- The Penn State Fiasco because of Jerry Sandusky.
- The Florida A&M student death from hazing (which has brought forth even more students saying they were hazed).
- Syracuse having issues with sexual abuse from the head coach of the basketball team.
- A University of Oklahoma professor suspended for sexual abuse charges.
- And at UNLV, students just got an 8% tuition hike but they're firing some of our best professors.
Now, you tell me, why on earth are we paying such ludicrous tuition costs for that kind of bull?
This is not in any way, shape or form localized to just one school. It's a coast to coast issue. What is going on on all of these college campuses? What is truly sad is that I'm more than positive there are even more skunks that will be flushed out in the coming days, weeks, months and years. In essence, buckle your seat belts kids, there is more coming down the pipe.
I have sat broken hearted for the last three weeks. Why? My favorite professor, Scorsese, has been fired. Why? No room in the school budget for him. What? Wait a second. We just had an 8% tuition increase (with more hikes promised in the future) which were justified by the Nevada System Higher Education for the reason that our higher tuition will pay to bring back professors to the school, yet they're getting rid of Scorsese, who every single IMC student agrees that he is THE heart and soul of the IMC program at UNLV? Really?
I am truly outraged, but I'm nothing compared to the hundreds of students I have personally spoken with that say that the dismissal of Scorsese takes the whole department and flushes it down the toilet.
We were given a letter that said that there are three professors that are taking on the IMC school and that we shouldn't worry. To that I cry a resounding "BS!" Of the three, the most popular and well-respected on the list is our school's new director, so he doesn't have time to teach. The other two, well here, you tell me: One of them, the students hate with a passion. They don't respect the professor and they will do everything including cut off limbs to avoid being in that professor's classes because the teacher is bitter, mean and just needs all-around work on their people skills. The other? Well, hold onto yourself for this one...the other professor only teaches classes online and to boot, is very problematic to get a hold of, then makes you wait to continue assignments until you get the go-ahead after you've contacted them. So, in total, both professors asked to take on the IMC load not only repulse the students, but make them inclined to change their majors instead of carrying on. The students don't want the two professors they are being saddled with and the only reason that Scorsese is being let go is a combination of politics and poor funds management. To all that I say, "He's getting the job done and he cares about us, leave the man alone and let him do what he does best, teach."
How sad is it that the students at UNLV are paying more for tuition and for our money we're getting piss-poor professors? Don't get me wrong, I've had some outstanding professors at UNLV, but they've been extremely rare. The really great ones like Doc T either moved on, been fired or are saddled with the same mountain of BS the students are. What galls me to kingdom come are the people who have the audacity to wonder how the Jerry Sandusky's of the world got to keep their jobs for so long.
I personally think that the entire university system from head to toe needs to be gone over with a fine toothed comb, then had a nuclear bomb taken to it. I know that Elementary and High School teachers are having to take competency tests, so why aren't university professors asked to do the same?
What happened to actually READING the evaluations that the students are asked to turn in at the end of every semester? I can promise you that if someone actually sat down and read the evaluations that came down from half of the students I go to school with every day that are having to endure this mountain of bullshit, a good portion of the pee-poor professors we have to deal with would be sent packing, saving the university hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and bringing in quality educators instead of pompous professors, who just because they are tenured, believe they are absolute monarchs.
This semester, I got to meet some great people thanks to Scorsese. He knows everyone in town when it comes to Ad, PR and IMC. I'm serious, he has the whole town on lock. He brought in the most amazing man to our Media Planning and Buying class who WAS a professor at UNLV until the same thing that is happening to Scorsese happened to him. Add on Prof H. from two semesters ago, and I've got a list of three highly qualified individuals, who are some of the most outstanding educators that I have been lucky enough to sit in their classrooms for even a day, and they are gone because some numb-nut sitting up high in his plush office on the fourth floor doesn't think they are worth keeping because they either a.) don't have their doctorates or b.) they aren't tenured.
Then they sit and wonder why admissions are down or that students would much rather go to the local community college, pay one-third the tuition and get a better education.
The whole system needs to be turned on its head and shaken until all of the garbage is cleaned out and even the lint has been emptied from its pockets. Get rid of the ineffective professors, bring in the educators that KNOW how to educate and let's get this show back on the road in the right way.
I go to school every day with disheartened students who watch their favorite, highly effective professors get the boot. The students know they are getting screwed right, left and center, being asked to pay more but getting less for their money.
How truly sad.
The worst part of it all is that I'm a 40-year-old student and I'm watching these kids starve and work themselves to death because they know they need a quality education to succeed in the world. I can do nothing to help them except to tell them to keep persevering because tomorrow just might be a better day. I don't know how many times I've looked at all of them and said, "The one constant in the universe is change. Let's hope some of that change lands in the university system."
Meanwhile, there are dirty athletics programs, more perverts than holes in a block of swiss cheese, hazing situations in organizations from the band on down, and students not getting 1/100th of the education they are paying for. What is wrong with this picture?
*Sigh* We're paying to get screwed in more ways than one.
As NSHE Associate Vice Chancellor Crystal Abba told a group of students protesting our tuition hike said,“You don’t have to support it just because you think it’s a foregone conclusion. You are the only opposition to that. [But] it has so much momentum it will roll right over you anyway.”
When I wrote my congressman about the crap going on at school, I got a form letter back that said, "Thanks for your letter and for voicing your concerns." That was it. No "we'll look into it" or anything. Yeah, politicians really care what happens to us starving students that are only asking for one simple thing: A good education.
The really great educators in the world do a thankless job. They are the ones with enormous hearts that make room for every last student they come in contact with. They rarely hear a thank you and they rarely are given a pat on the back by their bosses but they give their heart and soul so that students like me can get a decent education. Scorsese is one of those educators and he got the boot for all of his sacrifice.
Sad. Sad. Sad.
But on to better news and a dose of hope for the future. The semester wrap-up is coming up tomorrow, stay tuned for all of the semester's highlights starring Scorsese, Doc L., and special guest appearances by Doc S., Doc Cat and Prof. H. Yep, it's a cavalcade of all-stars on the next installment combined with a preview of the semester break's fun holiday festivities. Set your bookmarks for all this and more from your favorite Eternal Sophomore.
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