[Iowa-dx] Press-Citizen Posting: New U of I President -- Change? I'll say!

[Libris Fidelis]

Libris Fidelis Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:50 am
Post subject: Change? I'll say!

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As a U of I undergraduate, I am plenty disappointed with the
U of I  system. Although I do not know the reasons for
U of I's academic dysfunction, I do know that somewhere in
the timeline, there has  been an influence to really screw up
U of I, and Mason will have to address that issue with as much
strength and diplomacy as she can muster. I think that is the
real reason for the past "five year disaster", because I think a
lot of selfish and prejudiced politics have ruled over the
university structure.

Everything at U of I disrespects and victimizes the student.
>From a complicated and clandestine registration system (it
took me a semester-and-a-half for me to realize I really was
enrolled as a student, and I lost two Pell Grants due to that),
to class structures and catalogue listings that really beg one's
gullibility to think that other academic institutions around the
country do not know what is going on at U of I, and that
they will accept U of I's accreditation (is this true of ALL of
the Iowa universities, that they all operate with three and
six week classes but hold the student accountable to a
semester's worth of study? It is a fraud and it is insane!)

How about the curriculum fields at U of I? I have never seen
such a limited offering of courses at a higher education
institution. Look how few foreign languages are taught, just
a few basic European and only Spanish for American
languages, plus Japanese and Chinese are taught. As
important as the so-called "middle East" is to our country
today, where are the Arabic and Farsi classes?

There are further evaluations that need to be made if "basic"
educational course Degrees are to be offered, there needs
to be an analysis about the way students have very few
choices of "other" important careers here at U of I. I cannot
believe that Environmental Studies is in the political field of
Geography, rather than in the life science field of Biology.
The answer I was given, by a counselor, about that was,
"Well, we're really a medical-school oriented university." I
said that was crazy!

Registration needs to be simplified and in the open, for the
first time. Students need to begin with a simple information
sheet and a form to fill out that says "Here I am, let me
enroll", and all of the required documentation (transcripts,
registration data, etc) should then be revealed to the
student that first day, which is mostly actually provided now,
but not completely.

Then all of the in-process matriculation needs to be
acknowledged by the university as soon as possible, either
by electronic message or by postal mail, and at the same
time, the first-time student should be promptly scheduled to
attend the student orientation, while waiting for the
registration matriculation to be completed.

The next stage is to have the student meet with a student
advisor or counselor, but that is not done until later at
present -- too late to help the student. The student should
thus be "prepped" for enrollment by the advisor/counselor:
the process for student aid or loans to be indicated for
applying, and help to select the proper process in pursuing a
major, and possibly a minor area of study, listing the needed
classes to be taken semester-by-semester (because there
are a lot of classes within a required category that do NOT
apply to a major that APPEAR to apply in the student's eyes,
one of the reasons I say this is a clandestine process).

With this preparation, at that point, actual enrollment of
registration and class selection should be open to the
student. The process that actually takes place at the
present time is not even listed, so the student finds out
about it way too late at the orientation after the university
gets around to letting the student that the time limit has
passed for the current approaching semester.

Then there is the problem with the classes, which I already
mentioned.  How can an institution of higher learning have
credibility and have official accreditation with a six week --
let alone a three week -- class?  The pamphlet that informs
the student of the required graduation courses is not in
the slightest a match to reality.  If it was, just going by the
pamphlet would "be a breeze" of simplicity.

Also, and this requires the President to be an advocate for
students, there is no connection between the Department
of Education Pell Grant and the student whatsoever. The
student applies for financial aid and then enrolls in classes on
dumb blind faith, which faith is totally unjustified. Because I
enrolled and applied for student aid, I received no Pell
Grant in the Spring Semester, so I paid for one class and
textbooks out of my own pocket when I am classified by
the government as "severe poverty" for my subsidized
housing, and although I was scheduled to take six credits in
two courses this summer, I only received a Pell Grant award
of $200, leaving me $1000 "in the hole"!  Obviously, a
regular semester will cost me at least $3500, of which Pell
Grant will only cover fourteen-fifteenths of my actual cost.
Something is wrong here. It's like saying, "If you are not in
the middle class, you cannot have an education!"

Mason has a huge load of work to address in making this
universtity become credible, in my eyes. To me, it's a
hostile, inconsiderate money-mill to make profits off of its
students, not to provide higher education.

Libris Fidelis

Nick Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:07 am
Post subject: Today's the Day!

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Today's the Day!

"UI Held Hostage Day 516" and today we're to be free!
It's "Sally Mason Day."

For links to all the UI search stories in this and other papers,
other blogs, videos and stills, plus more information about
the candidates than what was provided by the Search
Committee, Regents or the media, visit
http://FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com -- as well as, of course,
this paper's resources. FromDC2Iowa also has a very active
discussion in its "comments" section (now over 150), as
well as commentary and links to stories on this unfolding
saga it has been tracking since last November.

article_user Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:54 am
Post subject: Selection\'s whys, why nots

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