The University has discussed providing incentives, both negative and positive, for course evaluations completion, according to Karen Helm, director of university planning and analysis.

While it remains an open topic, Helm said it may be instigated if student response rates don’t increase.

“We have talked a lot about different incentives such as anyone who completes an evaluation is put into a lottery for an iPod or a similar prize,” Helm said.

According to Helm, employees in her office have also discussed the opposite.

“We have also talked about negative incentives such as delaying a student’s grades until their course evaluations are submitted. At this point, we aren’t using either kind of incentives, but if we continue to have difficulty, we might resort to that,” she said.

As of Tuesday, approximately 40 percent of the student body had completed course evaluations, but Helm said she hopes numbers can increase by at least 20 percent to match last year’s response.

A higher response rate would also boost accuracy, as small proportions may not be representative of the entire class, she said.

Britiany Merriweather, a freshman in civil engineering, said she completes course evaluations only if she feels a certain way toward a teacher.

“You want them to be able to teach other students well, and students’ opinions will help them to improve and work on their weaknesses,” Merriweather said. “More students would fill them out if the teachers provided extra credit.”

Phillip Holloman, a senior in sociology, said evaluations would be more beneficial if students could see how professors were evaluated, in turn helping them with their class choices.

“Some teachers really care about their students and what grades they get,” Holloman said. “Others just don’t care, and it shows.”

According to some students, professors have also started giving students incentives for filling out evaluations.

Leon Garcia, a sophomore in chemical engineering, said his Spanish professor, Louise Dolan, is providing her students an incentive to fill them out.

“If the whole class got to fill them out, you got a [free] quiz grade,” Garcia said.

According to Garcia, methods like these motivate students to fill them out and are effective as a whole.

“I wouldn’t have done it at all if she didn’t provide that incentive,” he said.

Garcia said one worry with that, though, is students will just go down the line, filling out the answers to the questions without taking them seriously.

“But if they take it seriously and are honest, it can be effective,” Garcia said.

Helm said, although students have requested to view the professors’ evaluations, the data is protected under state law. The University, therefore, isn’t allowed to publish the results about any particular faculty member for public viewing.

For professors such as Alton Banks, a chemistry professor, public viewing wouldn’t be a good idea if it were allowed.

He referred to a an incident about 30 years ago when a newspaper published results and created a list of the 30 worst professors on N.C. State’s campus.

Banks said it took a while before trust was built back between the faculty members and the students.

“It may sound like a good idea on the surface, but it’s probably better that it’s not done,” Banks said. “The point of the evaluation is to give the faculty a chance to improve their class and make the material more understanding to the individual.”

Technician also published faculty evaluation results in 1971 when they were available for public viewing.

Banks said public viewing may turn into a popularity contest between professors.

“One of the things students don’t recognize is the value of a class even if it seems difficult,” he said. “Down the road, you might realize that your professor really helped you learn.”

Banks said keeping these results private is beneficial to all parties involved.

“Some students may enjoy a professor, who presents material in a lively fashion and gives tests that are ‘laughably easy,'” Banks said. If that type of word were to spread on campus, the class might fill up for the wrong reason.”

News Editor Saja Hindi contributed to this report.