In an effort to revamp the current advising system, Student Assembly President Jim Rich '96 sent a letter to the Committee on Procedure last term, unanimously approved by the Assembly, requesting that the College change its policies for advising freshmen and sophomores.
Since then, the Assembly has formed an ad hoc committee to gather more information about problems with Dartmouth's advising in consultation the Committee on Student Life, which received from the COP the responsibility of responding to the Assembly's petition.
Education Professor Andrew Garrod, chair of the Committee on Student Life, said the Assembly's advising committee has been "a very important player" in the issue of possibly revising advising.
COSL is an organization of administrators, faculty members and students who address issues pertinent to students' lives, Garrod said.
Garrod said COSL will draft a survey "in a couple of weeks" to find out more about what students and faculty members want regarding advising.
COSL will distribute the survey to about 1,000 students and 100 faculty. The Assembly's committee will help write the questions, he said.
Once COSL gathers the survey results, it will compose a report based on the information and present it to Dean of the College Lee Pelton and Dean of Graduate Studies Edward Berger.
Garrod said COSL will "probably make some recommendations" based on the survey results by the end of the academic year, most likely in May.
Rich said he predicted a "drastic overhaul" of advising.
Pelton said, "I like the idea of understanding better what the problems are ... I don't know that except through anecdotal information."
Pelton said he has spoken with some students about their complaints with advising, but he would like more concrete details about the problems with advising before committing to changing them.
Currently, pre-major advising for freshmen consists of two mandatory meetings with faculty members. Students meet with professors to discuss their class choices and sign their registration cards.
Rich said most freshmen do not receive enough guidance from these meetings, mainly because new students feel "overwhelmed." Rich also said many faculty members are not enthusiastic enough about helping students.
"Their sophomore year, they have no advisors," Rich said. For some, "it tends to be a miserable experience."
However, Dean of the Faculty Jim Wright said, "Students are pretty satisfied with freshman advising." He said he has heard some complaints about it, but generally students found freshman advising adequate.
"Advising is an important part of what we do," Wright said. "It is a part of teaching ... that faculty willingly share."
Wright said the current system of advising was voted on by the faculty several years ago. Before then, only faculty members and administrators who volunteered would participate as advisors for freshmen.
Now, all faculty teaching during a Fall term must serve as a freshman advisor. Wright said the change nearly doubled the number of freshman advisors and lessened the load of the faculty and administrators who had previously performed all of the advising.
Wright said, "Certainly, the faculty ... would need to be involved in any reorganization or adjustment of the advising system."
Wright said no one among the faculty had yet to act on Rich's requests, but "We are all committed to a system with as much support and guidance as we can offer."
If COSL presents the College with a proposal for revamping advising, the COP and the Committee of Chairs would probably have to approve it before it reached the consideration of the general faculty, Wright said.
Meredith Epstein '97, former-vice president of student services for the Assembly, said she has worked to try and improve advising since her freshman year.
"I'm so excited," she said. "People are finally addressing the issue."
Epstein said she surveyed students last winter about the idea of opening an advising center, comparable to the composition center, but which would deal with academic advising.
The survey results showed students would not use such a center, but that they wanted the current system revised. From there the Assembly began considering methods to improve pre-major advising.
Rich appointed Chris Swift '98, who is not an Assembly member, to chair the Assembly's ad hoc committee on advising because "he's a real meticulous worker."
Swift, who helped with Rich's campaign for Assembly president last spring, said he cares a lot about remedying Dartmouth's advising system.
