Author Topic: NDSU Spectrum: Editor's Corner  (Read 4949 times)

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Offline pmp6nl

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NDSU Spectrum: Editor's Corner
« on: April 19, 2011, 05:28:05 PM »
Quote
BRIANNA EHLEY, Editor-in-Chief
 
 The Student Senate had it right when approving the Passport Acceptance Facility as one of 10 capital projects to be funded by the reserves in the Student Activity Fee.
 For a mere $1,397.00, out of nearly $100,000 from the reserve fund, the university will now provide a new service that will allow students the opportunity to apply for and obtain passports on campus.
 The Passport Acceptance Facility will be a great addition to our university. Travel is very important and can often be a valuable learning experience, as well as life experience.
 Since our world is becoming more and more globalized, it is very important for students to broaden their horizons and see different parts of the world.
 The new Passport Acceptance Facility will make the passport process much easier for first time travelers.
 Since obtaining passports can be a time-consuming, sometimes hectic process, having a facility right on campus will ease the stress of obtaining passports, so students will have more time to prepare for their adventures abroad.
 The Student Senate's approval of the Passport Acceptance Facility was a step in the right direction for NDSU. This facility will offer a great and convenient service that students, faculty and staff should be sure to take advantage of.
 
 MATT SEVERNS, Copy Editor
 
 The best capital project approved by student government this year was the wireless scanners for satellite athletics ticket purchases.
 This is one of the most justified ways to spend money because it will have a direct impact on students who want to support Bison athletics but don't want to bear the relentless wind from the North that makes them reluctant to go to the BSA.
 It may not seem like much, but making students' lives easier with excess funds seems to me to be one of the best ways to allocate the available money.
 As a freshman, not only did I find myself immensely busy with schoolwork, but also I wasn't entirely sure where the BSA was. We had a Ticketmaster in the Union, and I was always confused about why I couldn't pick up my tickets there.
 Bison football saw lackluster support from students last year, with an embarrassingly small student section far from filling their cordoned-off section.
 A solution to this is to cater to the lazy nature of the collegiate population by making getting tickets easy.
 We approved $18,200 for four of the scanners, and though this seems to be more than they should cost, even at $4,550 apiece they seem like a good idea.
 Bison pride runs deep, but so do the responsibilities of everyday collegiate life and the conditions this "toughest weather city" throws at us.
 Making it easier to become a member of the Bison community is one of the best investments we could make.
 
 RYLEE NELSON, Opinion Editor
 
 Fargo's brutal winters and rather flat landscape give NDSU a lot to be desired in the attractiveness department. A recent approval of capital projects brought some much-needed funds to serve several problem areas here on campus. One of these allocations will be to provide nearly $14,000 for trees on campus.
 The trees will be spread throughout campus and will be a much needed addition to the 25-to-30-year-old mostly ashes and spruces that are spread throughout the campus.
 The new trees will display a variety of tree species found throughout the state and with printed pamphlets and walking routes, they will serve educational purposes as well.
 When able to enjoy the cool breeze and warm sunshine on a fall or spring day, it is good for both the mental health and peace of mind for students to have a conducive and pleasing atmosphere.
 The plan includes landscape that will embrace both spring and fall and make the most of the vast amounts of lawns and available space.  It will be highly valuable to the students to have a campus that they can be proud of.
 With beauty and attractiveness comes also a higher impact NDSU can have on the people that walk through its campus. Who wants to walk through campus on a blistering hot day with ugly, tired and mostly over pruned trees? This shows a lot about the campus – mainly that campus is equally tired.
 I believe that student government was very wise in its allocation toward making NDSU more pleasing to the senses. This was truly a move of future-oriented student leaders who realize that this campus needs more than simply a growing population or advancing research department. We all want to go where the grass is greener.
 
 CATE EKEGREN, Design Editor
 
 The $20,000 budget to transition from paper forms to e-forms will by far have the greatest impact on all of campus.
 First of all, if students had the option to fill out a required form online from the comfort of their own room rather than trekking across campus and back in bad weather to pick up a single piece of paper, that would be a very welcomed change.
 Not only would online forms be easier to access, they would also allow students to fill out paperwork on their own schedule. Campus cannot possibly stay open 24/7 but the Internet can. Personally, I am most productive late at night. This is the time I conquer my to-do list and the more I can get done at that time, like forms, the less I have to save for the week days.
 The NDSU staff and faculty who receive the forms will also find the switch to online access more convenient.
 The entire receiving process will become much more efficient. Time and energy will be saved not having to sort and file hard copies of forms and deadlines will be upheld because paperwork submitted online will receive an instant date and time stamp.
 Besides being more efficient, forms submitted online are easier to read. Let's face it - papers are frequently folded and shoved into the bottom of a backpack and are not treated any better when being filled out. Having a lot of experience working in various NDSU offices, I have seen forms in this condition submitted. The only thing worse than the physical condition of the paper is the handwriting. I have yet to met anyone who maintains neat handwriting when filling out paperwork in a hurry and some students still have script comparable to that of a first-grader. Forms submitted online would reduce errors made because of illegible writing.
 Not only does the time and energy saved by all parties make the E-Form project the most beneficial to NDSU, but it also saves the trees!


I personally think the athletic scanners are a waste of money.  It wasn't that hard to go to the BSA and it helped prevent the people from getting tickets if they had little ambition to use them... meaning if they went up to the BSA there was a better chance they would use it (or better yet do away with tickets and go back to only swiping student ids).  Additionally, why didn't athletics pay for it, aren't they rolling in the money?

I really like the investment in the trees, landscaping could really improve the campus.
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