Many sources of student discontentment exist

I have been at Tech for five quarters and some of a semester now and I have come to the conclusion that Tech doesn't reward good grades enough. Every quarter I have been on the Dean's List and the little certificate I get for it sucks. It's like four by five inches, printed on cheap paper with cheap black ink and basically says your name, Georgia Tech and the date. I talked with one of my friends who is about to graduate and he told me that it wasn't always like this. They used to give out real certificates. Those certificates are also given really late. I still don't have mine from spring quarter. I know that to a lot of people this certificate is meaningless. I don't care about it either, but there are two people back home who are paying lots of money to send me to college and they like little things like certificates that show how I am succeeding.

Another gripe I have is how this school distributes parking and housing. I understand and support giving priority in housing and parking to students who have been here longer, but why can't they also do it by GPA and reward students who work harder? I believe almost every student who gets into this school can succeed and make good grades otherwise they wouldn't be here. Back when I was in high school the priority for parking went by class, then GPA of each person in the class. This policy made the slackers park farther away from campus than people who tried hard and made good grades.

I also talked to a friend and found out that housing is available to students who are not taking any classes (co-op) and part time students. I do not know if this is true, the housing Webpage has very limited information and I would hate to waste the time of a housing employee just for my curiosity but I think it's very unfair if it's true. If on-campus housing is limited and in demand (like it is now) then why should housing let co-ops stay on campus when regular students are trying to get in? Why would a co-op benefit from staying on campus other than being closer to on campus friends and various social aspects? Regular students are taking full loads of classes and would benefit from being on campus. I know because last year I drove 50 minutes to and from Tech instead of living on campus. I found it hard to get extra help from help sessions, professors in office hours and friends who were taking the same classes simply because they were not living near me. Even if a co-ops are taking one or two classes they still don't need on-campus housing as much as full time students. This also applies to part time students. I know off-campus housing is very near Tech but it still isn't on campus.

Also! I think moving the Tech bookstore is a stupid idea because then I'll have to waste more of my time walking basically off campus.

And! The money given to help fight binge drinking or underage drinking or whatever is a waste in my opinion. If people want to drink, they will. Let the cops deal with the underage drinking.

Oh! Making graduating seniors take finals is so stupid. After four years, give them a break. They deserve it. If a professor can't evaluate a student after the majority of a semester, maybe he/she should find another job. P.S.: Madame d' Amour is amusing but not very helpful. Don Juan is a moron.

Nick Rodriguez

ascend@cc.gatech.edu