GSAS Council Makes Plea for Better Advising

Harvard graduate students are overworked and underadvised, according to a letter the graduate student government plans to send to Harvard administrators.

The Graduate Student Council (GSC) drafted a letter last night detailing their criticisms of the graduate program to President Neil R. Rudenstine, Provost Harvey V. Fineberg, Dean of the Graduate school of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Christoph J. Wolff and GSAS administrative dean Margot N. Gill. They said they plan to send the letter by the end of this week.

The students said they are trying to make the community aware of the difficulties they face, hoping that this will soon lead to discussion and solutions.

"Basically this is aimed at addressing two issues of concern to graduate students," said Paul Callan, a representative to the group working on this initiative, the Committee on Graduate Education at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). The issues, Callan said, were "expectations placed on graduate students and the quality of faculty advising."

The letter asks the administration to adopt the GSC's Statement of Graduate Student Rights, which addresses these and other issues.

It further calls for FAS Dean Jeremy R. Knowles to "establish urgently a temporary Committee on the Status of Graduate Students to report to the Faculty as soon as possible."

The committee would discuss ways to implement the statement and more general methods of "improving the quality of life of graduate students."

Equal numbers of graduate students and faculty, at least one undergraduate and at least one administrator would sit on the committee chaired by the master of Dudley House.

"Declaring the statement is an important first step," said Adam Fagen, president of the GSC. "[The next step] depends on how this is taken. I'd like to see more accessibility. The form it will take, who knows."

Callan said the students want to develop concrete methods to improve their advising system. He said they are unsure of exactly how to go about this, but they will take it one step at a time.

One second-year graduate student in humanities who was present at the meeting said students need to provide professors with incentives to take theiradvising duties seriously.

"The real problem is generally with the tenuredfaculty," she said, implying that it is moredifficult to negatively affect professors whoalready have permanent positions. "We need to havean effect on the compensation they get for beinghere."

Callan said "punishing professors" is lessimportant than encouraging their peers to standout for better student advising.

"The primary responsibility lies with the otherFaculty members," he said. "Students have alimited ability to make complaints."

Callan said a third party will eventually benecessary to mediate discussions between studentsand Faculty.

Such an arbitrator could listen to studentcomplaints and enact changes accordingly.

Fagen said individual professors, not generaldepartments, bring down the quality of advising inthe graduate schools.

"I think advising is to some extent a nebulousissue," he said.

"It tends to get left up to individual Facultymembers. There needs to be something to improvewhat they are doing," he added.

The students said advising needsstandardization.

Advisors do not devote full attention to theirstudents, according to Fagen, and spend more timeon research.

About 95 percent of students experienceproblems with their advisers or know students whohave advising difficulties, he estimated.

Fagen, himself a student in biology,complimented the History of Science, Classics andAstronomy departments for their effective advisingsystems.

The students also emphasized standardizing therequirements departments place on students anddecreasing the overwhelming workload that studentsare forced to shoulder throughout the semester.

In the letter, they request more reasonableresearch workloads and fewer program requirementsthat can more easily be met in the time set asidefor earning the degree.

They also demand certain student rights, suchas "the right to be respected as persons, scholarsof merit and junior colleagues of the faculty uponadmission to a graduate program."CrimsonAparna SridharELGIN K. ECKERT, vice president of theGraduate Student Council, discussed a proposedletter to President Neil L. Rudenstine demandingbetter advising at a recent council meeting.Eckert is a second-year graduate student inclassics.

"The real problem is generally with the tenuredfaculty," she said, implying that it is moredifficult to negatively affect professors whoalready have permanent positions. "We need to havean effect on the compensation they get for beinghere."

Callan said "punishing professors" is lessimportant than encouraging their peers to standout for better student advising.

"The primary responsibility lies with the otherFaculty members," he said. "Students have alimited ability to make complaints."

Callan said a third party will eventually benecessary to mediate discussions between studentsand Faculty.

Such an arbitrator could listen to studentcomplaints and enact changes accordingly.

Fagen said individual professors, not generaldepartments, bring down the quality of advising inthe graduate schools.

"I think advising is to some extent a nebulousissue," he said.

"It tends to get left up to individual Facultymembers. There needs to be something to improvewhat they are doing," he added.

The students said advising needsstandardization.

Advisors do not devote full attention to theirstudents, according to Fagen, and spend more timeon research.

About 95 percent of students experienceproblems with their advisers or know students whohave advising difficulties, he estimated.

Fagen, himself a student in biology,complimented the History of Science, Classics andAstronomy departments for their effective advisingsystems.

The students also emphasized standardizing therequirements departments place on students anddecreasing the overwhelming workload that studentsare forced to shoulder throughout the semester.

In the letter, they request more reasonableresearch workloads and fewer program requirementsthat can more easily be met in the time set asidefor earning the degree.

They also demand certain student rights, suchas "the right to be respected as persons, scholarsof merit and junior colleagues of the faculty uponadmission to a graduate program."CrimsonAparna SridharELGIN K. ECKERT, vice president of theGraduate Student Council, discussed a proposedletter to President Neil L. Rudenstine demandingbetter advising at a recent council meeting.Eckert is a second-year graduate student inclassics.