Pride
EDITORIALS Monday, December 7,1998 3
Am I Deserving?
A Guest Editorial
By Michael C. Blackburn
The time quickly approaches for the walk across the stage to receive my diploma
from Methodist College. What continues to bother me is whether or not this diploma
really means anything, after all, I’m graduating from “evening college,” not the “real”
Methodist College that operates between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. I started my
education with Methodist in 1996 when I applied for evening college, having to work
hard to balance my many other commitments. I took on a full-time schedule of classes
even though I was expected to fulfill my current responsibilities for “Uncle Sugar” dur
ing the day, and sometimes at night, as well as the usual family responsibilities of being
the head of my household. My situation is nothing peculiar though, for it is the same for
most of my fellow comrades who attend the “evening” Methodist College. Don’t get me
wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Methodist. The class sizes were small which
allowed me to develop personal relationships with my professors, and I can’t remember
ever sitting in any of my classes with a student who wasn’t serious about the task at hand.
The unspoken rule was that we all knew we had made hard sacrifices in order to achieve
an education. To this day, I have nothing but admiration for my fellow “evening” stu
dents. I worked hard, as we all did, to accomplish every assignment to the best of my
ability, but what I’m led to believe by the “day” faculty of Methodist is that I “got over”
because I wasn’t able to attend the “real” Methodist College during the day hours. Is this
true? Am I to believe that sitting in a larger class with younger students, with the at
tributes associated with youth, that I was not challenged? Did my professors, many of
whom teach both day and evening courses, deny me knowledge or challenges they only
bestow upon their youthful day masses? I hope not! I realize I did not pay as much for my
education as my day contemporaries; however, I did expect the same level of education.
When I was required to read (often several books per term) and write papers, were my
day counterparts required to read and write more? Were ray professors who only teach
during the evening hours not as competent as the “day” professors? Why are evening
students required to transfer to day classes as if they were coming from F.T.C.C. or a
similar institution? I only pray that when I walk across the stage this coming December
18th that the “day” faculty aren’t frowning on me, whispering among themselves, “He
attended evening college.”
Commuters Taken For A Ride
A Guest Editorial
By Whitney Larrimore
All Methodist College students pay for parking stickers, but some Methodist stu
dents get less braking power for their buck.
You might ask, “How can this be?" It’s quite simple. All students pay $75.00 to park
on campus. Resident students get two parking spaces—commuters get one.
I’ll explain why residents get two parking spaces and commuters get one.
When students move into the dorms they each get their own personal parking spaces.
No one but the assigned student can park in the assigned space. If anyone else parks in
that space, two things may happen; 1. You will have one very irate resident student. 2.
The offending student can be ticketed.
I think residents should have their own parking places. I’m sure it cuts down on a lot
of hassle for residents. It eliminates arguing over who parks where and why. It also
ensures that each student will have somewhere to park when they come back from the
store or wherever it is that they’ve been.
The problem does not arise until residents are allowed to park in the academic build
ing parking lots, like Reeves and Trustees’. It is at this point that residents get their
second parking space and commuters get shortchanged.
Let’s look at it this way. Resident students have personalized parking spaces. They
also have optional parking spaces in any of the academic building parking lots. Com
muter students have one spot—in an academic building parking lot. Commuters do not
have the option to park by the residence halls if it is convenient for them—unless they
park in one of the few visitor spots available (even then it’s not like commuters can stay
parked there all day.) If they park in any other spot they will violate someone’s personal
parking space. The offending commuter students will then face penalties one and two as
described earlier.
We’ll look at this again. Resident students get two parking spaces—cost, $75.00.
Commuters get one parking space—cost, $75.00. Does this sound fair?
I don’t think so. Why should commuters pay the same price and get one less space?
Now, I’m not trying to whine. I can only drive one car to school in the morning so I
only need one space. But it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m paying the same price as
residents, and I get less flexibility in my parking options.
If I need to visit someone who is living in the dorms, I must park in a designated spot.
If there aren’t any available visitor spots, I must park in a designated lot. I’m not lazy. I
can park in another lot and walk to the dorms. But if I can do this, resident students can
walk from their rooms to their classes.
Not only does the disparity between commuter and resident parking privileges seem
unfair, but convenience problems arise. For example, it is common for portions of the
academic parking lots to be reserved for school buses and heavy equipment (like when
local schools have field trips or construction is going on.)
When resident students park in these lots during times of limited parking, commuters
have a difficult time finding room to park. Commuters struggle for parking spaces while
many spaces, inaccessible to them, lie dormant—at the dorms. Of course, commuters
can’t park there because they will be under threat of penalties one and two.
Okay, now don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-resident student. Many of my best
friends live on campus, and 1 would never want to hurt them. But the point remains,
commuters seem to be getting shortchanged.
So, the next time you park, think about what’s going on, and ask yourself, “Is it really
fair?”
M ETHODIST
College
Cindy Hawkins, Editor
Cindy Bridges, Assistant Editor
Bethany Helton, Entertainment Editor
Steve Vinci, Sports Editor
Michael C. Molter, Staff Writer
Jeremy Plumley, Staff Writer
Deborah Riley, Staff Writer
Scott Galayde, Staff Photographer
Matt Miller, Staff Photographer
Brian Sims, Staff Photographer
Joseph E. Mullen, Staff Photographer
Caroline E Keams, Director of Student Media
The Pride is the triweekly student newspaper of Methodist College. The
ideas and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views and posi
tions of the faculty and administration of the college.
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