End PIN paternalism

By The Rice Thresher Editorial Staff | Thresher Editorial Staff

One of the great things about Rice is that students are treated like adults. From the Honor Code to the alcohol policy, students are allowed to live their lives with little faculty or administration interference. We wish this policy would extend to registration.

In order to receive a PIN to register for classes, students are required to get the signature of an academic advisor.

This current system is a broken one. The method of advising within each department is inconsistent — some majors designate faculty members for each class, while others allow students to choose any faculty member as an advisor. On top of that, many students and faculty alike seem to avoid meeting altogether, exchanging PIN release data via e-mail without any actual advising.

In light of these ongoing problems, it is clear that the system needs an overhaul.

Advisors are supposed to provide two services: Offer advice on what classes to take and make sure students meet major and graduation requirements. Both of these services can be better provided by other sources. Fellow students, peer academic advisors and online course evaluations offer insight into classes from people who have actually attended them and know what is important to students. And if students want advice from faculty, they can always seek it out.

Also, students can check their major and graduation requirements either by looking at their own transcripts or through online degree audits. After all, students do not need advisors to make sure they do their homework or get enough sleep. They should not need them to register for classes.

After freshman year, meeting with faculty advisors should be voluntary. While freshmen may need a little guidance to understand Rice’s course structure, there are only so many times you can hear which classes are good and which are not.

To act as a safety net, ESTHER should employ an active checking system to show students what graduation requirements they have met and which they still need. Programming this checking system would not be difficult and would relieve advisors from doing the job of a computer.

And with students allowed to register without compulsory advising, there is no need for multiple PINs. All students should need to register is their usual ESTHER log-in PIN.

Admission to Rice should be sufficient evidence that students are smart enough to make the right choices, and something is wrong with the university if students need multiple PINs to prove that point. So let’s put an end to this academic paternalism.

November 16, 2007

The Student Newspaper of Rice University

End PIN paternalism

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