"Being a good teacher carries with it the implication that you are not a good scholar," Bert R. Vaux, associate professor of linguistics and teacher of the popular Social Analysis 34: "Knowledge of Language."

"You can be a poor teacher and get advanced within the tenure track," Vaux added.

Dean of Undergraduate Education, Susan G. Pederson '82 admits that CUE Guide ratings can have an impact on a professor's promotion.

Pedersen calls the effect of the CUE on the tenure track "complicated."

"CUE evaluations become part of teaching evaluations, which become part of the dossier for professorial review," she says. "It is taken into account in consideration for promotion but is one thing among many many things."

CUE Guide Editor Brianna M. Ewert '03 has a similar understanding of the guide's influence on tenure.

"I do believe that evaluations play a role," she writes in an email. "From some of the experiences I've had working on the CUE Guide I would say that they are definitely taken into consideration."

After a lunch this summer with University officials and CUE Guide staff, Ewert was "very surprised the deans appreciated our work."