Course Schedulers Working From Home Increase Distance Between Fall Classes
Last month, the Office of the Provost announced that fall 2021 course registration would be delayed until the end of April to allow departments time to adjust class schedules for the return to in-person instruction. Recent reports indicate that advisors, who have largely been working from home this school year, have completely lost perspective on the geographic size of Texas A&M University, forcing students into long commutes between required classes.
These concerns were first raised when Daniel Warren, a student ambassador from the mechanical engineering department, came forward with allegations that rather than taking the time to open Google Maps, his advisors randomly assigned courses to buildings without considering the distance between their departments’ classes. Warren claims that this negligence will delay his graduation by a semester, as it will be “physically impossible” for him to make it to class on time.
“I’m going to be a senior this fall, so only one section exists for a lot of my courses,” Warren said. I thought my Monday commute was going to be bad when I saw there were only 20 minutes between my classes at Zachry and the Bush School, but then I saw Tuesday’s schedule. My first class is in Qatar at 8:00 a.m. and then my other class is at 5:15 p.m. in Galveston.”
In response to these concerns, Interim Provost Mark H. Weichold assured students that the university is taking the necessary steps to ensure they will never be forced into unreasonable commutes. “Transportation Services will be adding new Aggie Spirit Bus routes this fall,” Weichold said. “ To accommodate these additional services, however, we’ve been forced to eliminate all of the College Station bus stops that aren’t used on football game days.”
Despite Weichold’s reassurance, students are still widely dissatisfied with the university’s plan for the fall. It appears the only party standing to benefit from this scheduling conflict is VeoRide, which recently revealed plans to introduce electric, human-carrying quadcopters to campus this August.
— MSC ALITTLE
You’ve seen him, the phantom of the Memorial Student Center, lurking in the back of the lunch crowd. Perhaps you caught a glimpse of him darting in and out of various conference rooms. MSC ALITTLE is the CEO of overcommitment, and a sucker for any organization with a pithy acronym. His motives are a mystery. Clout chasing? Resume building? Maybe he just really likes the food at Rev’s. Whatever the case, we count ourselves lucky to be swept away to his lair in the basement, to be tutored in time management and seizing the day.