Drexel's self-defeating model
By: Editorial Board
Issue date: 5/18/07 Section: Ed-Op
Originally published: 5/18/07 at 3:55 AM EST
Last update: 5/18/07 at 4:18 AM EST
Originally published: 5/18/07 at 3:55 AM EST
Last update: 5/18/07 at 4:18 AM EST
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Our campus sits as an outcast on the peripheral of University City. There is little, if any, private retail or attractions on campus. We must go to UPenn, Center City, Manayunk, or even the suburbs, for entertainment.
We are the University with, as recently as the last academic year, barely half of the faculty employed full-time: overworked, underpaid, and unable to invest in the lives of students as the mentors we crave. They likewise sit and eat apart from students, and never hear from them unless they complain about grades. We have an Administration that bills credit hours for independent studies while the professor receives no pay or compensation.
We are the University where "student government" is a misnomer. Where decisions greatly affecting students are made by those most removed from students; where students pay their tuition but fail to see where it goes, much less guide where to invest at least a portion of it.
But we wouldn't waste our ink printing complaints about this if there were not solutions. All of these problems can be changed. The USGA can spearhead, campaign, and positively pressure the Administration to eliminate weekend club fees, provide that 24-hour facility, hire library system students to rediscover campus lore, redesign the dinning hall so the campus can eat together, and boost the ranks of faculty.
We'd like to see an immediate improvement in the visibility of the student government. Making yourself accessible is one thing; making yourself visible is another. The number of uncontested elections and the stagnant voting turnout in this election shows just how many students do not seem to care about the USGA. You are our megaphone to the administration; you have their ears, but you cannot be effective unless you really understand what's at stake.
We wish you success in your upcoming term and want you to understand that, while we intend to remain an independent student newspaper, we are willing to work with the USGA.
Sincerely,
The Editorial Board of The Triangle
We are the University with, as recently as the last academic year, barely half of the faculty employed full-time: overworked, underpaid, and unable to invest in the lives of students as the mentors we crave. They likewise sit and eat apart from students, and never hear from them unless they complain about grades. We have an Administration that bills credit hours for independent studies while the professor receives no pay or compensation.
We are the University where "student government" is a misnomer. Where decisions greatly affecting students are made by those most removed from students; where students pay their tuition but fail to see where it goes, much less guide where to invest at least a portion of it.
But we wouldn't waste our ink printing complaints about this if there were not solutions. All of these problems can be changed. The USGA can spearhead, campaign, and positively pressure the Administration to eliminate weekend club fees, provide that 24-hour facility, hire library system students to rediscover campus lore, redesign the dinning hall so the campus can eat together, and boost the ranks of faculty.
We'd like to see an immediate improvement in the visibility of the student government. Making yourself accessible is one thing; making yourself visible is another. The number of uncontested elections and the stagnant voting turnout in this election shows just how many students do not seem to care about the USGA. You are our megaphone to the administration; you have their ears, but you cannot be effective unless you really understand what's at stake.
We wish you success in your upcoming term and want you to understand that, while we intend to remain an independent student newspaper, we are willing to work with the USGA.
Sincerely,
The Editorial Board of The Triangle
Patrick Friend
posted 6/13/07 @ 10:10 AM EST
Of the long list of things Drexel could fix, I'd say most of those are near the bottom. How about not charging us tuition while we're on co-op? The three credits worth of classes we are afforded are hardly good recompense. (Continued…)