2008 Woodie Awards
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (2)
Issue date: 11/17/05 Section: Opinion/Editorial
- Page 1 of 1
Webster's become a degree mill
As many ambitious freshmen, I had great expectations for Webster. I remember sitting in advanced placement English talking with friends about college. I was proud to be attending Webster University, even bragged about it. My professor told me it was a good place for me. Webster is a school of social action, she said. Saying that Webster is a school of social action is like saying that Germans had no idea about the Holocaust. It is an hyperbole trying to cover up the overwhelming apathy plaguing Webster.
Webster is becoming a degree mill, churning out degrees at rates unmatched to any other university. The new motto should be "give Webster your hard-earned money and we will give you your paper" instead of "Webster University is dedicated to academic excellence, innovation in higher education, meeting the needs of students in an ever-changing world and incorporating an international perspective throughout the curriculum."
The apathy does not start with just students. It is very visible in the highest ranks of administrators. It was stated in the last issue of The Journal that about $55,000 was cut from the multicultural center. Where is the Webster University worldwide, the sole pillar that the Webster deans pride themselves on? How is that recognizing any kind of cultural awareness?
Webster is not a worldwide community, it is a selfish and apathetic community more interested in building new dorms and parking spots instead of promoting some kind of cultural awareness. As I am writing this, I am becoming more ignorant because my hard-earned dollars are being spent on the new dorms rather than giving me every opportunity to feed my curiosity. When can I get know the 100 nationalities that represent Webster? I guess hoisting outdated flags is enough of a cultural lesson. This worldwide community has been transformed into an ethnocentric juggernaut only worried about money.
So what happens when the administrators do not seem to care? The students do the same. Thousands of students attend Webster on a daily basis, but rarely stick around campus to attend events. People want to get in, complain about parking, go to class and go home. Heaven forbid if someone goes to a social event because no one wants to be bothered by some kind social activity. Webster, after all, is only a degree mill. People figure as long as they are funding dorms, new parking lots and useless stop lights, they will get their degree.
Webster does not have money to pay teachers who are truly affecting students lives every day, yet it has enough money to pay administrators sitting in their black leather cushioned chairs. After all, it is easier to cut teachers' salaries and student affairs than removing their own funds. It really is a pity that the dean of student's office has to close because they want to go on a lunch break.
Eldin Jasarevic
Freshman, Anthropology/Creative Writing
Botched registration stressful for students
I'm glad that The Journal covered this week's scheduling problems ("Bug in online registration confounds students," Nov. 10.) But they forgot to ask the questions that reporters are always expected to ask about something like this - why did it happen and how do we prevent it from happening again? The end of the article mentioned that there may be a similar glitch with graduate scheduling.
Why can't it be fixed in between? I know that this must be horribly stressful for the faculty (as was mentioned in your article), but it was even more stressful, perhaps, on the students who are communications majors who had to schedule for certain requisite courses before 8:00 a.m. or risk being set back a semester or even a whole year.
Your article mentioned that programmers found the glitch on the 21st of September... and they didn't do anything about it! No one said anything about the glitch to students (including myself) who got online to register at 5:00 a.m. only to find that they couldn't take the classes they needed without standing in line in the registrar's office. A simple way to prevent these problems would have been to fix the glitch before scheduling, even if scheduling had to be delayed. This was an unnecessary delay that could have saved the stress of many students and faculty members.
Katrina Johnson
Sophomore,
Film Production
Editor's note: The registration problems were caused by a bug in the code that runs online registration. Programmers thought the bug was fixed prior to registration, but as students began registering, they found it had not been fixed.
As many ambitious freshmen, I had great expectations for Webster. I remember sitting in advanced placement English talking with friends about college. I was proud to be attending Webster University, even bragged about it. My professor told me it was a good place for me. Webster is a school of social action, she said. Saying that Webster is a school of social action is like saying that Germans had no idea about the Holocaust. It is an hyperbole trying to cover up the overwhelming apathy plaguing Webster.
Webster is becoming a degree mill, churning out degrees at rates unmatched to any other university. The new motto should be "give Webster your hard-earned money and we will give you your paper" instead of "Webster University is dedicated to academic excellence, innovation in higher education, meeting the needs of students in an ever-changing world and incorporating an international perspective throughout the curriculum."
The apathy does not start with just students. It is very visible in the highest ranks of administrators. It was stated in the last issue of The Journal that about $55,000 was cut from the multicultural center. Where is the Webster University worldwide, the sole pillar that the Webster deans pride themselves on? How is that recognizing any kind of cultural awareness?
Webster is not a worldwide community, it is a selfish and apathetic community more interested in building new dorms and parking spots instead of promoting some kind of cultural awareness. As I am writing this, I am becoming more ignorant because my hard-earned dollars are being spent on the new dorms rather than giving me every opportunity to feed my curiosity. When can I get know the 100 nationalities that represent Webster? I guess hoisting outdated flags is enough of a cultural lesson. This worldwide community has been transformed into an ethnocentric juggernaut only worried about money.
So what happens when the administrators do not seem to care? The students do the same. Thousands of students attend Webster on a daily basis, but rarely stick around campus to attend events. People want to get in, complain about parking, go to class and go home. Heaven forbid if someone goes to a social event because no one wants to be bothered by some kind social activity. Webster, after all, is only a degree mill. People figure as long as they are funding dorms, new parking lots and useless stop lights, they will get their degree.
Webster does not have money to pay teachers who are truly affecting students lives every day, yet it has enough money to pay administrators sitting in their black leather cushioned chairs. After all, it is easier to cut teachers' salaries and student affairs than removing their own funds. It really is a pity that the dean of student's office has to close because they want to go on a lunch break.
Eldin Jasarevic
Freshman, Anthropology/Creative Writing
Botched registration stressful for students
I'm glad that The Journal covered this week's scheduling problems ("Bug in online registration confounds students," Nov. 10.) But they forgot to ask the questions that reporters are always expected to ask about something like this - why did it happen and how do we prevent it from happening again? The end of the article mentioned that there may be a similar glitch with graduate scheduling.
Why can't it be fixed in between? I know that this must be horribly stressful for the faculty (as was mentioned in your article), but it was even more stressful, perhaps, on the students who are communications majors who had to schedule for certain requisite courses before 8:00 a.m. or risk being set back a semester or even a whole year.
Your article mentioned that programmers found the glitch on the 21st of September... and they didn't do anything about it! No one said anything about the glitch to students (including myself) who got online to register at 5:00 a.m. only to find that they couldn't take the classes they needed without standing in line in the registrar's office. A simple way to prevent these problems would have been to fix the glitch before scheduling, even if scheduling had to be delayed. This was an unnecessary delay that could have saved the stress of many students and faculty members.
Katrina Johnson
Sophomore,
Film Production
Editor's note: The registration problems were caused by a bug in the code that runs online registration. Programmers thought the bug was fixed prior to registration, but as students began registering, they found it had not been fixed.