The Student Government Association (SGA) introduced legislation last week that, if passed, will place official requirements on academic advisors, including requiring advisors to hold hours for co-op students and calling for the creation of an academic advising Web site.

“The Academic Advising Bill of Rights and Responsibilities” took more than three months to compile, said SGA Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael DeRamo. He said it was the result of meetings with senators and advisors on campus.

“It started back at the end of September, as a bill that would standardize what students could expect from their advisors,” DeRamo said.

Although the legislation was not the result of repeated complaints from students, DeRamo said SGA occasionally hears from students who have had problems with academic advisors, and therefore wanted to create a standard for the advisor-student relationship.

The bill of rights states students have the right to know the identity of their academic advisor and how to schedule appointments with them. The bill also requires advisors hold “sufficient and consistent appointment and walk-in hours.” Requested appointments must be held within five business days, and academic advisors must respond to e-mail or voicemail messages within 48 hours.

Although many parts of the bill sound demanding, DeRamo said many were requested by the advisors themselves.

“Some of the demands that seem a little over the line were their ideas,” he said. “The feedback has been so positive.”

In addition, the bill calls for a “locally controlled, centralized academic advising Web site” with a directory of academic advisors. The Web site is already in the works, DeRamo said.

The legislation does not apply to co-op advisors, and does not set forth consequences for breaching the bill of rights, something some senators said was needed.

“The bill as it stands lacks consequences,” Vice President for Financial Affairs Billy Haddad said in senate Thursday. “What happens when a student or an advisor violates the bill of rights?”

Haddad proposed an amendment to the legislation that would “add some teeth,” he said. The amendment would have added that advisors would face consequences with the dean of their respective college if they failed to comply with the bill of rights.

Other senators, however, argued adding such consequences wasn’t necessary to make the legislation legitimate.

“This is an advising bill of rights, not law,” said Sen. Michael Paradiso, a co-author of the legislation and assistant vice president for academic affairs.

The senate reached a tie vote on the amendment, leaving it to the vice presidents to determine whether the amendment would pass or fail. With a vote of 4-1, the amendment failed.

Despite not having written consequences, DeRamo said the legislation would give students something concrete to look at if they have issues with their academic advisors. Although the legislation only applies to academic advisors, DeRamo said SGA would consider extending it to co-op advisors as well.

“It was going to be for all advisors at first,” he said. “Once this goes through we’ll see how it’s received. It’s something we are interested in.”

The bill of rights, if passed, will also be included in the student handbook – an amendment proposed by Sen. Michael Benson and approved by the senate last Thursday.

SGA will vote on the legislation tomorrow. If it passes, it will go to President Richard Freeland for approval before being adopted as university policy.