Opinion

Departments deserve detention

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Related stories:

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• Grade inflation threatens value (March 30, 2009)
• Course Evaluations nowhere to be found (December 4, 2003)
• Liberal arts must not be forgotten in deficit shuffle (February 12, 2009)
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Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:

• The Invisible Man Award: Wyndham Manning (May 7, 2009)
• The People's Choice Award: Jacqueline Hitchon et. al (May 7, 2009)
• The Lifetime Achievement Award: ASM (May 7, 2009)
• Honest representation (May 5, 2009)
• Junger for ASM Chair (May 5, 2009)

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A certain sense of satisfaction exists in coloring those ovals at the end of each semester that will let future students know just how glorious or heinous a professor has been. And ASM, to its credit, does a deft job of sorting through these tens of thousands of professor evaluations in time for the next round of registration.

But neither ASM nor its website can tell students much about the lecturers or courses of the nine tardy departments which, apparently, consider themselves above Regents’ Law 74-13.

Not sure about a Jewish Studies professor? Tough luck.

Worried that a Chicano/a studies course may be too demanding for a fragile schedule? Feel free to patronize any of the area psychics.

Still trying to settle on a Geological Engineering course for this semester? One can always flip a coin.

Students will find themselves in a similar conundrum while they are looking into classes in any of the following departments: Air Force-ROTC-Aerospace Studies, Biocore, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Military Science, Naval Science, and Physician Assistants, according to ASM.

The hypocrisy is simply fabulous: Departments are late handing in required paperwork and nothing happens; students are late handing in papers and their grades are docked.

We consider the aforementioned nine departments to be failing and suggest that they get their evaluations into ASM if they want to salvage a “D” — these simply cannot be dropped.