Division of Student Affairs Trials “Express Entry” Pass for MSC and Commons
Citing student setbacks caused by overcrowding at entrances to the Memorial Student Center and Commons buildings, Lt. Gen. Joe Weber, Vice President for Student Affairs, and his staff have been reviewing various solutions to mitigate delays.
“Student Organizations play a very important role in student life and campus identity, but oftentimes students are short on time and need to get in buildings such as the MSC and Commons in a timely manner,” Weber told The Mugdown. “We are drafting plans to allow students to bypass the crowds without denying the rights of fraternities, sororities, FLOs, and worthy organizations such as OPAS and Wiley Lecture Series.”
The proposed plan by Chancellor John Sharp is based off of Disney’s renowned “Fast Pass” program for expedited entry to rides with long queuing times. The tentative name for the program is “Express Entry” and will be rolled out to select students with a classification of U2 on August 3rd.
Jacob Harrison, a junior Industrial Distribution major told The Mugdown “I’m excited for Express Entry. Come August and September, I won’t be joining a FLO or Frat, so being able to bypass the maze of signs and overeager freshmen will cut 30 minutes out of my trip to the MSC.”
Not everyone is supportive of the Division’s plan. Dr. Anne Reber, Dean of Student Life, says she has received numerous complaints by several organizations, most notably the Texas Aggie Conservatives. One email sent to Reber expressed concern that “Efforts to divert students from the promotion of our group is actively furthering the liberal agenda by preventing students from seeing the light of our true, conservative ideology.”
Reber assures organizations that effects on promotional activities will be “negligible” due to the low amount of passes issued each month. “The preemptive separation of students will reduce crowds and assure that your signs and fliers will only be seen by students looking to become involved.”
Express Entry is scheduled to be operational by the start of the Fall 2014 semester to meet the demand caused by FLO and Rush recruiting.
If you’ve ever wondered who you have to thank for “north” at Texas A&M being pointed towards the local bar district instead of the north pole, look no further. A political activist and local alcoholic, his claim to fame and life achievement was convincing the city of College Station to legally define “north” as “of or denoting the direction from any specified area, city, or country towards the Northgate Entertainment District.”