Cell phone use in classrooms (by anon)

In every class I am enrolled in this semester, I received a syllabus that mentioned something about the use of cell phones in class. Unsurprisingly, every one of my professors DOES NOT tolerate the use of cell phones in their classrooms and WILL penalize students who use them. “Anyone suspected of using a cell phone in my class will [insert threatening academic punishment here].” Okay Professor _____________, let me just add that to the list of things not to do in your class while nodding off.

I personally believe using a cell phone during a lecture is rude, not to mention ridiculous. I am paying a lot of money to attend lectures, to learn during them, and to be attentive to what my professors are saying (whether or not it will help me down the road). So, my cell phone (for the most part, I’m not saying I’m a saint by any means) is generally tucked away (and on silent) in my backpack during the entire class time.

So what exactly is it that even bothers me you ask? It’s the fact that while I choose to put my cell phone away and be attentive during lectures, the girl next to me has hers on vibrate, constantly checks it, and is quite possibly distracting me more than I would be if I were using mine. You see her constantly on her phone, it’s not like she has the decency to even try and hide it, so why is it that you say nothing? Do we need to review that threatening academic punishment you so generously bolded and underlined in your syllabus? Or should I just sit here and continue to listen to her phone ever-so-annoyingly-vibrate on the desk?

Art Department advising sucks (by anon)

I am critically pissed at the Art Department’s advising system. It is absolutely terrible for several reasons. The department switched my advisor several times, and I had someone new each year. None of them were ever able to help me with classes. They would tell me what I was required to take, but then they would inform me that I would not be able to register for a class because it wasn’t offered that semester or there was a waiting list. Then they would tell me that there was not anything they could do. I would often have to go straight to the head of the department (who is no longer the current department head) because he was the only one who could offer some direction. He was also the only one who actually knew what he was talking about. Also, pre-registration in the Art Department is a joke. For those of you who are not familiar with the process, you are lucky. I would stand in a line for an hour to manual sign up for core classes. Seniors would have a time slot; juniors would have a time slot, and so on. Then within the class rank, those who had the most credits would get to go first. We would all stand in line during our time slot until it was our turn to write our name on the sign-up sheet for the classes that we wanted to take. This whole process should be done online. Technically, those who have more credits get to sign up on WINS first anyways, so there is no reason why we should have to wait in line to sign up in person.

I found most of my advising from the Communication Department (I have a comm minor). Even for my major, which is a visual emphasis in the Art Department, they were more willing to help me than the actual Art Department advisors. The Art Department should take notes from the Communication Department. Everyone over there was nice and willing to help. They know me by name and say “hi” to me when they see me. Those in the Art Department come across as not wanting to be there. Trust me, I don’t want to go to advising either but it is a requirement to sign up for classes. A change needs to happen over there, and the crabby professors need to go.

Walker's "DNA upon arrest" proposal is a problem! (by anon)

Governor Walker recently announced that he is going to propose a new bill for the next state budget.  This bill will allow and require DNA testing upon arrest for some felonies and some sex crimes.  Walker has based his bill on the legislation of 22 other states that have passed into law similar bills.  These states only allow DNA testing on arrest for felonies, sex crimes, and burglary crimes.  A criticism that many people have and I do as well is, if he is basing his bill on other states' legislation then why is he so hesitant to be more specific about the crimes he intends to cover in the bill.  Without listing the specific crimes it is questionable whether or not Walker is trying to pull another fast one over the blind public's eyes.

Though both sides of this political issue can agree that taking dangerous criminals off the streets is very important but at what cost?  Under this law suspects could be arrested under suspicion and have their charges dropped there after on technicalities.  Suspects then would have to file to expunge the gathering of their DNA from the database.  However, the DNA would remain in the database for a minimum of 8 months after the expunge file is submitted.  Many people find the implementation of this law would impede on citizens right to privacy.  This is a valid point but people want to be safe from potentially violent criminals too.  It seems a compromise must be made.

The costliness of this bill is also a topic being discussed.  It will cost $4 million tax dollars to start and $2.6 million dollars a year to maintain the system.  If you ask me the price of safety should be irrelevant.

It also stands to reason that the addition of DNA samples will allow for a multitude of Wisconsin cold cases to be solved.  But if the cold cases are for crimes not covered by the crimes listed in the bill then can we prosecute?  What if someone has legally won a trial and caught a break from a crime in the past?  This person may have cleaned up their behavior in the years since.  The DNA may prove guilt.  In this case do we prosecute or do we let the citizen continue living a free life?

There is still the fear of a slippery slope effect.  This is the big issue for many civil rights activists such as myself.  Many of us are all for the removal of potentially dangerous criminals but this bill may also be a foot-in-the-door for future law makers.  Maybe in five years, more legislation will be written to take DNA upon all arrests.  Maybe even further and then what shall the people do?  Will the people then become slaves of their government?

This bill should be highly criticized and publicized in the coming weeks and months to ensure that there is no slippery slope possibility.  We have to demand the policy to be bulletproof and precise on the situations and crimes that would subject people to DNA collection.

Traffic tickets!! (by anon)

I have recently found yet another thing that is worthy of pissing me off. Traffic tickets!  I do not believe that there is really a rhyme or reason sometimes as to what penalty you are slapped with when the cops get involved. So it was about two weeks ago now and I found myself driving in front of my friend on Main Street trying to get to my parents' house for the weekend. The roads had been wet and now it was beginning to snow and get colder outside. I was going super slow and gave like 8 car lengths in-between myself and the car in front of me. Needless to say, I was being super careful. All of the sudden the truck in front of me swerves and just barely dodges these three stopped cars in front of him, which I am now able to see. I have more than enough time to react but the only problem is that my car will not respond at all: i'm on solid ice. So I am sliding for what seems like forever and all I can do is close my eyes and brace for impact. I hit the car the last car in the pileup. Now anyone who has been in an accident before know how it all plays out so I will skip ahead to my true frustration. The cops have arrived and talked to all of us (myself last). In the end they decide to give ME and me alone a ticket when the two cars in front of me did the same thing. I got a ticket for a 4 points and $130 or so in fines.

Apparently I was going "too fast for conditions"!?! I was later told that I received the ticket essentially because I was the last one to enter the pileup. Had another car then hit mine, I would have twice the damage but been off the hook for a ticket and loss of points. This makes no sense to me and I am super peeved about it. Its like they spin a wheel to see who will get a ticket and for what, all conflicting evidence aside. There needs to be better investigations done at the scene of accidents. This indefinite ticket rule needs to be done away with because not every situation is so black and white.

Sincerely,
Critically Pissed Student

Women should not be allowed to vote!?!?!? (by anon)

If you can stand it, click on the link below and listen to some ripe ‘ole crap.

Click me.

Where to begin?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

This guy, Jesse Lee Peterson, a guy who frequently appears on FoxNews’ Hannity, says that America is failing because women are gaining power.  Because women are now starting to run corporations (nevermind that the percentage of women CEO’s is still below 10%) and be in more general positions of power, America is on a steep decline.  He believes that power must belong to the men.  One of America’s greatest mistakes was allowing women to vote!!!  No shit.  He really says that.

Now, please don’t get me wrong.  There will always be crazies.  There will always be stray people who believe completely wacko things.  But this isn’t a stray.  Far far from it!  Like I said above, this guy regularly appears on FoxNews!  There is an actual, mainstream TV station that considers this bloke a credible source of advice in political and social matters, and they keep bringing him back to share his crap masquerading as serious thought.  I think FoxNews is a joke anyway, but this really takes the cake.

BUT DO YOU KNOW WHY FOXNEWS KEEPS HAVING THIS SHITHEAD ON ITS SCREEN AND AIRWAVES???????????????

It is because there are tons of people out there in America who genuinely believe what he is saying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I just can’t believe it.  That is the only reason why people like this get traction.  That is the only reason why people like that can appear as regular commentators on TV stations.  Other people believe what he is saying.  THEY LIKE HIS IDEAS.  THEY AGREE WITH HIS IDEAS.  THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT WOMEN SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO VOTE – EVEN OTHER WOMEN THINK THIS!

I don’t mean to yell…well, yes I do.  Because it is utterly, absolutely, fantastically unbelievable.  It is so regressive and pitiful that I am embarrassed to be called an American.  Everyone should be embarrassed.  We need to hold ourselves to higher standards.  Better yet, we need to start holding other people up to higher standards – standards that are absolutely uncontestable.  YES, women should vote (god, how is that even an issue at all!!!).  YES, gay marriage should be allowed.  YES, pro-choice is the only respectable position to respect women and their choices concerning their own pregnancies.  If you contest one of these positions, you are backwards.  You are regressive.  It’s time you start living in the present and stop trying to bring back the 1950’s.  It’s time you start becoming a member of the human race who advances civilization instead of destroying it.

Jesse Lee Peterson is a symptom of the bigger problem.  Our country is dying.

Screwing up history and stupid-smart professors (by anon)

This is a really annoying thing that people do all the time. It usually goes something like this: This historical event X from a long time ago happened and TO PUT THIS IN CONTEXT that would be like X happened today. This is really ironic because they are not putting it in context; they are literally taking it out of its context and putting it in a new context. People do this all the time and it usually doesn’t bother me and I just brush it off a something stupid people say when they are trying to act smart. But, when a professor does this, I get really annoyed and pissed. You’re a professor so smart, grad school educated, and well rounded right. So, why do you do something so stupid? I’ve had several professors do this on multiple subjects.

Now to be fair professors are people and people make mistakes, but continuously, come on, to branch this annoyance to a bigger problem, one that I call the stupid-smart people. I don’t mean stupid-smart like crazy smart or ridiculously smart. I mean literally this person is stupid, but appears and even may think they are smart. I’m no genius, but I do try to not just regurgitate information I’ll already been taught. I see this a lot and one could probably argue that that is all society does. Some information can only be repeated, can’t really add anything to 1 + 1 = 2. The key difference, I think, between people who are smart and those that are stupid are their ability to reason, or use critical thinking. I understand that smart-ness is very subjective. But, I think a smart people can get information and use it in a number ways that that person hasn’t been directly taught to do.

To bring this full circle I am accusing some college professors of being stupid-smart people. I could be wrong, but I see more reasons to think it’s true than false. If you’re teaching your power point and someone asks a very insightful relevant question and you just turn your head and say “oh that’s interesting,” and keep going like the question never even happened then you’re probably a stupid smart person. Your inability to even consider the question or address it shows you’re inability to think of applicable uses for the information outside of what you’ve already been taught. Maybe, you’re just lazy or really tired those days, if it were a rare occurrence it wouldn’t bother me as much. This has been going on and happening through the entire school year so don’t blame the coming summer. I'm often not even the one asking the question so it's not like I'm looking to trick or catch professors. I’ve been noticing it more and more in fact, but that’s probably due to me watching for it more. Only some professors do it and the ones that do it, continuously do it.