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Show Views&Opinion Monday, Nov. 9, 2009 Page 12 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com OurView AboutUs Editor in Chief Patrick Oden Being prepared makes for smoother registration News Editor Rachel A. Christensen Assistant News Editor Catherine Meidell L ast Wednesday’s “Our View” was about students’ registration woes. Angela Martinez, staff assistant in the Registrar’s Office, gave The Statesman some advice for students to make registering go a lot more smoothly next time. Martinez said any time a large number of students try to log into Banner at the same time, it is bound to have problems. The key is to have patience and not panic: if one student is unable to get into Banner and register, others are having the same issue and aren’t able to register either. The information technology people work to fix these problems as soon as they can. If a problem persists, Martinez said the Registrar’s Office appreciates students letting the office know about the problem. She said sometimes the staff isn’t aware of these problems and the only way for them to find out is if someone tells them about it. If a student is trying to register and comes across an error code, the student will often come to the Registrar’s Office. Martinez said a student often doesn’t write down what the error code says and then office staff can’t do much for the individual. One of the main issues Martinez sees is students don’t understand the prerequisites for the classes they need. An easy solution to this problem is by simply becoming educated. Some of the classes students want to take have prerequisite classes that might be a surprise, but this information isn’t hidden. When planning which classes to take, students should double check to see if it has any prerequisites. Find this information by clicking on the CRN number when looking up the class then click View Catalog Entry. It’ll take you to a longer entry of information about that class. Students often have problems with prerequisites for math and English classes, Martinez said. If a problem registering for these classes occurs due to prerequisites, Martinez said she tells students to talk to Linda Skabelund for math course problems and Mary Leavitt for English. She also said students need to realize they have to register for engineering and business courses through those departments. The Computer and Information Literacy (CIL) testing requirements have changed, Martinez said. Students are encouraged to take the tests their freshman year and must have completed them in order to register for English 2010. Students should check with their adviser or the Registrar’s Office to see if there are any holds on their registration status. Nothing is more frustrating than waiting up until midnight to register and then discovering a hold, Martinez said. When dealing with the Registrar’s Office, be prepared, Martinez said. Paperwork must be completely filled out. Also, the office only takes check or cash for payment and students must be aware of this beforehand. The best way to have a smooth registration is to plan ahead and make sure all roadblocks are removed. Some problems students can’t avoid, such as how Banner behaves when the system is overloaded at midnight, but other problems can be avoided with just a little foresight. Features Editor Courtnie Packer Assistant Features Editor Greg Boyles Sports Editor T Passing the torch here once was two brothers. One went question I ask again is, How many of you have to sea. The other went to get a breakfast called anyone in a position of power to lodge sandwich in The Hub. Neither was heard a protest against these legitimate problems? from again. Yeah, that is what I thought. Why does it take so long to get a bacon Take the bugs. Did the university decide and egg sandwich on campus? I once stood we no longer had the money to pay for an there and timed it: 19 minutes. I could have exterminator? Abandoned crack houses in bought a farm and cultivated the chickens Detroit do not have this many bugs. It is not and pigs faster than that. The women at the only uncomfortable and embarrassing, it is grill seemed to work hard to get everyone’s disturbingly unhealthy. On Friday, I saw a bug order completed. Perhaps the blame is on the attack a fellow student. I would have swatted catering service supervisors that decided two the bug away with my textbook, except for workers were enough to handle a breakfast the fact that I never bring my books to class. I crowd at 9:30 in the morning. Wrong. would be humiliated if visitors to our campus Since I am criticizing the food services had to see this plague we are besieged with. provided to us in the TSC, can Pay the Orkin man to come in someone explain why you canhere and kill the damn bugs. not get a slice of good oldNow, I know what some of fashioned cheese pizza in the you are thinking. Complaining Marketplace at 12:30 in the is rude. My reply to this? Duh. Re-Entry Thoughts afternoon? Seriously, why not That’s the point. Most people have cheese pizza in a dining react when rudely talked to. It area that is nearly full? Was an edict passed isn’t only logical to complain about inferior serdown saying cheese pizza contributes to glob- vice, it is our duty as Americans to do so. Look al warming? I ate in the Marketplace between at the Declaration of Independence. Was this noon and 1 p.m. twice this past week and saw a group of crusaders fighting the evil British for only one regular pizza cooked. Yes, it is nice the freedom inherent to all of mankind, or, was to offer speciality pizzas. It is also nice to have it a bunch of haughty, rich white guys mad as a cheese pizza. Some people, most people, hell for being overtaxed? Read the manuscript. have a simple palate. Appease them. This King George did this. And King George did would not be an issue if it was not for the fact that. And blah blah blah. There is a fine line that catering services raised the price of entry between genuine political grievances and to the Marketplace with the zeal of OPEC. incessant moaning. Complaining is not rude. It Why do I lament the food services provided is patriotic. in the TSC? Because I can. Because if a service My time at this school is coming to an end. that is provided to me, with no approximate Oh, I may skulk around campus a bit in the competition, is inadequate than it is my right new year while I wait for someone to be stupid to state that it should be better. I pay for the enough to offer me a job. But my days of havservice. We all do. It should be more efficient ing the right to reproach the university for its than it currently is. continued failure to effectively run this school Complaining, for lack of a better word, will end when I graduate. This will be your job. is good. Complaining is right. Complaining If the president of this university, the provost, works. And in my entire life I have never seen the catering services people in charge of feeda group of people accept incompetency more ing us and the head of HASS are not criticized than Utahns. Few of you approach people by you for their futility, then in their minds they whose job is customer service and tell them are doing a wonderful job. Are they? when they are not doing their job right. It Criticism of these people is warranted. vexes me. I am from Philadelphia. We love Raise your voice. Demand that those who get to complain when people suck at their job. It paid handsome salaries earn their paycheck ranks third, behind breathing and eating, as by providing services to you. Maybe nothing a necessity in our lives. Most Philadelphians will come from it. At the very least, we should seek out restaurants that are notorious for bad be able to get a slice of cheese service so we call yell at the servers. It is therapizza at lunchtime. peutic to tell people when they are terrible at their job. How else will they learn to do betHarry Caines is a ter? senior re-entry student Not in Utah. We accept things as they are; in interdiciplinary studeven if what they are awful. This is especially ies from Philadelphia. true at USU. Consider that in the past three Unconventional weeks I have heard various gripes about three Wisdom appears things. First, the already mentioned pathetic every Monday. food service. Second, the infestation of bugs Comments can on campus. And lastly, the lack of classes availbe left at www. able for next semester, especially classes in aggietownsquare. subjects that fall under the HASS banner. The com Unconventional Wisdom Forging a federal shield: A bill to protect journalists’ sources gets better A fter proposing a federal media shield law that did little to protect the relationship between journalists and their sources, the White House has agreed with the Senate Judiciary Committee on a revised — and much improved — version of the Free Flow of Information Act. Last month the White House sent the Judiciary Committee legislative language providing little protection for journalists. It seemed to betray President Obama’s promise to support a judicial balancing test between the public interest in newsgathering and the need to compel disclosure of a reporter’s sources. The revision does a much better job at mandating that balance. Under the latest proposal, in both civil and criminal cases the government (or another party seeking disclosure) would have to demonstrate that the confidential information it seeks from a journalist is “essential” to resolving the case and that it has exhausted all reasonable alternative sources. Judges would weigh the public interest in thorough newsgathering against the interest in disclosing the source. The balancing tests are calibrated depending on the nature of the case. In civil cases, the information seeker must make the case for disclosure. In criminal cases, journalists would have to make the case against disclosure. The balancing test also covers cases involving leaks of classified information (with the journalist again bearing the burden of proof), unless the information sought would be needed to stop a terrorist attack or “significant and articulable harm to national security,” in which case disclosure would be compelled. As in previous versions, the statute would not protect anyone who is affiliated with a terrorist organization or who has been designated a terrorist by the federal government. The District of Columbia and 49 states already have laws or court decisions that shield reporters from being compelled to reveal confidential sources in state court proceedings. The lack of similar protection in fed- eral cases led The Washington Post Co. and other media organizations to lobby for the passage of the Free Flow of Information Act. Protecting the identity of sensitive sources is a pillar of American journalism. On the condition of anonymity, people come forward to point reporters in the right direction, or to offer direct testimony about violations of the public trust, or to expose abuses of power. This is vital for the public’s right to know and for democracy. The House passed a strong version of the bill by an overwhelming margin in March, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote Thursday. With a renewed promise from the president to sign the measure into law, this safeguard for the work of journalists is a step closer. We urge a strong bipartisan vote in committee followed by a full Senate vote as soon as possible. This column first appeared in the Nov. 5 edition of The Washington Post. Tim Olsen Assistant Sports Editor Graham Terry Copy Editor Mark Vuong Photo Editors Pete Smithsuth Tyler Larson Web Editor Karlie Brand About letters • Letters should be limited to 400 words. • All letters may be shortened, edited or rejected for reasons of good taste, redundancy or volume of similar letters. • Letters must be topic oriented. They may not be directed toward individuals. Any letter directed to a specific individual may be edited or not printed. • No anonymous letters will be published. Writers must sign all letters and include a phone number or email address as well as a student identification number (none of which is published). Letters will not be printed without this verification. • Letters representing groups – or more than one individual – must have a singular representative clearly stated, with all necessary identification information. • Writers must wait 21 days before submitting successive letters – no exceptions. • Letters can be hand delivered or mailed to The Statesman in the TSC, Room 105, or can be e-mailed to statesman@aggiemail. usu.edu, or click on www.aggietownsquare.com for more letter guidelines and a box to submit letters. (Link: About Us.) Online poll Who do think deserves to be the highest paid individual on campus? • Stan Albrecht. • Stew Morrill. • Gary Anderson. • Ray Coward. • Big Blue. • They all make too much (except Big Blue). Visit us on the Web at www.aggietownsquare. com to cast your vote. |