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February 8, 2008 > Opinion > The students have spoken: Change PIN procedure

The students have spoken: Change PIN procedure

By The Rice Thresher Editorial Staff | Thresher Editorial Staff

Two weeks ago, the Student Association held an online poll about Registration, Drop/Add PINs and academic advising, and the results were not surprising (see story, page 12). The overall student opinion seems to be that advisors are just a step to getting an RDA PIN, with the current advising and registration process being nothing more than an inconvenient bureaucracy.

The vast majority of students polled stated that they only saw their advisors to get their PINs, rather than for any actual advising. And to further highlight the current system’s failures, there were more students who believed that the meetings are not a worthwhile experience than those who did. Given these views, it is no wonder that a majority of students would not meet with their academic advisors if it were not required.

We have previously supported updating the advising system, and we stand by those recommendations, and judging by comments from the poll, students agree (“End PIN Paternalism,” Nov. 16, 2007).

Beyond freshman year, meetings with advisors should be voluntary. After all, Rice’s course structure is not so complex that it requires more than one year of hand-holding from an advisor. And as expressed in the poll, students often know more than advisors. Students are smart enough to register on their own if they want to.

We know that some faculty and administrators are worried that eliminating mandatory advisor meetings will result in a horde of senior students stopped at the Sallyport because of unfulfilled graduation requirements. But we feel these fears are unfounded. If the poll results show anything, it is that students are not getting anything out of their advisors besides unnecessary stress. Instead, ESTHER should employ an active checking system to show students which requirements they have met and which ones they have not. Advisors are already just doing the job of a computer, so why not use a real one? This would save students and faculty a great deal of time and effort.

Undergraduates are allotted a great degree of trust from the university, from college governments to the alcohol policy to the honor code. It is time to extend this trust to classes and let students dictate their own lives without the currently required PINs from mommy Rice.

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