@paulralph @kevinrmcclure I don't think it's an either or.
I see student evaluations as a "customer service survey" I have seen the studies with instructors giving cookies on evaluation day. I have seen the gender bias studies, I have also seen students use evaluations as the only way to strike back at violent faculty (even though there are few consequences for poor teaching for tenured faculty, more so for adjuncts.
My question is how do we ensure students have some opportunities for feedback on a course?
But beyond the evals, there is the larger question of student well being, evaluations are just one small narrow measure, and a symptom of a larger issue in higher ed.