"It's just for the written responses that I'm affected by the amount of time I have or my mood," she says.

Because students fill out the questionnaires toward the end of the course, the last few lectures are the most fresh in students' minds, and may unduly influence their evaluation of the entire course, some students say.

"There are times I regret having written something needlessly harsh--not often, but it's happened," Larson says.

History of the CUE Guide

The CUE has been influential in improving courses in its 25-year existence.

The Committee on Undergraduate Education launched its first course evaluation project in 1972 as one of several educational reforms instituted by former president Derek C. Bok during his first year in office.

CUE Guide forms are photo-copied and distributed to instructors after grades are determined.

Before the CUE Guide, the only publication that reviewed Harvard classes was The Crimson's Confidential Guide, published yearly since 1925.

The early Confidential Guide consisted of a written review of each course and the recommendation "Stop, Caution or Go."

In the early years, the Confidential Guide was published under the auspices of the University.

However, professors and administrators became dissatisfied with the Confidential Guide's reviews. In 1972, Bok suggested that the CUE publish reviews of courses that were to be based on "statistics rather than common knowledge," says Jeffrey Wolcowitz, associate dean of Undergraduate Education.

"The CUE Guide was my idea," Bok says. "We needed something more reliable and something that would be taken more seriously than the Confi Guide. The professors are more willing to listen to an official University document."

According to Gingerich, Bok believed the Confidential Guide was irresponsible and needlessly harsh.

Gingerich says that Bok once read a scathing evaluation in the Confi Guide of two assistant professors. According to Gingerich, when Bok read the statistics about the same assistant professors in the CUE Guide, their evaluation was much more "acceptable."

According to Gingerich, Bok then called the Confi Guide to complain about its harsh treatment of the junior Faculty.