OUR VIEWS Consensus Opinion

Survey says

The results of the Stingerette survey administered by the Student Government Association (SGA) send a mixed message. Roughly half of the student respondents indicated that they want the Stingerette service to go off-campus again, but are both unwilling to wait longer than 20 minutes and unwilling to pay an extra $2.60 per semester to keep wait times down.

Unfortunately for all of us, it is not possible to have your cake and eat it, too. It is unrealistic to demand that the budget-strained Parking and Transportation department reinstate off-campus Stingerette service and keep wait times down without any additional financial support.

Based on the high percentage of survey responders who indicated that they want to use the Stingerette to go off campus, a solution of some sort does need to be found. The department should consider alternatives to restoring full off-campus service, such as having set routes with drop-off and pickup locations throughout the Home Park and Centennial Place areas. However, only a small percentage of respondents seemed to use this off-campu service, even though many desired it-adding to the inconclusive nature.

On a side note, the Parking and Transportation department should not place Global Positioning System (GPS) devices in the Stingerettes. A decision to do so would be financially irresponsible, when the budget is such an issue for them. The routes are not standard like t he set patterns the buses follow; therefore, GPS would not be of great benefit to the students on campus.

GRE changes

The recent alternations to the GRE format are a mixed bag for future graduate school hopefuls. The switch from an adaptive test to a linear test will make the test more standardized, less confusing and easier for which to prepare; however, the almost two-fold increase in duration will make the test-taking process much more strenuous.

Standardized tests are annoying enough to study for, without the ETS throwing in new rules. Like the recent changes to the SAT did to the undergraduate application and acceptance process, the changes to the GRE will throw a certain amount of confusion into the graduate application and acceptance process. The new, seemingly arbitrary grading scale will make it harder for schools to compare the scores of those who send in results from the old test to those who send it results from the new test.

Consensus editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.