The Student Assembly voted last night to begin the process of compiling a course and professor evaluation guide and announced the completion of an advising guide for students selecting majors and minors.
The Assembly voted overwhelmingly to establish a task force to work on the course guide, which has been published intermittently by the Assembly in years past.
This year, resolution sponsor Jorge Miranda '01 said he hopes non-Assembly members will participate in the task force to ease the burden of creating the guide, which will be posted on the internet.
"I think the students really want this. I think it's something the administration would like to see," Miranda said. "The reason why it's been so choppy is because it's always relied on one person or one committee -- once they stop, the course guide stops."
The resolution states there were similar documents published from 1986 to 1987, 1990 to 1992 and from 1994 to 1995.
Most of the discussion was in favor of authorizing the task force's commencement with many members of the Assembly offering strong support for the measure.
"Maybe [a professor's] tenure won't be quite the comfort zone it otherwise would be," Student Life Committee Chair Teresa Knoedler '00 said.
"I think the other benefit of this is it's a reward for professors who do a good job," Administration and Faculty Relations Committee Chair Jake Shields '99 said.
While some members raised concern about the Assembly agreeing to put its name on a guide which the task force will release without another Assembly vote, no opposing votes and only one abstention was cast in a show-of-hands vote.
Miranda told The Dartmouth after the meeting he hopes to have the evaluation guide on the internet by Winter term.
Miranda also announced the completion of a separate major advising guide which will be distributed to sophomores at a special major guidance session on Nov. 16 or through Hinman mail for those members of the Class of 2001 not in attendance.
Members of other classes can obtain copies from the Assembly or the Academic Skills Center.
The booklet contains information on major and minor selection and modified majors.
The guide was created by the Academic Skills Center, the Dean of the College Office and the Dean of the Faculty office, as well as the Assembly.
"I think it was a collaborative effort in the truest sense," Miranda said.
After the meeting, Assembly President Josh Green '00 told The Dartmouth the College has "not yet" agreed to supplement the $5,000 of its yearly allocation the Assembly returned to the Undergraduate Finance Committee -- a symbolic gesture designed to influence the College to find a solution to what the Assembly deemed underfunding of student organizations.
At its meeting last week, the Assembly voted to return one sixth of its budget and urged the UFC to give all of it to the Committee on Student Organizations, which would then allocate it to various student groups on campus.
"For me the issue is if the Student Assembly is going to have any relevance, the administration is going to have to act on what students' want," Green said.
Early Thursday morning, members of the Assembly, including Green, posted large novelty checks on Parkhurst Hall urging President Wright to fulfill the Assembly's request to contribute $20,000 more of the College's money to help fund student organizations.