The return rate of student letters, solicited at the conclusion of a non-tenured prof's class and as that prof goes up for tenure review, is abysmal. In tenure evaluations teaching weighs pretty equally with scholarship. But the teaching evaluations are so inconclusive and vague and unreliable that scholarship ends up playing more than its fair role. The Ad Hoc committee had an open meeting on 24-March, at which it solicited student opinions, and Griffith's conclusion from that is that the letter writing process causes a lot of problems.
Letters are to be written in the thick of finals, which is a hassle for students.
A terrible idea, if you ask me. Big ups to the first twenty minutes of last class idea. Need firmer questions, less open-ended than currently. In favor of coercion, but students are more likely to say what they feel if they're not too forced. Force by threat of grades-withheld is too drastic.