Sad state of faculty advising

There has been considerable discussion on this campus regarding the utterly embarrassing refusal of the faculty to approve an "opt-out" only policy for course evaluations. In spite of admirable activism by student leaders, such as Duke Student Government Vice President for Academic Affairs Joe Fore and fellow Chronicle columnist Elliot Wolf, coupled with an impressive push by Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences George McLendon, little has changed-with the current percentage of course evaluations posted on ACES hovering around a paltry 10 percent.

Thus I propose that McLendon and company tackle another pressing academic issue on campus: the sad state of faculty advising. We all just registered for our courses a few weeks ago, and I cannot even begin to recount the innumerable horror stories I heard about the pathetically low-level of support students received from their assigned advisors.

I know that my advisor is currently on leave in D.C. for the year, and I can assure you that I have not heard a word from him since he left campus at the end of last year. And I am willing to bet that none of his other advisees have heard from him either. To make matters worse, the political science department assigned me to a temporary advisor who teaches in a different concentration without even consulting me. He spent the first five minutes of our 10-minute "conference" on the phone with an operator at the New York Times making sure she restarted his delivery following his recent vacation.

I wish my experience was an anomaly, but I began listening to friends and classmates following the aforementioned meeting. I heard everything from, "I have never even met my advisor" to, "I e-mailed him, but I never heard back from him." More than one of my senior classmates told me he gave up on his advisor years ago and just asks friends for advice, while another told me his advisor did not even know his name. The list goes on, but I think you get the point.

I cannot comprehend why the major academic departments at Duke, a school that prides itself on student-faculty interaction, do not make a more concerted effort to get greater student input regarding advisor selection. There seems to be a major disconnect between the students and departmental administrators who should begin by allowing students to select and then if necessary change official advisors once they establish more meaningful relationships with faculty during their junior and senior years. I would rather have the political science department e-mail me my pin number and allow me to meet with a faculty member of my choosing then insult me by assigning me to a professor who could frankly care less about my academic development.

There are some notable exceptions to the rule, such as the public policy department, which is famous for its incredible devotion to undergraduates. My unofficial faculty mentor teaches at the Sanford Institute where everyone from the director down to the internship coordinator understands the importance of student advising. And I also know that there are a number of faculty members-across a wide range of departments-who are eager to assist interested students.

I am currently enrolled in an independent study course with an extremely busy professor who was more than willing to supervise my work, and I am joining the rest of my senior seminar for dinner at my professor's house at the end of the semester to discuss our recent research. My political science professor last spring even publicized and attended events I helped organize on campus. None of these individuals, however, is my actual advisor.

The moral of the story and lesson for younger students seems to be that there is little emphasis on the formal advising program but that students can ameliorate the situation by reaching out to faculty members on their own time. Thus, until significant changes are made, I encourage students not to expect much more than a pin number from their department-assigned advisors and instead to work on finding their own mentors outside of the formal system. Trinity College is also distributing a major advising survey to seniors via e-mail, and students should absolutely fill it out in order to provide administrators and faculty members with insightful commentary and helpful suggestions. There may not be much hope for seniors, but that does not mean that we cannot help improve a seriously flawed system desperately in need of repair.