COLUMN: Faculty approval should be left an option

---

by Vikki Otero

---

Through such innovations as the Honor Code and the Alcohol Policy, Rice displays a general philosophy that students are free to make their own decisions and behave responsibly, and ultimately they will be held accountable for their actions.

There is one practice at Rice, however, that is completely contrary to that way of thinking.

And it is now, at the beginning of the year when students are frantically trying to get their schedules in order, that the absurdity of requiring all students to get an advisor signature for all schedule changes is most apparent.

All students must get an advisor signature not only to register, but also to add or drop a class, to designate a class pass/fail and for almost all other changes in their schedules.

While this might make sense for first-semester freshmen, who may not be familiar with standard college-level course loads and may not have any idea what they want to take, it is unnecessary for upperclassmen who probably know what their major is, know what they have to take, and know what they can handle.

Once they reach their second semester, even freshmen have a pretty good idea of what they should take, and the advisor signature becomes unnecessary for them as well.

Another problem with the signature requirement is that it is frequently inconvenient to get the necessary signatures.

Freshmen and sophomores must often search frantically for a divisional advisor that may not be around on a particular day that a change must be made.

Juniors and seniors have to track down the undergraduate advisor in their major. In both cases, if the advisor can't be found, the schedule change can't be made. This may result in a student losing a place in a class she wants very much to take.

It also results in the unfortunate consequence of students resenting their advisors when they cannot locate them the moment they need them. While I don't agree that such resentment is justified, it is understandable.

Time is a scarce resource at Rice, and when a student has only as much as an hour between classes during the day, of course she wants to take care of his schedule changes as soon as possible.

The Registrar's Office closes at 5 p.m., and if a student can't find her advisor in that scarce time she has, she simply loses that day to make changes.

Requiring signatures is also an inconvenience for the advisors themselves. They have other obligations such as their classes and their own families and lives, and they should not be expected to be on call all the time to sign 50 or 100 add/drop slips for adults who can make their own decisions.

Requiring signatures for schedule changes sends the message that we as students are not capable of deciding what classes we want to take, that we have to get permission to enroll in any class. This is entirely antithetical to everything else Rice stands for.

Vikki Otero is one of the two features editors and a Will Rice College senior.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 13, 1996 issue.

Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.