MY drop deadline The ASUC put on a party, complete with Gatorade (TM) and Ritz (TM) crackers in front of Campbell hall to protest the attempted change in the drop deadline to the 2nd week for impacted classes, and the 4th week for others. You might wonder "Hey, wait a minute, there's no way you can fit a 'Day of Action' on that little sidewalk in front of Campbell." Turns out you can, if about 25 people show. The "Action" consisted of holding some signs and offering petitions to passersby. Oh, and writing complaints on a board. The DC photographer caught some great pictures, including one of a passerby signing a petition (although the passerby in question was only stopping because the person holding the petition was a friend of hers). I stood nearby and worked on the Daily Cal crossword, waiting to see if anything interesting happened. I left after about a half-hour. Some notes: AAVP Rocky Gade talks really fast. Some of the petitioners got aggressively annoying, with angry shouts of "Come on, it'll only take a minute of your time," and "Let's see you walk away when you're the one affected!" The call for petitions was mostly "They want to change our drop deadline!" I'm not entirely sure how they can claim ownership to a deadline. If they can, I can, and I say "I want to see my drop deadline pushed earlier." Some signage/boardage: "Compromise." Compromise is the reason we're allowed to drop at all. Apparently, to these people, "Compromise" means "Give in to all of our demands." "Students First." Moving the deadline up helps students, too, you know. It should've read "Students who agree with me First!" "How can we decide whether to take a class after just a few lectures." Umm... by paying attention? "Why should students' futures suffer?" I agree. Why should students be denied from entering their classes because a bunch of people want to wait to decide whether to drop or not. "A lot of people I know didn't know they want to drop 'till the 7th week." What a coincidence. A lot of people I know knew they wanted into a class before the 1st week, but couldn't get in because it was full. Yet strangely enough, there was still plenty of space available at the 7th week, when it was too late to get in. All in all, the unfortunate thing is that most students (at least the real students) are hugely benefited by an earlier drop deadline, but are too busy worrying about classes (because they're willing to take classes that aren't cakewalks) to show up to protest these protests. It's not an issue for me anymore, but someone really needs to counter-petition this petition. A one-sided petition doesn't tell anything about how students feel. posted by Beetle Aurora Drake 10/26/2004 01:15:00 PM # Comments (0) . . .
