Although it is well established that student evaluations have biases against instructors of color and women (see a recent review of the literature here). Faculty unions have pushed back on the use of student teaching evaluations in many ways. Faculty union contracts often require that student evaluations cannot be the sole factor for evaluating teaching performance.

For example, the contract for faculty at the University of Florida states: “The teaching evaluation must take into account any relevant materials submitted by the employee, including the results of peer evaluations of teaching, and may not be based solely on student evaluations when this additional information has been made available to the evaluator” (p 23). Others have approached this issue by requiring peer evaluations used as well as any teaching evaluations, For example, University of Oregon’s contract requires a recent peer evaluation to be used along with any student evaluations during the promotion process.

Other faculty unions have been able to negotiate stronger provisions around the use of student evaluations of teaching. AAUP at Wright State included a provision where faculty could petition to have the evaluations of specific courses removed from their record. The California Faculty Association contract has a broader provision where faculty can submit written “rebuttals to student course evaluations when it is believed that additional information is needed or in the case of student bias. Evaluators must review such written rebuttals when reviewing underlying student course evaluations” (p 71).