Now I understand why there is such restlessness at one of the most beautiful campuses in the world. Several methods of preventing fun are being employed, and I hope you enjoy my venting of this frustration.
You wouldn’t believe the anguish I felt when the computer in the Linux lab rejected me. There was that cute penguin staring me in the face, and suddenly I was being treated like a long-haired hippie freak by the policing system of the University. I was told that I was not allowed to use the Linux lab unless I was enrolled for the course. This was forgivable, as it was akin to only letting people in the botany course use the greenhouse, and only letting certain people on certain days work on weeding the courtyard.
In many biology courses, professors have used the woodsy area known as The Bush, but by no means is there a course in which students LIVE in the bush for a certain amount of time. Just imagine how popular a wilderness survival course
would be. Students could be kayaking and canoing down the river, too.
What about that pond? No one has ever had the idea of using paddle boats for speed dating? No? Well, if you’ve ever been stuck in a paddle boat in the middle of a lake, you’ll get to know that person’s traits very quickly.
I’m a graduate student and I can’t schedule an undergraduate course for fun? Aw, what’s this about credit hours and me not paying the undergraduate tradition, I mean tuition? Isn’t this getting a little too old? Where I was for my undergraduate (Penn State Berks), we were allowed to take any course in any department as long as we made the prerequisite, and as long as it wasn’t only for people of a certain major or first years.
The second gripe I have about course scheduling is that you only have a few days to decide what courses you want, and if you fail, you have to track down two busy professionals who already have difficulties with budget cuts, let alone children with parents of high income. At my undergrad college (Penn State), you could drop and add freely online for the first nine days of a semester, and you could late drop until a few weeks before the end of a semester with a $6 fee.
That’s not the least of professors’ worries, though. Their greatest fear is if a student from another major randomly approaches them and asks a few questions, instead of showing them a drop/add card, minor form, or other administrative item.
Interesting–where I was before, professors were proud of their secondary interests (including a joint collection of Star Wars figurines with a staff member), and would gladly engage in conversations about politics,
and would join students at cultural events. In fact, most professors did not advise their own majors, to keep the community feel.
Now I move on to clubs. On a pleasant note, I would like to salute the Black Student Union for coming up with both an outdoor picnic and an indoor party. It is a big hello to the rest of organizations that communication styles vary among
the populus at MU, and frequency/accessibility counts.
Where I was before, they had a “Club Rush” featuring all organizations out on the lawn in a big tent, adjacent to, but not IN the student union building, and they had it in the afternoon at a period called “Common Hour,” during which classes were not held. Also, a word to the organization-managing office here change the name of the “Organizational Outbreak” so it doesn’t sound like swine flu.
The issue of housing has been a concern to many, and was addressed in the Snapper regarding graduate students like myself. But what if you paid extra to have the closest off-campus housing (through Student Lodging, Inc) and don’t realize you can be kicked out? You see, where I live (Reighard Hall), it’s not really an apartment, because it’s not a true lease. A true lease would allow you to stay the whole year and be below full-time, so that you could meld into the community by finding employment if you had difficulties with studies. What’s the point of it being “off-campus” if it’s university-related?
I’d like to add that the mail is horribly slow, because if the mail for here ends up in the University mailroom, it gets sent right back to Millersville USPS to be sent directly. What a joke.
I fill up a coffee cup with cold tap water at the Galley, and the person charges me for a “hot drink.” I protested, to which she replied, “It’s not for what’s in it; it’s for the cup.” Are we at Moo University?
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