|
Letters to the Editor
Survey stats' use misleading
I would like to correct two errors of fact dealing with the Advising Center in the (March 27) editorial "Survey a wake-up call for all SCSU staff, faculty, students." The writer states: "Perhaps one of the most surprising results of the survey is that students have little faith in the SCSU Advising Center. One quarter of students believed the Center was not helpful and an alarming 38 percent said the center directed them to take classes they later found out they did not need." Neither of those statements is correct.
The SCSU student survey includes only one question directly related to the Advising Center, which reads: "If you have ever used the Advising Center, would you rate the job they do as very good, good, fair or poor?" If you consider only those who used the Advising Center and answered the question, 70 percent (199 out of 283) responded "very good" or "good" and fewer than six percent (16 out of 283) responded "poor." Of course we would like to have one hundred percent satisfaction and there is certainly room for improvement, but these statistics show that a large majority of students have confidence in and are satisfied with the Advising Center. The Advising Center remains committed to improving advising at SCSU at all levels.
The other question that the editorial deals with reads as follows: "Have you taken classes that you didn't need because you didn't have proper direction from an advisor?" This is quite a different matter. Students receive advising from many quarters, not only the Advising Center, and the question does not indicate that the center is to blame for these errors. Students who come to the Advising Center regularly report to us that the advising they received helped them avoid mistakes in course selection in general education. I am extremely proud of our advising team and am confident that they provide accurate and up-to-date information. I urge the entire university community to take advantage of that expertise by contacting us when questions arise and by attending some of the many training opportunities we provide.
Steve Klepetar
Faculty Director of Advising, SCSU
Squirrels not to be afraid of
This letter is in response to Stephanie (Voges)'s article ("New squirrel survivor speaks," March 31) about her close encounter with one of these supposed killer squirrels. Is it just me, or has this recent chain of articles gone from humorous to downright ridiculous? What Stephanie encountered "that fateful day" has probably happened to every single person in this country. A squirrel ran from a trash can to a bush. Wow! What a harrowing incident! I'm sure the rest of the readers felt the same way I did after reading about your near-death incident (insert eye roll with heavy sigh here).
If that's considered a narrow escape, then I should be in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Life-Threatening Encounters" from all those demonic rodents who failed to slay me while running for the Husky cross country team this fall. As for Kelsey (Smith)'s suggestion that we "form a brainstorming committee focused on student protection against ferocious animals on campus," I seriously think there are about 10,000 better ways to spend our now limited university budget than on a Squirrel Removal Task Force.
So while everyone is paralyzed by Killer Squirrel Syndrome, I welcome the furry creatures to our campus. It's nice to see some wildlife after a long and dreary winter. Besides, what do we have that they could possibly want, our nuts?
Anthony Dunkel
Sophomore, Meteorology/Geography
Man, I just had a dream that people were getting attacked by sk8ter boys and squirrels. Oh wait, that's just opinion papers by Andy Rennecke. People, why are we so afraid of squirrels? They never did anything to anyone except run away when you make a move towards them. They're furry and don't do any harm but eat nuts and acorns and corn. I know this because my grandma feeds the squirrels corn. I'll admit they can be dumb sometimes when there are cars driving by and they get themselves squashed, but that's the squirrels' problem, not ours. I'm wondering what everyone really was doing when they say they were getting chased or attacked by squirrels. I mean, if I was a squirrel and you kept throwing things at me or chasing me all the time, I would do something to scare you like dropping acorn bombs on your head, or jump on your head and bite you. I mean, if you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone. So be nice to the squirrels and I bet they'll be nice to you.
Sam Woods
Senior, Recreation Sports
Management
Letter should use two sources
Allow me to retort to Dale Watts�and Scott Bushee's masterful essay on the "minimal" problems associated with drilling in ANWR.
The fact that you follow up your criticism of a "misleading and biased" story with a, well, misleading and biased story is evidence of your ignorance. To some, ignorance may be bliss. To me, however, ignorance just�demonstrates a person's desire to believe what they want, with as much one-sided information as possible, without furthering their research into the realm in which they're arguing for or against. As an example of this, you (Dale and Scott) provide the reader with the web address of the�site (only one site)�where you did your "research." I�immediately see a problem with this. Did it ever occur to you two that maybe this site too is biased? The fact that you�attempt to�back up your claim that drilling is harmless by gathering all of your information from one solitary page shows a serious lack of effort to persuade people on your behalf. Everyone has an agenda, and I doubt the creators of this page are�any different. I suggest you do a little more reading about the effects oil rigs and pipelines being dappled across the landscape have on the environment before your pensive selves come up with the bright idea of trying to sway people's opinion toward your side of the fence. Ignorance may be bliss, but it is still�no excuse when much information is readily available.
Steven Pekarek
Senior, Environmental Studies
|
|
|
|
Privacy Policy Network Advertising Article Syndication
|
|
