Last Sunday, Feb. 26, the ASWC senate unanimously approved a resolution regarding how student voices can be better heard in the tenure evaluation process.

The resolution, written by first-year Evan Griffis and junior Maggie Appleton, proposes ways that students can have more say in the tenure process. Written because students were upset about their lack of input in the decision denying tenure to Assistant Professor of Spanish Alberto Galindo, it seeks to make students more aware of how their voices can make a difference.

The resolution proposes that students be given a list of all professors being reviewed for contract extensions in their third year and tenure in their sixth year, providing awareness for a student who may want to write a letter of recommendation. The resolution also proposes the formation of a committee of faculty and students to determine questions for professor evaluations and that students be told of the importance of their evaluations. It also asks the Registrar’s Office to move course evaluations online and have students check a box to indicate that their responses were effortful and honest. Currently, some evaluations are online while others are completed on paper in class, often with limited time available.

The resolution was written to give students a more direct and powerful way of communicating with the Faculty Personnel Committee, inform students of their position in the process of tenure decisions, provide more time for students to fill out their evaluations and create a more eco-friendly evaluation system.

Separately, a college review committee decided to send Galindo’s tenure decision back to the original personnel committee for reconsideration.