It’s that time of year again — finals are fast approaching. Dead Week is just around the corner. Projects and presentations are staring you in the face, and as of this past Monday, you can log online and fill out your course evaluations. This ritual of evaluating courses is coupled with students getting that rare opportunity to provide feedback to the University on the performance of their professors.

Students are encouraged to fill out their evaluations because according to Karen Helm, director of University Planning and Analysis, they play a part in the promotion, salary and tenure of faculty members on this campus. For the University to rely on the data gained from student evaluations, 70 percent of each class section must participate. Thus it’s imperative for students to fill out their evaluations so the University can better assess the performance of professors.

But what good are these course assessments to students if they can’t see or directly receive any benefits from them?

It’s time for the University to release the results of each course evaluation including the professor’s performance. Providing this information to students will allow them to make more informed decisions when going about selecting classes for the upcoming semester.

The University does not permit the release of these evaluations, citing the State Personnel Act, which protects state personnel from having certain job-related information from being released — such as formal evaluations, which the University has deemed these course and professor evaluations to be.

However, under the law and University policy, exemptions can be made if granted by the employee. The University should be proactive and encourage all faculty members to waive any barriers that may be in the way for this information to be published.

Students have a right to know how their peers have evaluated professors, and the University must do all it can to ensure that students will be able to read and judge for themselves the evaluations of their fellow students.

These evaluations are a mere survey of what the students think of classes and the professors who teach those classes. The University makes survey results public all the time, especially on the University Planning and Analysis Web site. The course and professor evaluation surveys should be no different.

Since the University can use these results in its decision-making process, students must be afforded the same opportunity in making their decisions of what classes to take.