Universities Weblog

Students rating professors, and giving both positive and negative opinions about them, is nothing new, with websites such as Rate My Professors long popular.

But a new development is raising questions: students at UCLA are now being offered money to provide taped lectures and course materials from their classes, as well as give candid thoughts on the quality of the professor.

From Inside Higher Ed:"Paying students to inform on professors is right out of the Stalinist playbook," said John McCumber, a professor of Germanic languages at UCLA who is among the faculty members who have already been criticized on UCLAprofs.com, the Web site offering to pay for reports on faculty members.

While there are similar groups of conservative alumni at other campuses, the offers to pay students — which started less than a week ago — sets this effort apart and worries experts on academic freedom.

"Asking students to spy is utterly repugnant," said Jonathan Knight, director of the Department of Academic Freedom and Governance at the American Association of University Professors. "It's hard to conceive of a practice more unlikely to obtain accurate, useful, reliable information about what happens in a classroom than having to pay students for the information."

Jones said that professors were wrong to think that he was sending students to spy on them. He said he was seeking students who had already enrolled, and who were finding themselves troubled by political discussions in the classroom.

Daniel Solorzano, a professor of education at UCLA, said that he found the new campaign "repulsive" and that the efforts of the Bruin Alumni Association were designed "to chill the campuses." He said that material about him that is posted on the group's Web site is inaccurate, and that he's been torn about how vocally to oppose the group. "I don't want to give them attention, but at the same time, it's very, very serious what they are doing."

He said that the campaigns against professors represent "a very real problem in the academy."

What do you think? Do students have the 'right to know' or is this going too far? Does paying for the information elevate this practice to a new level? Would you be willing to supply information for profit? This is quite a fascinating story, and we'd love to know what you think.

(Photo courtesy of Spy Equipment)

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