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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITORS
Kameron Cole
Stefanie Knowlton
Registration Frustration
As' a new
term
approaches,
students
throw
themselves
on the mercy
of Duck Ca.ll
The rage started Friday morning af
ter the first two classes I tried to
register for were full and the third
class number I punched into the
phone responded with the monotonous
“ding-dong” and the computerized Duck
Call lady saying, “CRN number blah blah
blah blah blah is full.”
I sat frozen, thinking, “You’ve got to be
kidding me.” It was only four
days into registration,
__ and I held
plenty of
credits to
place
me
Giovanni Salimena/Emerald
early in the registration countdown.
But alas, no luck. Oh no, instead of ac
tually taking the classes I want to take, the
ones my University dollars should be pay
ing for, I will now spend spring term in a
last-on-my-list lecture.
Now don’t get me wrong, I tried to keep
an open mind and register for my second
and even third choice classes. But, yep,
you guessed it — I bonded with the Duck
Call class-is-full lady again! So after I an
grily filled my empty schedule with ran
dom classes that I don’t need, I threw the
phone across my room, cursing at Duck
Call.
Everyone in my living room stood with
skeptical, worried looks on their faces and
tried to reassure me that the three-hour
lecture smack in the middle of the day
wasn’t going to be that bad.
Right.
Just yesterday, a friend of mine
who has suffered through what
seems to be enough organic
chemistry classes for the en
j\ tire school brought to my at
tention the “ridiculous se
ries classes” that some
students take. Appar
entiy, many classes
only allow you to
take, say, 301 fall
\term, 302 winter
and 303 spring,
each only of
fered during
that term.
i Therefore,
if you went
abroad for a
, term or
\ two, or
switched
a major
mid-year,
you might
have to
wait an
entire year
for the
first
l class
in the sequence to come around again.
Yeah, we’ll be graduating on time.
And what’s with the suddenly popular
instructor approval. A journalism profes
sor of mine explained that
it was to keep the people
Opinion who weren’t supposed to
be in a particular class
from registering for it.
I can see the future. Not
only is instructor approval
required, but each student
must get 42 signatures, a
wet noodle, two pairs ot
mismatched socks and a
flowered paper plate with
an Alumni Association
sticker on it just to get into
a class.
So professors, when you are wondering
why your students are overly cranky and
annoyed as this winter term draws to a
close, keep in mind it’s not the surprise
nine-page paper you assigned but the fact
that instead of taking your class next term
they might be sitting in a class they didn’t
want.
How awful is it when a professor tells
you he or she wants you in a particular
class he or she is teaching and you can't
get into it?
Why do the scheduling problems al
ways come up during the term you finally
decide to take urban farm?
How come the class you promised to
take with your new friend is at its capacity
when it’s time to register?
Why is it just your luck, you finally find
two classes you could be happy with and
one starts 20 minutes before the other
ends?
No, you can’t sneak into the later one af
ter it’s started or leave the early before it’s
over. Trust me, it doesn’t work.
But to leave you on a positive note, give
the random classes a chance. You never
know what you’ll discover in that weird
science or dusty history class.
Amy
Goldhammer
So my fellow students, I wish you luck
in final registration days and spring term,
in hopes that you make the best of your
predicament, whatever it may be. And to
the people who got into that class I want
ed to take: #@$%*A&%$!!!
Amy Goldhammer is a columnist for the
Emerald. Her inews do not necessarily repre
sent those of the newspaper.
Letters to the Editor
Ex-Senator not missed
I am writing in regard to Tamir Kriegel’s
ridiculous resignation from the Student
Senate. I wish to be the first to commend
him for resigning. He has brought nothing
to the ASUO but a consistent level of tom
foolery, ballyhoo, and back door shenani
gans. From his first campaign in 1997, I
knew that if elected he would bring nothing
but contempt for the ASUO. He has been an
inadequate student senator and conse
quently has caused dissension amongst the
student body government.
Tamir Kriegel's resignation from the Stu
dent Senate ultimately will only improve
the aptitude of the Student Senate. Tamir
and his "men wearing face paint, masks and
other costumes," (ODE, Feb. 25) a metaphor
for his entire disservice to the Student Sen
-ate, have struck their final and most painful
blow on the ASUO. I can only hope that
Tamir Kriegel, for his obtrusive desecration
of our sacred institution, apologizes or that
the ASUO reprimands him accordingly.
Ryan John Begley
Humanities
Respect student voice
In response to the conclusion of the 9th
District Circuit Court of Appeals decision to
allow student funding to go toward groups
such as OSPIRG (ODE, Feb. 25), I am over
joyed. But I find this joy only due to the fact
that the students have the right to choose
what their money should support.
As ASUO President Geneva Wortman
said in the Feb. 25 issue of the Emerald,
“Today is a victory for students. It’s a victo
ry for student control of student fees.” So if
students vote to not support an organization
such as OSPIRG, shouldn’t their wishes be
validated and not undermined by a special
election process and ‘special circum
stances’?
When the Oregon Legislature tried to
negate a law passed by Oregon voters con
cerning assisted suicide, the voters were
outraged. So are we, the students at the Uni
versity of Oregon, outraged at having our
voices smothered by ASUO and OSPIRG.
Leah Rosin
Undeclared
Shedding light
While “good” lighting may contribute to
improving perceptions of safety on campus
(’’Students feel less than safe on campus”
ODE, Feb. 26), “bad” lighting can make
campus less safe. High intensity, unshield
ed lights are bad. They result in glare, wast
ed illumination of the night sky and provide
for poor contrast. When an area is overly il
luminated, objects that are outside of the
area or are shaded appear darker. In other
words, when it comes to lighting brighter is
not better. Unfortunately we tend to value
the aesthetic of the light fixture more than
the quality of light. The two can work to
gether quite nicely. It is particularly dis
heartening to see bad lighting with new
construction. The lighting in the new down
town parking garage is painful. While not
nearly as painful but still offensive are the
street lights by the new Law School.
David Niles
Office of Public Safety
CORRECTION
In the Feb. 28 story of “Safety In the Dorms,"
the cost of an emergency call box should have
read $1,250. The Emerald regrets this error.
LETTERS POLICY
The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to
print all letters containing comments on topics
of interest to the University community. Letters
must be limited to 250 words. The Emerald re
serves the right to edit any letter for length,
clarity, grammar, style and libel. Letters may
be dropped off at EMU Suite 300.