February 27, 2009

'Dear Professor: I Hate You' — Anonymous

By THOMAS BARTLETT

It's the nasty ones that get you.

Flip through a stack of anonymous student evaluations of professors and the mild comments, even the compliments, tend to blend together. But often, hidden among them, is a dagger.

That's why Julie Novkov has a system. As soon as her evaluations arrive, Ms. Novkov, an associate professor of political science and women's studies at the State University of New York at Albany, scans them quickly, fearing the worst. "That's when it hits me in the gut