ohio State students have started planning for Spring Quarter.
However, not all students will have tools such as the popular RateMyProfessor.com available to them, because their teacher hasn’t been listed for the course.
While OSU lists the majority of professors with their courses before students sign up, some students won’t even know their professor until the first day of classes Spring Quarter.
“It stems from a fundamental right student have to know their professor and their reputation so that they can assess the quality of the professor,” said James Van-Hulle, senator for the College of Biological Sciences.
Van-Hulle said USG hopes the proposal will be implemented by the end of Spring Quarter.
“If students were able to see their professors before signing up for a class, it would promote professor accountability and students would naturally flock to the professors who have good teaching styles and genuinely care for the students,” Van-Hulle said.
Rose Huskey, a junior in biology, has had problems with not knowing her professors before classes started in previous quarters.
“One problem with not knowing the professor is that you don’t have any idea what books are required for the class, so you’re not able to order them online, and then have to buy the books from the campus bookstores at incredibly expensive prices,” Huskey said.
Erin Spears, a sophomore in marketing, has had the same problem as Huskey. “It sucks when you go to classes and you don’t know who the teacher is because sometimes it makes a difference on whether or not you want to take the class. You can’t get an idea of what the professor might expect from you or how they teach the class,” she said.
Still, there is hope among USG that the issue will be resolved quickly and that the university will be able to amend this problem.
“If we can implement this it will allow students to mold their academic experience in a way that best fits their needs,” Van-Hulle said.
Josh Zurn can be reached at [email protected].
