OUR VIEWS Consensus Opinion

Neighborhood watch

Recently some residents of Home Park voiced their displeasure over what they view as " excessive partying " from their student neighbors. The Home Park Community Improvement Association (HPCIA) has reached out to campus officials from GTSMART and the GTPD to curb the problem. While the HPCIA feels that the issue should be handled by Tech, the issue is clearly one that should be addressed by Home Park residents and the students, not by the Institute.

Instead of complaining to the GTPD, GTSMART or the Dean of Students office, the HPCIA needs to reach out to students directly. Much of the problem stems from the fact that the majority of students who live in Home Park are renters, and therefore, are only aware of their landlord ' s rules and not their neighbors ' wishes. Additionally, students typically live in the area for only a short amount of time - one or two years. Non-student residents in Home Park should speak to the landlords if they have problems with a particular house ' s behavior. Non-student residents should try to welcome new students when they move in to foster a better sense of community and prevent misunderstandings before they start.

Academic progress

Tech ' s athletic programs have fared well in the NCAA ' s new Academic Progress Rate (APR) report, with 16 out of the 17 Division I athletic teams scoring above the standard acceptable score. Baseball scored below the standard due to the large number of juniors who left the team early for the minor leagues, but still within an acceptable range. Although there are no penalties for poor performance this year, it is encouraging that Tech teams are already living up to the new standards. Additionally, the report has strengthened Tech ' s academic reputation within the NCAA community.

While the new system is an improvement over the NCAA ' s old method of determining whether schools are doing their jobs of educating and retaining scholarship student-athletes, the NCAA ' s methodology in computing the APR still needs fine-tuning. The APR ' s formula penalizes teams that lose students to transfers and withdrawals. By penalizing universities whose athletes choose to begin their professional careers early or transfer to another college, whether for athletic or personal reasons, the NCAA is unjustly punishing schools for complying with players ' wishes. The only factor that should figure in the APR is whether or not athletes are able to remain academically eligible to play.