"What's a four? Maybe it means one thing to onestudent but something different to another," hesaid.

Carl B. Agee, an associate professor in theEarth and Planetary Sciences department, says hebelieves that while the CUE Guide has some flaws,it does contain important data.

"It gives a fair measure of certain aspects ofteaching, but it doesn't cover everything," hesaid. "There is one form for all different sortsof courses. The ratings are totalled up, [but]they don't relate to the quality of the course."

Some junior faculty like Associate Professor ofHistory Vladimir N. Brovkin had not even realizedthat CUE evaluations were used in tenuredecisions.

Brovkin says he is concerned that the expressedintention of the CUE evaluations--to offerstudents guidance in choosing courses--might beincompatible with the added function of using themas hiring devices.

"I'm not criticizing the CUE guide," he says."The CUE guide is geared to students, and that's alittle different than the evaluation."

Instructor Discretion

Some professors believe that the CUE forms arenot an accurate way to evaluate teaching fellowsand junior faculty.

Marjorie Garber, who teaches Literature andArts A-40: "Shakespeare: The Early Plays," did notintend to give out the CUE forms in her class.Some of Garber's teaching fellows had receivedpoor CUE evaluations in earlier years.

According to Buell, "The impression I got from[Garber] was that her first reason was the issueof taking class time to do this."

"I know too that she had not been happy withsome of the comments that her TF's had received inthe past, but that's not a unique kind of reactionamong people who always participate in the CUEsystem," Buell says.

"Course heads know partly because of thecomments they get on their own teaching that someevaluations will be unnecessarily harsh andcruel," he says, "and my sense is that they try tobuffer that with their teaching fellows,conveying--if there is any bad news to beconveyed--conveying it with some exp anation likethat."

Buell says that several of Garber's teachingfellows eventually distributed the CUE evaluationsin review sections.

Garber was out of town and could not be reachedfor comment.

A Solution?