Opinion

Chancellor should invest in student advising

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Related stories:

• Advice for UW's advising (October 30, 2001)
• Biddy's plan to improve advising (April 16, 2009)
• A plan for better advising (April 20, 2009)
• Importance of good advising cannot be underestimated (November 19, 2003)
• A bit of advice (November 16, 2004)

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It is that time of year again. The start of winter, Thanksgiving break coming up, the end of football season and the time to register for spring classes.

For many of us, the Touch-Tone registration system represents another mundane task we have to complete or an exciting look at the changes for next semester. For most freshmen, however, registration marks a nervous time of worrying about how to register, what courses to take and how many credits to take.

Decisions that are made during registration freshman year often determine how many years one will spend here at UW-Madison. The wrong course could lead to a demoralized student who decides to leave UW, or more often, the wrong course means students have to spend an extra semester or two to fulfill requirements that could have been taken during freshman year.

This time of year also marks a time to struggle with trying to schedule a meeting with an advisor. For 25 percent of all students, scheduling advising meetings are one of the most difficult tasks on campus. For various reasons, ranging from no time in their schedule, a booked advisor and not knowing who their advisor is, freshmen are often forced to navigate through this new process alone.

For too many, advising on this campus has been a hassle more than a help. For too many, poor advising or a lack of advising has meant extra semesters spent here on campus to complete requirements that could have been taken early on in their academic careers.

From stories of taking calculus to fulfill basic math requirements, to a math professor advising a potential political science major, most students have advising horror stories. Fear not freshmen, it doesn’t have to be like this!

The Associated Students of Madison, your student government, has committed itself to improving the advising services provided on this campus. Since its inception last year, the campaign has fought for and won a change in the Degree Audit Report System report. Starting next Tuesday, students will have the opportunity to request a DARS report for any major, regardless if you have declared the major or not. This change will give students the freedom to explore requirements for majors, and how long it will take to complete the major, without having to declare the major first.

With this victory in mind, the ASM Advising Campaign is now turning its attention to peer advising and accountability for Letters and Science advisors. The advising campaign is calling on the chancellor to invest in peer advising, so that students can talk to other trained students during registration times and other times when it is difficult to see an advisor. Make no doubt about it — peer advisors cannot and will not replace professional advisors. It will, however, open up more opportunities for students to have their questions answered, and it will also provide a new perspective in courses to take.

The goal of this program is to allow students to have more people to talk to in making decisions so that proper decisions can be made early on and possibly prevent students from having to spend extra years on campus.

Today, the advising campaign is seeking to hold the university accountable to its students. Every student has the right to quality advising, especially freshman year, when there are so many options.

We are calling on the chancellor to provide the necessary support for peer advising on this campus. Peer advising exists in some schools in this campus, and it is high time that it be available to the 6,000 new freshmen enrolled in Letters and Science.

Scott Spector (specs97@aol.com) is a senior majoring in political science. He is also a member of ASM.