Be Safe, Not Sorry

By : Utsav Akhoury





Through out college life, one has to be safe and not try to be a brave heart and take risks. Risks such as leaving the dorm late at night alone , or leaving his or her possessions open to the world thinking nothing will happen. The main reason why college crime rate has dramatically increased in the past few years is that students think that it is impossible that they might become a victim of crime.

Students , especially freshman, get the feeling of independence when they arrive in college. They do not easily accept that they too can become victims of certain crimes if they do not live with safety. Common on campus crimes are burglary , grand theft auto , and sexual offenses. This all happens because of the carefree attitude of students. They need to take responsibility of their actions and they need to choose whether to be safe or be sorry. Campus police have a huge responsibility on their shoulders and students make it more difficult for them when they stop being safe. Students must foremost travel with a group of people , especially after dark and they must always keep their vital possessions with themselves or locked up in their dorm rooms.


Students must realize that, they are not under the protection from their parents but they are now individuals responsible for their own actions. College's must make sure that students realize this early on so as to avoid any sort of harm to the students.

Theft in Higher Education

By: William Hodges

Feeling safe and that your valuables are safe is slowing diminishing on college campuses. As crime increases students can’t help but feel like they are starting to become prisoners at their own school. According to collegestudentsaftey.com “One of the most common types of campus crime in this day and age is theft, including dorm room theft.” “[T]he reality is that over 80% of all crimes reported at colleges…are property crimes.” Because of this students need to keep valuables with them at all times and never leave their book bag anywhere out of sight. Common items that are stolen from college students include “cell phones, laptops, cash, credit cards, iPods, and bicycles.” Having many of these stolen can have costly consequences for the owners.

Many schools have started to implement camera systems all over campus instead of just around big buildings. This helps to deter a lot of the theft and if something is stolen it is much easily recovered. Although camera systems are being implemented at many universities, it does not help in the matter of dorm room theft which is one of the most common versions of theft on campuses. Many college students forget to lock their doors when leaving their dorms and many will prop their doors open when using the bathroom or taking a shower so they do not have to bring a key with them. This is prime time for a thief who could be in and out of your dorm room with a television in the matter of seconds. College students need to start being much more aware of their belongings and start trying to actively prevent theft even when they feel like they are safe and that no one is going to steal their belongings.

Professors: Should They Be Considered Researchers Instead?

By: Ryan Dettmann

Throughout the decades education has progressed and with it teachers and their responsibilities. Now most teachers or professors have limited responsibilities in teaching and spend most of their time teaching. But few have considered or done anything about how this effects students. The movement of responsibilities from teaching to research has made it harder for students to learn or get ahold of their professors if they need help.

In the Merriam-Webster dictionary a professor is defined as “a teacher at a university, college or sometimes secondary school” or a “one that teaches or profess special knowledge of an art, sport, or occupation requiring skill.” But in today’s higher education teaching is a small meager part of professors work. The breakdown of their time spent in areas can vary but is generally around 75, 15, 15 with 75 percent being time spent in research, 15 percent of it teaching, the rest being other academic responsibilities. This little amount for teaching puts students as a small part of the professors job and emphasis on research. One of the main reasons why colleges emphasize research is because it is one of the main ways colleges get there funding. Also with tenure students can sometimes get difficult or bad professors, because of tenure. But the American Association of University Professors is considering to revise the tenure system that would replace the existing one. One of the main parts is its emphasis on teaching more at teaching universities while at research universities there should be more on research, but both of them will be balanced several years at the university and achieving tenure.

The current system in which professors time is focused takes away from teaching, though it is a beneficial to have professors researching forefront of new information for their field. But with the new draft on tenure it may even out research and teaching a some helping students learn more effectively.

Problems of Online Classes in Colleges

By: Jae Yu Ko

Many students take required classes to learn lesson in colleges. Besides going to classes, there are a number of online classes in colleges. It means that students have classes with their laptop or have classes in their rooms. However, there are several problems that students take online classes. If speaker and students’ laptops do not work well, they will not be able to listen to the professors carefully and cannot concentrate on classes. Therefore, to reduce those problems, systems for students should work well.

Online classes have several problems. Colleges usually give language classes as online classes because professors can easily explain the language through online. For example, while professors are explaining something important through the speaker in Japanese class, students really have to listen to the professors and say answers through it to professors. But, their laptops do not work suddenly and they have to participate at least one time per class. When their laptops started to work, classes are already finished and those students could not participate. So, their grades went down. As seen in the example, online classes have a few technical problems while students are in classes. Or if faculties’ laptops do not work well, classes will be cancelled. In this respect, going to classrooms is more effective than taking online classes.

Taking online classes bring several technical problems. It indicates that students cannot listen to what professors say carefully and they have to manage their laptops to reduce their technical problems. Therefore, colleges should care about these problems and when students register online classes, they will have to recognize it.

Reality or Ruse: Questioning the Financial Crisis in American Higher Education

By: Kristi Painter


It is hard to overlook the current financial state of America which has affected a majority of the population in a significant way. Common sense might tell you that if the situation is affecting every other section of the nation then it would be hitting the universities also. Our knowledge was supposedly confirmed when most tuition rates throughout the country were raised but according to Howard Bunsis,“at many campuses, there's no financial crisis at all”. Some colleges are gaining more revenue than before and many have enough savings that a financial crisis does not set them back at all. However, if this is true, why are tuitions being raised and faculty salaries being lowered?

University administrators have again set their priorities in a very businesslike manner, money first. They realize that a college education has become the standard for most young adults. We attend college even if it puts us into debt because we believe that it will give us a better future. They also realize that the faculty demands are low among all the universities making it very hard for a faculty member to quit one school because of a lowered salary. Universities are using their students and faculty and not focusing on the possible educational consequences. A lesser paid faculty member may spend their time worrying about how they are inadequately compensated for their efforts or even about if they will be able to make ends meet. Harming the educational quality of a university should not be the first thing universities resort to when their business is threatened by financial issues.

Freshman Forgiveness: Truth or Excuse?

By: Stewart Hall

A number of colleges such as Kent State and Case Western have decided that it is necessary to have a freshman forgiveness policy that allows students to re-take classes that they took their freshman year. Critics of this policy say that freshman need to learn to be responsible adults in their first year and therefore should be responsible for their grades. This may be true; however, it takes a bit of time to learn how to do this, and this period of learning should not be counted against students forever.

College is about learning. It takes time to learn. Expecting freshman to perform as responsible adults from the moment they arrive on campus is a bit like giving a final exam on the first day of class. The change from living at home to living by yourself at college is a very drastic one. There are more things to do and fewer enforced restrictions. Learning to balance activities and make good decisions is the process of learning to become a responsible adult. Just as students cannot be expected to learn academic topics immediately, they should not be expected to learn new lifestyles immediately. So, it is a good thing that schools have freshman forgiveness policies because these realize that learning is a process whether you are learning mathematics or life skills, and these schools treat each in a similar way.

Energy Drink: Poison or Friend

By: William Hodges

Currently A growing issue on college campuses is the increased use of energy drinks in the student population. The promise that people will get more energy allowing them stay awake longer and focus is very appealing to college students as they tend to stay awake all night, not get enough sleep and require energy in order to get all of their work done. According to RedBull.com red bull should be taken “at times of increased mental and physical strain… or before tests and exams.” Although these benefits sound nice, the health risks that accompany the consumption of energy drinks are not good. A common ingredient that is found in energy drinks today is ephedra. According to Physician Kim Brown of Kaiser Permenente, “When ephedra is used in an energy drink mixed with caffeine, a lethal combination is produced, she describes it as ‘herbal speed’ saying that ‘one can become addicted and develop serious health issues from it.’ If someone has heart disease or hypertension, a caffeine/ephedra mix can cause heart attacks or stroke.”

College is already a time where kids deviate from healthy eating habits by stuffing themselves with excessive amounts of junk food. The combination of that and the consumption of energy drinks can lead to extreme health risks. According to energyfiend.com it would only take about 31 bottles of Rockstar Energy drink to kill a 150 pound person. Where it would take just about 300 Coke-A-Colas which has been thought to be unhealthy for years. Doctors recommend not drinking energy drinks but to try other things to get your work done. These include managing your time better, getting a good nights sleep, get proper nutrition, and in those occasions that you must stay up late to try and keep the energy drinks to a minimum.

International Students - International Food

By : Utsav Akhoury

International students travel far from home, to universities across the globe, to receive the best education available. Coming to a new place the main change in their lives is food , the basic necessity in life. This sudden change in the taste of the food they eat has a lot of negative impacts on those students.

Some may find the food too bland , or too spicy. Students feel that after paying such a hefty amount to come to the certain university and to be given food that they just are not used to is not fair upon them. This major dislike of the food they are given causes the students to bunk meals from day to day , or spend a lot of their cash on food which they are more used to. This further leads to a build of stress and frustration which shows on a dip in their exam grades. Hence , this problem affects International Students to a big degree. Some colleges do try to create an International Part to their dining halls but even the food made in those parts are really bad. Some of the International Students , having a special diet , suffer even more.

The College Administration needs to take up this issue seriously so as to provide the international students with the best food, most basic need in life.

Problems About Replacement of Subjects From AP or SAT 2 Scores

By Jae Yu Ko

Is there a problem that a person passes the course? Many students have taken AP tests when they were in high schools. In some schools, if students’ AP and SAT 2 subject test scores are good enough, colleges usually let them not to need to take those subjects in colleges. However, there are several problems about it. Universities should not let students not to take subjects related to their major. If it is not accomplished, students will not learn anything about their majors. Therefore, it is very important for students to study their majors to learn more about the program rather than just passing the courses due to the higher AP or SAT 2 subject test scores.

It is the problem that AP scores or SAT 2 replace the subjects related to major. For example, there are several students who already took AP and SAT 2 Biology and SAT 2 Math when they were in high school. When they get to colleges, they have to take biology and math because their major is biochemistry. However, their AP and SAT 2 math scores are really high, so colleges let them not to take biology and math in their colleges. Those students feel comfortable and become happy, but they think that they will not learn anything about biochemistry. When they became juniors, their subjects became much more difficult. So, they felt regretful and frustrated that they did not take biology and math. They know that they have to be good at their majors, but not taking major subjects makes problems.

It is important to take subjects relating to the major because students can learn materials mostly from their subjects and lectures. Therefore, even though students have excellent AP and SAT 2 scores, it is still good to take subjects relating to their majors rather than passing those subjects.

Politics in American Higher Education

By: Kristi Painter

You might think that education quality or even research quality would be the most important aspect of an American Educational Institution. This, however, does not seem to be the case among most major universities. According to Christopher C. Morphew and Barrett J. Taylor, “[m]aintaining your institutional status in higher education” has become the most important task among universities. They have become obsessed with rankings and popularity and go to extremes to protect the institutions image. Morphew and Taylor state that most universities change their mission statements when submitting them to US News & World Report in the hopes of boosting their rankings. Some have even participated in questionable events in order to be the best at something. Universities constantly work on improving their public image by doing things which look good on the surface and do not require much sacrifice of money or time.

The universities’ focus on popularity and surface improvements has caused problems like the environment and educational improvements to be shallowly dealt with. A university may implement some short term program that temporarily fixes a problem while vastly improving the university’s public image and therefore their rankings. Because of universities obsession with rankings these problems are being ignored or left for future administrations to deal with.

Rankings are great for television shows, sports, and even politicians but they have no place in higher education. A large lack of focus results, causing slackened education standards and an overall lowered quality of education. The modern universities need to shift their focus from numbers to what is really important.

Athletes: Employees or Students

By: Stewart Hall

There is much controversy over students athletes. Some people are angry that they are treated specially and get academic help and easy classes yet they get the same degree as everyone else. Others argue that the athletes help to bring in much of the school's revenue. Since athletes are already of a different class than the usual university student, it might make sense to transform student athletes to just athletes.

The biggest issues surrounding the treatment of student athletes are whether they should be paid and whether they should be treated better than other students, academically. It seems that if athletes were not students, all of these problems would be solved. They would be getting fairly paid for their service to the university and they would not be treated better than regular students when it comes to academics. One may argue that the athletes still want degrees; however, it is probably not necessary for a college athlete to get a degree as well. The athletes could play as employees of the school and not students as long as the school wanted them or until they were given a spot as a professional. If they never got a spot, then they could get their degree at the school and stop playing their sport so that they wouldn't have to be treated specially and could study and learn as well as every other student.

How Costly is Studying Abroad?

By: William Hodges

Studying abroad has become a very popular among students just entering college. According to Institute of International Education, between 2005 and 2006 the amount of people who decided to study abroad increased by about 9.6%. Many students even make having a study abroad program an important consideration when they choose a college. Schools like Georgia Tech highly encourage study abroad programs for students because of the benefits it can have to the person. According to the Transitions Abroad Website, studying abroad can help increase personal development, help increase a students academic commitment, help a student develop a more cultured view of the world, and can help with career development. They also said that study abroad programs “will change your life. You’ll come back a new person.”

If study abroad is as meaningful and beneficial as everyone says it is then why doesn’t everyone study abroad. The biggest problem with study abroad programs is the cost. When studying abroad there are many expenses you have to take care of including the airfare, housing, food, and tuition expenses. When these add up the price can seem very daunting especially with the weakening value of the dollar compared to that of say the euro. While the costs are staying fairly static, the exchange rates are not, they are getting poorer and poorer and is a major reason why study abroad is difficult for some students. Some institutions have their own study abroad programs with campuses set up all around the world. This can make is easier to study abroad because most of the housing and tuition requirements are all built in making studying abroad cheaper. At Georgia Tech all out of state students who pay the costly sum of about $24,000 a year get to pay in state tuition during their entire time while studying abroad. This allows them to actually save about $19,000 every time they study abroad. Even though in some cases study abroad can be costly, some people believe the benefits outweigh the cost and believe that it is completely worth it and still believe that study abroad is something that every student should take advantage of.

The E Test

By : Utsav Akhoury



Lately universities are switching from the traditional handwritten exam to the E test , or the computer based test. This is what some people call the modernization of exams. The E test is nothing but a computer based test which is submitted online , within a fixed exam time. The questions might be multiple choice or a long answer.

This is a big change in the way of giving exams, because rather than looking at a piece of paper , students have to look a computer screen.This new way of giving exams has its pros and cons. The pros are that this is easy and efficient, and it reduces the scope of students to cheat during the exam , which might be a big con from certain students side. The cons of this method are that its not cost effective on the administration of the school , and a major con is that the change from paper - pencil to computer based tests is very big for some students and hence their grades tend to decline till they get used to the E Test.

Whether we like it or not , the E test is here to stay and we need to get used to it. Us students , having been so used to computers and laptops should familiarize ourselves with the E test , so as to avoid any sort of downgrade in our academic performance.

Do We Need Point Grading: Should Colleges Switch To A System In Which Grades Are Based on Progress

By: Ryan Dettmann

Like in high school, most people worry about grades in college and many teachers have many different scales like a 15 point or weight specific items like tests and quizzes. But not many people have considered dropping grades altogether or almost dropping grades, because once an individual gets out of college there are not grades in the working world and the closest thing to a grade is progress reports. Some individual teachers have gone to a system that bridges the grading world to the working world.
Though most colleges rely on the classic grade point scale that has been used for most since middle school and possibly elementary school, some teachers and colleges have dared to be different in there way of grading. One of these colleges is Duke at which Professor Cathy Davidson has taking a grading system based on a system in which if an individual does all the work they get an An and if they can only do most of it they can shoot for a B. But that leaves determining what work is satisfactory and unsatisfactory which she leaves to two students who lead the class on whether blogs are satisfactory or not. Though she admits that many professors could not do this, because she has tenure and is at a noted academic school. Also another that was of note is that even a system similar to could not work like the one in Buffalo in which students were able to bypass the teachers system. Also at a workshop for Association of American Colleges and Universities many administrators considered that they should drop grades altogether, because it is sometimes hard to gauge students learning and progress. Some have even suggested using progress reports, learning rubrics, and learning goals. These are several ideas that are good ways to bridge the grade point aimed classroom to the the quality of work done in the working world.

There should be a system in colleges in which a students success is based on how they accomplish work in which they are also based on cooperation. These teachers are rebels and revolutionaries in their field and many teachers should take note of bettering their teaching skills and methods to better prepare their students for the harsh working world.

The Problem Of Clothing Style In Colleges

By: Jae Yu Ko

A lot of students in colleges have experienced dress code when they were in high schools. In colleges, there is no dress code restriction and it is free to wear anything in colleges. So, students probably feel happy with it and enjoy their college life. However, strange clothing like hip-hop style jean does not look good to other people. Even though professors do not care what students wear, wearing hip hop style clothing is not a good way to look good to professors. Even though there is no restriction for dress code, students have to restrain from the excessive clothing style.

Several students in colleges have to recognize what real dress code means. It is true that there is no dress code in colleges, but several clothing looks rude and strange to people. For example, there is a black person who wears hip hop style and it does not look good to professors. Professors did not say anything about dress code, but they seem to hate him. Students in his classes attempted to avoid him because his clothing makes everyone feel distracted. Even though that black person feels convenient and satisfied, he has to think about other people. So, students who have experienced private schools had dress code. They can recognize what the problem of dress code in colleges is and the effect of dress code.

A number of students have to recognize the dress code in colleges. It means that even though there is no dress code restriction, students need to weak peaceful clothing and professors can look at it nicely. Therefore, it is important for students to wear clothes to look nice to their professors.

It's All About the Rankings: College and the Green Campus

By Kristi Painter

As a recent concern in our society, striving to be green has become an important issue on college campuses. Institutions now strive to have the most environmentally friendly campuses possible. With increased recycling, use of solar panels, reusable plates in dining halls, and many other improvements campuses are setting more green standards every day. According to Kate Zernike, “as colleges and universities rush to declare themselves green, some higher education officials worry that campuses are taking easy steps to win the label rather than doing the kind of unglamorous work… that would actually reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. Some campuses are changing little more than their press releases.” Colleges are more concerned about beating the competition than improving the environment. Unfortunately, this leads to the large scale use of quick surface improvements and very small amounts of long term improvements.

One example of a green technique used by colleges to improve their standings is carbon neutrality. Through buying offsets a school entrusts a company to plant trees or do some environmentally friendly activities in order to cancel out the school’s negative environmental impact. Carbon neutrality is “the environmental equivalent of paying someone to eat broccoli so you can keep consuming ice cream” states Kate Zernike. Nothing green actually happens on the school’s campus but their green ranking among other colleges has improved. Colleges should not be inspired to become green because of rankings, they should be inspired by a desire to improve the earth and improve the lives of their students.

Libraries Without Books

By: Stewart Hall

It is a widely accepted notion that libraries are becoming increasingly digitally oriented. Many librarians and other faculty of universities are afraid that libraries will become obsolete and no longer useful. University librarian Steven Bell says "Speculation persists that we may soon be the higher-education equivalent of the Maytag repairman, as the Internet becomes the first place students and professors look for information." With the rise of databases such as JSTOR and projects like Google's print project, it seems that all resources, even printed ones, are moving to the digital realm. This leaves the thousands of books on the shelves seemingly useless. Still, some librarians argue that books are still superior and that online services do can not replace libraries. Michael Gorman says "They say they're digitizing books, but they're really not, they're atomizing them. In other words, they're reducing books to a collection of paragraphs and sentences which, taken out of context, have virtually no meaning." Librarians also argue that information services are invaluable and that these can only be offered by academic librarians in physical libraries.

What they may not be anticipating is a sort of compromise. It is true that not all books are fully available online; however, this does not mean that it can't happen, and the most likely outcome is that books will go digital in the future. Especially when the environment, printing costs, and convenience are considered. The most important attributes of libraries are their environment and community. Even when all sources are online, students will still go to libraries. Whether they go for a quiet place to study, a place to look up resources, or to collaborate with professionals the buildings will still serve a purpose. Furthermore, the absence of books does not mean that librarians are useless. They can still assist visitors with using technology, locating sources, and researching.

Rising Student Enrollment, But Cutting Budgets?

By: Ryan Dettmann

Though most four-year colleges like private colleges and community colleges have seen an increase in enrollment with the recent hard times. But few have considered the troubling factors with the recent increase enrollment with community colleges and the continuing cutting of education spending for community colleges. This not only bad because it cuts the staff but also affects the education the students are receiving from the community college.

With the cuts on education not only makes the college cut faculty, but also puts a bigger strain on the faculty left at the institution to teach growing classes and a bigger amount of work to grade and plan for. This will constrain the colleges ability to accommodate the increasing class of students making classes more crammed for space and decreasing the possibility of getting the usually small personal community college experience. Additionally, this in a combination with the cutting of the staff can have a more increasing affect on how many students can accomplish getting a diploma. In previous blogs it was mentioned how with the increasing population going to community colleges was troubling because a noticeably smaller percentage of the school population gets and college diploma and graduates. So with the cuts in budget it hurts the school’s ability to acquire not only new teachers but also keep and hire better ones to reverse and better community college’s ability to graduate their students.

The cutting in funds towards community colleges is a startling thing that will hurt them, their students, and the workforce coming out of the colleges. Government officials and the general population should be informed about this growing issue that is occurring in higher education today.

How can students manage their GPA in colleges? A number of students have hard time with maintaining their GPA because professors require them a lot of work or subjects themselves are hard courses. It is advantageous to get a job based on a good GPA. However, it is not easy to get a good GPA. Students do not know what they should do for it. There are several ways to tolerate the hardship of getting GPA.

There are some tips that help students get a good GPA. Students had better to talk to professors and get advice from them. If there are a few problems that they do not understand, they will have to go to professors’ office and discuss about the questions. After talking about the questions that students do not know, they need to review the materials and make sure that they understand all of them. Besides working in the office, group working is beneficial to understand the materials. If professors do not have time to set up the appointment with students, students can gather classmates to study together. They can ask questions each other and it can also save more time to work than to work alone. These two tips help students to maintain their GPA.

Talking to professors and studying together assist students to manage their GPA in colleges. Even though students have trouble with GPA due to the excessive work, the tips stated above can help them get used to studying effectively. Therefore, it is important to recognize how these tips are effective to people in colleges.

Rising Tuition Costs!

By: William Hodges

Many questions are getting asked right now as high school seniors begin their search for a college. One I find to be particularly interesting is how people are going to pay for school. It is getting harder and harder for people to pay for college as the tuition costs skyrocket and the economy continues to decline. As a new out of state freshman at Georgia Tech I am currently paying the large sum of about thirty-three thousand dollars a year for tuition and room and board. How are we supposed to manage cost like this? The most common way for people to afford these high costs are through the use of student loans, but all this does is leave the student in debt when they come out of college. With the average four year private college costing about twenty-five thousand dollars a year, a typical student graduates with about twenty-three thousand dollars of debt. There is however a good side to this. Despite the insanely high prices for college, there is over one hundred and forty-three billion dollars available in financial aid waiting to be tapped into. Also some schools have implemented programs where the tuition prices are fixed every year the student attends that school. This is a great program with the rapidly rising tuition prices. According to the College Board, between the 2008 and 2009 school year tuition prices have risen 5.9%, and with the fixed tuition system you no longer have to worry about that. Many schools though, (Georgia Tech included) have recently gotten rid of this system because of the recently declining economy causing a difficulty in financing the institution. Even though higher education is an expensive proposition, there are many organizations that are out there to help make it more affordable so that everyone is able to get a college degree.