How often does an advisor really sit down with his or her student to fully discuss a program of study aimed to "interpret, evaluate and explore the life of the imagination" like the College's guidelines suggest? The reality of the advising system is often much less fulfilling than these noble words would imply.

While there are many professors who sincerely make their best efforts to meaningfully engage with all their advisees, there are others who shirk their duties either by pulling a Houdini during registration or simply not caring enough to make time for their advisees. Not to mention those who are just plain busy.

For those without majors, a lack of direction can be not only aggravating but potentially harmful. Many of us arrive with no clue about what we might want to study. We come here because this College provides an academic environment that invites exploration. In the meantime, we need effective counseling to guide our experimentation and, in some cases, to encourage academic risk taking.

According to the Faculty Handbook, all faculty must serve as an advisor in some capacity except for new professors still in their first year. In order to weed out the professors who really dislike advising, and thereby do a disservice to their advisees, we suggest that the College make advising optional.

Those who choose to remain advisors should receive nominal extra salary, icing on the cake if you will, to serve as a bonus in appreciation of their efforts. We would hope that the additional pay would remind them of the value of quality advising.

Dartmouth has instituted a similar incentivised plan, greatly improving the quality of its advising system. 

In conjunction with a supported advising system, we also recommend an informal student evaluation of advisors conducted through the dean of students office. Evaluations would serve to monitor the quality of advising. Advisors found truly delinquent should be asked to improve or stop advising. We would also like to see more training available for interested professors, supplementing the already-existing workshop designed for new advisors.

We anticipate that if our proposed system were ever instituted, the majority of professors would continue to advise since they are here, presumably, for the students. We acknowledge that some professors may not want to advise, and by giving them the opportunity to abstain from doing so, we will be able to enrich the advising experience for students.