Beer Bottles and Smashed Pumpkins: Frat Parties on Tech's Campus

By Shane Le Master

En route to many of my classes, I often pass by many of the fraternity houses. Frequently, I walk by frat houses with yards littered with trash, beer cans, and broken glass beer bottles. Last week, just in time for Halloween, I saw one frat house yard absolutely covered with smashed, rotting pumpkins in addition to the usual beer cans. This sight, one of utter waste and irresponsibility, would be shameful to see anywhere. But, it is even more shameful to see on a college like Georgia Tech’s campus, an area supposedly dedicated to higher learning, research, and other areas of maturity. Thus comes my question: Are fraternity houses appropriate on Georgia Tech’s campus?

Anybody who knows about college knows what a frat party looks like. They have become the infamous subject of many movies and songs, and they have become associated with the very image of college life. However, no institution needs to carry the image of being a host to wild behavior and excessive drinking (usually by minors). The Idaho State school newspaper even published an article saying that only three of the country’s top ten liberal arts schools even have fraternities. Their lack of fraternities definitely could have played a role in their becoming the top schools in the country. At Alfred University in New York, a student was even found dead after attending a frat party. Fraternities have come to fill a niche for partying on campus that is better left unfilled. If they can absolutely eliminate the crazy, destructive parties and the drinking, then there should be no reason why fraternities should not to be allowed to exist. But if they can’t stop the partying and drinking, then fraternities are not contributing to the high quality learning and research environment of Georgia Tech and consequently should not be allowed to exist on campus. It would be nice to not have to witness anymore lawns trashed with mashed pumpkins and empty alcohol containers.

Zombies: Invading a Campus Near You

by Amber Lee

Everyone is taking advantage of the renewed paranormal obsession that has begun to affect the younger population. This is most evident in the slew of paranormal books, movies, and television shows that have hit the shelves. And one of the biggest consumer groups of these products is found on every campus in America.

With the epic success of Twilight it is no surprise that everyone is giving their products a paranormal twist. For example, we recently had a blood drive on campus and the slogan was “Starve a vampire. Give Blood.” But it's not vampires that seem to be making headlines lately, but zombies. More and more students are organizing "Humans vs Zombies" games on campus with much success.

As one student said, “it’s a great way to meet new people.” The entire ordeal is basically a more complicated game of tag. In a place where maturity growth seems to come to screeching halt.

And some students have even found a way to tie these activities to their studies. A few students, with the help of their quirky professor, have even created a mathematical model of how the world would fare against an actual zombie attack. Models such as this have also been used to determine how to handle real pandemics such as H1N1.

The students here at Georgia Tech are even attempting to have their own zombie invasion this coming February.

Going Home On The Weekends

Scott Zadig

Thousands of students who choose to attend a university close to home go home quite often on the weekends for a number of reasons. Many of these students want to go home to sleep in their own bed, bathe in their own shower, see their family, and eat a home cooked meal after a long without those privileges. Some students suffer from homesickness because they cannot deal with the stresses of having to live on their own, even though they spent month’s looking forward to moving out of the house before college. Another reason why is simply because their parents miss them and want to see them on a regular basis. There is usually nothing wrong with going home every once in a while to get away from your everyday life in college to recharge your batteries and catch up on your home life. However, if a student makes a habit of going home every single weekend, it could end up setting that student back in a couple of aspects.

Students that go home every weekend are holding themselves back from getting involved on campus and developing their social lives as a college student. The weekends are a time to relax, to meet new people, to hang out with friends, to attend on or off campus events, or to finish up studying and homework assignments. For the students that go home every weekend, they isolate themselves from an entire aspect of college life that helps to shape a person in a more well-rounded and balanced human being. They miss out on prime opportunities to get involved in their new community and connect with other college students. From an academic standpoint, students do not have access to specific resources they may need to do their assignments. Also, the home setting may be more distracting for some students to do homework, thus they put it off until they get back to school and this can create more stress. It is very important for students who have the option of going home to find a balance between their college life and home life so they do not hold themselves back from new life opportunities presented to them.

Skipping Class

Kevin Corley

Many students entering college are tempted to skip class given their newfoudn freedom. There are no parents hounding them to go to school so it is easy for them to skip a class when their only motivation to attend is from themselves. Many students do not realize the importance of attending class and according to the Herald, live by the motto “Class is optional”. From personal experience, many students do not attend certain lectures at all because they do not feel their professor effectively teaches the material. While it is understandable that some professors may not be excellent teachers, it is important to understand that they usually make the test and anything that someone gets out of class can be beneficial.

Even if students do not get much out of class, they can surely get something if they are at least present. At the very least they should attend class and bring work to do. If a student skips class to do other work, they should consider bringing it to class and doing it there. By being present, students can pick up on important topics that may be on tests and learning very little is better than learning nothing. Pete Mendez mentions in an article that skipping class is typically a freshmen thing and that most upperclassmen see the value in attending class. Students need to understand that getting through college isn’t only about getting good grades. It is supposed to prepare them for the future by increasing their knowledge. Students are paying for knowledge not just a piece of paper that says they've earned a degree. Each class is an opportunity for students to learn something new that will better prepare them for their future career. It is important that students see the value in each class and understand that attending class isn’t only about grades but more about the opportunity for knowledge. When students realize this, it is easy for them to be motivated and eager to attend class.

Co-Ed Dorm Rooms Are Not a Big Deal

Shane Le Master

Before coming to college, Ialways had dreams of being able to share a dorm with a good friend and be able to share in my freshman experiences with them. However, as it turns out, my only friends that ended up coming to Tech with me were girls. I honestly see nothing wrong about rooming with a girl. However, through looking at the options posted on their housing website, Georgia Tech obviously doesn’t see eye to eye with me on that. They offer no co-ed rooms anywhere on campus. The best the school offers are resident halls that are co-ed by floor. The school needs to open their minds and realize that students are responsible enough to room with the opposite sex and that a lot of the time the relationship between such students is no more than innocent friendship. Letting boys and girls share a room together will do nothing to inhibit learning nor will it encourage them to take part in any elicit activities.

Many of the more reputable schools in the country, such as Stanford, NYU, and The University of Chicago have already begun implementing a gender –neutral room policies in recent years and/or a co-ed dorm room option. A gender-neutral housing policy entails not even looking at the gender of the students when assigning rooms in many of their dorm buildings. And by looking at blogs and at this USA Today article, many students say it is really no big deal at all. An already good school like Tech ought to look to these other great institutions as an example. These schools are centers of academics in America and they have shown through experience that coed-rooms, when it comes down to it, have done nothing to tarnish the schools’ reputations or the performance of their students.

Letting boys and girls room together will not cause the whole school to erupt in flames and spell imminent destruction for the institution. I would have really enjoyed being able to room with a close friend this year instead of some random person who I still have been unable to make a connection with. Being with a friend, especially in the same major as me, would have helped me to perform better academically and make me more socially active on campus. However, because my friends are girls and because the school is still stuck in an old-fashioned and rather ignorant mind set, I was unable to have the dorm experience I had hoped for.

Eat, Sleep, or Study: Redefining Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for the College Student

Gregory Micek

As college freshmen begin their lives away from home, they learn to live on their own. They learn to deal with academic pressures in their own ways, while at the same time they are exposed to many distractions that prevent them from being efficient with their schoolwork. According to USA Today, “all-nighters have become a habit in higher education.” Students spend all night working on academic work because they try to fit in both time for social events during the evening while still finishing all their work at night. In doing so, they sacrifice the amount of sleep they obtain, in some cases staying awake all night to work.

According to Janet A. Simons, et al., from the University of Hawaii, Abraham Maslow was a humanistic psychologist that created a theory of personality that set up a hierarchy of the “five levels of basic [human] needs.” The first level of the hierarchy is physiological needs, which includes eating, sleeping, breathing, and necessary bodily functions like those. After the first level is achieved, an individual seeks the second level, which is safety of a person’s body. The third is the need of love, affection, and belongingness, the fourth is the need for self-esteem and the need for others, and the fifth is the need for self-actualization, such as achieving what that person was “born-to-do.”

College students that pull all-nighters neglect sleep because they consider their social lives and academic work more important. Thus, they deem academics and social lives as more important than sleep and, in some cases, eating well. This level of priorities goes against Maslow’s hierarchic theory of needs, and therefore students who pull all-nighters are acting abnormally in reference to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. These students seek academic needs and social needs before they seek certain basic physiological needs such as enough sleep.

Therefore, students that pull all-nighters act against basic human needs according to Maslow. By acting against the basic hierarchy of needs, students suffer consequences such as not working efficiently, lower immune levels, and emotional issues. Overall, students need to sleep the required amount of time, not pull all-nighters, eat appropriately, and keep in mind that their physiological needs are a greater priority than other parts of their lives.

Financal Issues facing Full-Time Professors

By Rohan Gupta

In undergraduate education, some full-time professors are responsible for teaching introductory courses with large groups of students. These individuals are most likely junior members of college faculty and probably have very little tenure. They are among, if not the most, hard working members of the college faculty and the current recession severely increased the inequality between the amount of hours they invest into academics and their income and benefits. Though one would expect universities to provide these professors with reasonable earnings that reflect their hard work and education, the amount of aid that they receive is so little that they are reconsidering their future.

In contrast to full-time faculty members, part-time college professors or adjuncts usually do not receive the same salary and benefits and also do not work for building credentials or tenure like them. The current recession has brought the two groups on the same financial level. Usually part-time individuals have to suffice with low pay, no security, and the mere fact that they do not have a full time job. Many full-time professors now cope with similar problems even though they are not in their situation.

Professors who teach freshman English Composition at the University of Illinois in Chicago are currently notorious for their large efforts and little compensation. They are suffering from these problems and are trying to find better options to survive in the current economic climate. Such professors may go back to school and earn a different or more specialized degree in English in order to obtain a better lifestyle. The new education may be doctorate level training or a different type of degree that mandates teaching English to non-native speakers. It will not be surprising if full-time professors in other fields who are in similar financial turmoil resort to these measures in order make decent earnings. Such a shift in education may create a new level of training that is required to live well; degrees that were thought to provide an individual with a basis to survive will now only be stepping stones to a higher level of training.

Mascots

by Amber Lee

The roster for college teams changes every year as players are admitted to and graduate from college. But at every college there is one team player that never leaves and is loved by all. The Mascot.

Although mascots can range from historical figures to inanimate objects, many of them are usually some sort of predatory animal. But even though there are seemingly so many types of mascots to choose from, with thousands of colleges in the United States it is sometimes hard to find an original mascot. For example, Georgia Tech, West Virginia State, Wisconsin–Superior, and at least eight other colleges have a yellow jacket as their mascot. But some schools attempt to break up the monotony with by using odd animal like those at University of California-Santa Cruz and Evergreen State College.

But mascots are more important than they at first seem. Because mascots are essentially the face of the school, it is important that they send the right message. A lot of colleges that use Native Americans as their mascot are being asked to change them by the NAACP. One school decided to change its mascot that resembled a plantation owner though they say it was because they wanted their mascot to be more athletic.

What a mascot does is also a reflection upon the school and though they seem to be able to get away with anything during ball games, there are limits. For example, one mascot was in trouble for mocking an opposing player who was praying. Ultimately, once you attend a college you represent the school in whatever you do - whether lovable, furry, and can dance around during half-time shows or not.

Skipping Class

Scott Zadig

To some students, skipping class once in a while is no big deal to them when they are in college, but others take it seriously. The new found freedom that college gives students allows them to make their own decision concerning their schedule, how long they sleep, and whether or not they want to go to school one day or not. All students have their different reasons for skipping class or making sure they never skip class. Some students may skip class just because they are too lazy to get out of bed because of the crazy night they had before they went to bed. Some students like Larry Booker skip class in a studious approach. Booker states, “I'm skipping class to finish my homework." He claims that skipping class can be another way to educate yourself if you spend your time wisely during the classes you skip. A student named Pete Mendez finds no excuse for skipping class. He says, "It's not really about the grades. Every time I step into a classroom, I see it as an opportunity for knowledge." He goes further to say that it is a sign of immaturity to skip class as well.

Those were just two opinions out of the thousands of college students that toy with the decision to skip class one morning to sleep in or gut it out to make sure they don’t miss anything. Whether they are skipping to be lazy or get extra work done, there still exists a problem when students skip class and example of this problem exists in the state of Missouri. Recently, tuition for students to attend college increased in the state of the Missouri. When a in-state student or out-of-state student skips a class, they waste $30 and $70 per day respectively. This upsets taxpayers and parents who are providing financial support to these students who in the end take advantage of the money. Upsetting the taxpayers and financial providers for these students could lead to some repercussions for those students. If the issue becomes big enough of a problem for the public, students that skip could end up losing their financial support and struggle to stay in college.

Greek Life and Student Happiness

Kevin Corley

Many students attending Georgia Tech and various other high status schools can easily become overwhelmed by academics. It is important that students have a healthy balance between academics and social life to maintain happiness and reduce stress. Students who spend all of their time studying and little time in recreational activities are bound to be dissatisfied with their college experience. According to a survey at Colgate, students in Greek organizations are, as a group, more satisfied with their experience. Greek life is an excellent way for students to balance their social and academic needs. It provides a social environment for students which will inevitably make them happier.

Personally, upon entering college at Georgia Tech, I made joining a fraternity a top priority. It is no secret that many students are Georgia Tech are overwhelmed by schoolwork and miserable. I did not want to be one of these students so I set off to immediately prevent it. Greek life has helped me to make new friends, keep my grades up, and provide me with a way to relax when not doing schoolwork. Students who are in a Greek organization statistically have higher grades than non-Greek students. Of course being in a highly social environment can make it more difficult to focus on schoolwork. However, many Greek organizations have GPA requirements for members that creates a healthy pressure to keep grades up.

The expectations and opportunities of Greek life can at times be vast and overwhelming but they do not go without reward. Students looking to have an enjoyable college experience should certainly look into joining a Greek organization. They are bound to be happier as they can easily balance social activities and academics.

Freshman Weight Gain: The Freshman 15

Gregory Micek

The “Freshman 15” refers to the supposed fifteen pounds that a college freshman gains in his or her first year. Family members and friends alike warn the incoming college freshmen that they are likely to gain weight as they begin their lives away from home. There are a number of factors that contribute to the weight gain that many freshmen experience, as well as a number of consequences that negatively affect freshmen.

The thought of the infamous Freshman 15 may not come into the minds of undergraduate freshmen until they start to gain weight, and there are many causes for their increase in weight. The first cause for increased weight is, according to The Washington Post, “unlimited cafeteria food, late-night pizza binges and snacking that comes with irregular student schedules.” Students realize that they can suddenly eat as much as they want in cafeterias where they have already paid for an unlimited meal plan. Many students admit to going to the dining hall more than three times a day, while some have even claimed to go six times in one day. Another factor that contributes to the increased weight of college freshmen is the fact that many students participated in a number of sports and outdoor activities in high school, but may not continue those sports in college. The reduced physical activity also contributes to a common increase in weight. Finally, the change in environment may make some students anxious or nervous. They may increase their intake of food to cope with any feelings of anxiety. The all-you-can-eat buffets in the dining halls, the decreased physical activity, and becoming situated in a new environment all contribute to weight gain in college freshmen.

There are a number of problems with the weight freshmen often gain in their first year at college. The first issue is that an increased weight may negatively affect students’ views of themselves and in turn may affect their self-confidence or self-assurance. Lower self-confidence could affect their academics as they lose motivation to do well in school. Similarly, a decrease in physical activity could make students anxious and make focusing during class and study hours more difficult. Overall, the Freshmen 15 is an issue that affects many college freshmen as they change their lifestyles, and students must take care to prevent themselves from gaining too much weight or allowing any weight to negatively affect their academics.

Problems with the Post-9/11 GI Bill

By Rohan Gupta

The original GI Bill or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 provided college education for returning WWII veterans and a year of unemployment compensation. Over time, the bill was amended to accommodate economic and political changes. Most recently in 2008, Congress approved additional benefits for servicemen who had been in the military since September 11, 2009 and renamed the bill to the "Post-9/11 GI Bill." These benefits include: full coverage of tuition, allowances, and other "perks." Though veterans were keen to reap the benefits of the newly amended bill, there have been major issues during the 2009 fall semester concerning the allocation of the bill's benefits.

Since May, about 275,000 veterans applied for benefits and roughly 213,000 were eligible. Of those 213,000 veterans, roughly 82,500 actually enrolled in courses for the fall semester and only 52,500 received the bill's benefits. The veterans that did not receive payments appealed to the Veterans Affairs department which is responsible for the allocation of the benefits. The department states that there were several delays in getting help out to those that did not receive the benefits.

The department claims that it expected many veterans who applied for benefits to enroll at a college this fall and believes that publicity forced the veterans to apply for the bill's benefits even though they did not intend to enroll. The department states that another reason for the delay is the failure of colleges and universities to reveal tuition costs in a timely manner, but it affirms that its main reason is actually technological issues. The department claims that it has to process each appeal or claim by the veterans individually and therefore is overburdened with processing the thousands of claims.

This bill is a major source of aid if not the only source of aid that servicemen use to pay for school and many individuals join the military to receive an economical college education. These problems must be solved quickly in order to avoid allegations from veterans and other groups for not properly distributing funds.

College...and Football?

Shane Le Master

College football has gotten to the point where nobody even questions its invasive presence on campus. Everyone discusses every aspect of the football team except for the most fundamental question of all: Is it really THAT important? Whenever I have brought up the question in the past, I am usually confronted by many offended people who always end up naming off the benefits of football, the ever most common one being that it generates a lot of revenue for the school. While there is truth in that, does that still justify an academic institution focusing so much attention and resources on an activity that does not relate in the least to its true focus of educating students and undertaking research? Colleges should consider the toning down, disenfranchisement, or elimination of their NCAA athletic teams in favor of a return to a focus on academic purposes.

There is no doubt that college football, with all of its commercialism and hype, has been blown way out of proportions by colleges. However, so ingrained is its benefits in the minds of the students and administration that even writer Robert Zemsky had to say in an article about higher education reform that one thing that reformists should not touch is college athletics. The monetary benefits are to great in the minds of the school board that Zemsky even goes on to say that the elimination of college football is probably impossible. But, if the financial gains of football are so important to the school that they are willing to let it take up so much of their attention, why not do other money-making activities like opening up factories and industrial sweatshops? Those, too, will make money for the school and they probably have more to do with education than football does. In no way am I saying that the school should open up factories. It is another way of representing the principles of big-time college football: a distracting and totally un-school-related ploy to earn the institution money.

People need to look beyond the current norms of their campus life and question college football and what it has to do with their education and the direction that the school is taking. While football does have its benefits, are those benefits, such as money and publicity, really what the school wants? Colleges are for learning and for research and is dubious just how football and its associated activities fit into that picture.