Spring Break
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
The undergraduate student body elected Jeff Gardosh as president this week, and we'd like to take this opportunity to publish an open letter to the incoming USGA president that addresses our concerns as students.
President-elect Gardosh:
The editorial board of The Triangle congratulates you on your election. We implore you to use your time as president for the betterment of the student body and outline solutions to Drexel's seemingly self-defeating model.
Our University is inextricably locked on the quarter system. This is all very well if the Administration would recognize and compensate for it. Students do the same amount of work as regular universities, but with less time during the week. This cuts into students' ability to invest their time in clubs and campus culture.
Drexel students have most of their free time during the weekend, but club programming is non-existent. US News & World Report shows roughly 50 percent of our study body not on campus during the weekend. Is this because they're homesick or because there's nothing to do? Inexcusable and exorbitant University fees force clubs to not host weekend events. Removing those fees and providing incentives for weekend programming will restore a vibrant student life during a time our campus is considered a wasteland.
Drexel lacks the student lore of other campuses. There is very little outside of Mario the Magnificent that makes Drexel uniquely Drexel. We are the driftwood with neither face nor identity. We have no spirit of continuity with those who came before, much less those who will come after us. There is little unity. We cannot even eat together in the Handschumacher Dinning Hall, because it's structured so that only those with meal plans can sit down at the tables.
We have no 24-hour facility where students can gather; where reserving rooms come at no cost, where coffee is sold and local artists perform on open stages; where game rooms, poker tables and maybe even a movie theatre can coalesce in an explosion of fun. Hagerty Library gets points for providing 24-hour service during finals, but they are the exception, not the rule.
President-elect Gardosh:
The editorial board of The Triangle congratulates you on your election. We implore you to use your time as president for the betterment of the student body and outline solutions to Drexel's seemingly self-defeating model.
Our University is inextricably locked on the quarter system. This is all very well if the Administration would recognize and compensate for it. Students do the same amount of work as regular universities, but with less time during the week. This cuts into students' ability to invest their time in clubs and campus culture.
Drexel students have most of their free time during the weekend, but club programming is non-existent. US News & World Report shows roughly 50 percent of our study body not on campus during the weekend. Is this because they're homesick or because there's nothing to do? Inexcusable and exorbitant University fees force clubs to not host weekend events. Removing those fees and providing incentives for weekend programming will restore a vibrant student life during a time our campus is considered a wasteland.
Drexel lacks the student lore of other campuses. There is very little outside of Mario the Magnificent that makes Drexel uniquely Drexel. We are the driftwood with neither face nor identity. We have no spirit of continuity with those who came before, much less those who will come after us. There is little unity. We cannot even eat together in the Handschumacher Dinning Hall, because it's structured so that only those with meal plans can sit down at the tables.
We have no 24-hour facility where students can gather; where reserving rooms come at no cost, where coffee is sold and local artists perform on open stages; where game rooms, poker tables and maybe even a movie theatre can coalesce in an explosion of fun. Hagerty Library gets points for providing 24-hour service during finals, but they are the exception, not the rule.
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…)