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Editorial: Advising proposals need to be re-evaluated

A proposal currently under consideration by ASUA would require every student to attend four hours of advising every year. This is just the most recent in a series of attempts to remake the university's advising system in order to make it more responsive and effective. However, none of these proposals can be effective, so long as Administration ignores the underlying issues.

Before advising can be mandatory, it should be available. To their credit, Administration has done at least an acceptable job of making advising accessible to freshman, but there is a great deal of work that remains to be done. For the most part, the remainder of the university advising system is a hodge-podge of useless general education advisers.

Advising should begin at the registration process. If the university is competent in helping incoming students, further advising becomes less and less necessary. Incoming freshman need to be advised on more than what their entrance scores entail. They need clarification on what the various colleges and courses include, and what they can expect from different course tracks.

Despite the highest hopes of administrators, the general education system does not mean that we no longer need to deal with freshmen. While freshmen no longer need to worry about what classes to take within their majors, they still need to talk things out with someone knowledgeable, someone who can help them make their decisions.

Without a doubt, some colleges have an excellent advising system. The business college has been lauded for its program, which includes a staff of advisers that can do anything from evaluate resumes to aid in class choice. In other colleges, however, advising is provided by full-time faculty members who have little time nor inclination to really sit down with students.

With the help of colleges that have demonstrated successful advising departments, the university should establish standards for all colleges. By ensuring that all departments provide adequate advising, we could greatly alleviate the need for a university-wide program. Without a doubt, advising on the departmental level, when done right, can be a great deal more effective than the broad based advising necessarily provided at the university level.

In most cases, the time spent in advising will be a waste for everyone involved. Most students will end up taking all of it at the end of the semester, as to allow themselves to register for classes the following semester. Advising is only useful when initiated by students. Far better than the university or the department, they know when they need help. As much as some might like to think to the contrary, the university is not here to hold anyone's hand. There is no reason to force "help" on someone who doesn't want it.

For the time being, advising will remain a top priority of Administration in the same way that child care is a "top priority." For good reason, the university has been labeled a research first university; to combat this perception, Administration needs to put on a show of caring about students. To a great extent, the recent flaps over advising are an effort to make things look good. If advising really wants to help students, they should put themselves behind substance, not style.