Course Review's future unclear

The search for classes is a challenge that all students face at the start of every semester.

They look to their friends for opinions. They schedule appointments with their advisers. And in the past, students were able to consult a publication, called the Penn Course Review, for additional insight about their potential classes and professors.

But this year, the Review is gone.

After moving the publication online last fall -- and cutting the content to half of what the printed edition contained in the process -- www.penncoursereview.com currently contains no information other than "Coming Soon."

The Undergraduate Assembly, however, has plans to get the publication up and running once again.

Will Lavery, a 2003 College alumnus and the Review's last-known business manager, wrote in an e-mail that the Review is "behind in being updated."

"Right now, the leadership is in a major transition phase, and we are working to get Penn Course Review up and running again," he added.

In a recent correspondence to UA representative and College sophomore Mike Cohen, Lavery wrote that the Review's two executive board members -- himself and College alumnus Andrew Lee -- have both graduated and were unable to find staff replacements.

The last time the Penn Course Review was not produced was in 1985, when there was also a shortage of staff members.

Like 1986, when the UA led the charge to revive the Review, the UA is once again hoping to reinstate the publication.

"I have exchanged several e-mails with" Lavery, said Cohen, a member of the UA's Education Committee. "And I'm hoping to work with [the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education] on this project."

However, SCUE Chairwoman and College junior Ophelia Roman would not comment on SCUE's potential involvement, noting she did not have enough specific information on the project.

First published in 1959 by Daily Pennsylvanian staff members, the Review provided students with results from course and teacher evaluations.

The important characteristic about these ratings was that they were not written by administrators -- the comments were all submitted by students themselves, who had already experienced sitting in on a professor's class for an entire semester.

It was a year ago that the Review announced that it would be online and available to students at no cost.

But a year later, the Web site is no longer running, and students are left wondering where it has gone.

"The online version was actually very good," College junior Maggie Reyes said. "Although it didn't contain as much information as the printed versions, it was very accessible and helpful.

"But I couldn't find it this year," she added.

Students are now left to remember the publication's better days.

"I thought the Review was incredibly useful," Reyes said. She added that she continues to use an older version of the publication, calling it a defining factor in her course selections.

And the negative sentiment surrounding the Review's disappearance is widespread.

"Without the Review, students will begin to ask their friends for opinions on classes," Wharton senior Winnie Ting said. "While that may be good, they might not be getting an objective view of the courses."

Economics Professor Herbert Levine agreed that the loss of the Review is unfortunate.

"Students still have the first two weeks of class to shop for the right courses," he said.

"But an important characteristic of good teaching is how a teacher builds a class," he added. "Without the Course Review, their choices might not be as informed."

Some students, however, remain hopeful that other resources at Penn will help students in their class decisions.

"I think that the freshmen can still get along all right without using the Review," College senior Nandita Ray said. "They can speak with friends, professors and advisers about their courses."

Nevertheless, Ray agreed that the freshmen's lack of a Course Review denies them "a very good starting point" in the search for classes.

History course

1959: The Review is first published by Daily Pennsylvanian editors as a 33-page pamphlet. 1971: The Student Undergraduate Committee on Education takes control of the publication. 1982: The Penn Course Review becomes autonomous. 1985: The Review disappears for a year, and the Undergraduate Assembly funds its publication for the next three years. 2002: The Review moves online. 2003: The Review once again disappears due to lack of leadership.

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