If there’s one thing that seriously bothers me about the University, it would be the lack of accommodations for us students.
I’m talking about professors who refuse to post lecture slides or record lectures; ones who will not open Zoom rooms when students are sick, even in the midst of a pandemic; professors who don’t answer emails and require you to come to office hours with your questions; and professors who make their office hours inaccessible by not offering them over Zoom.
Mandatory attendance and requiring a doctor’s note when you’re sick is another thing that irks me. The “no technology” policy is also seriously annoying, especially when the professor talks fast and doesn’t post the slides. It can be extremely difficult to take notes while trying to absorb everything the professor says.
Lastly, I can’t forget about the professors who make you ask to use the bathroom. We pay over $6,000 for these classes — we’re allowed to use the bathroom whenever we need to. We are no longer children who need to be monitored at all times.
All of these things seriously annoy me, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Just in case there’s a small chance that someone important sees my complaints, I’ve compiled a short list of ways that the University could become more accommodating:
- All lecture slides should be posted online. When students are sick, lectures should either be recorded or the student should be allowed to attend via Zoom.
- All professors should be required to actively check their email and answer students’ questions. They don’t need to check their email every five seconds, but making an effort to consistently reply would be nice.
- Professors should offer Zoom office hours. As a commuting and working student, it’s difficult for me to physically attend office hours. A lot of the time, I’m only on campus for a few hours, and I don’t have a car. This makes attending office hours very difficult for me and other students in similar situations.
- Students should be allowed to miss class without it affecting their grade. If a student is sick, they shouldn’t have to worry about coming to class in fear of getting a 5% deduction to their grade. Professors should not require doctor’s notes to excuse these absences. Not everyone has a responsive doctor who is able to write and deliver a sick note on time. And not everyone can afford to go to the doctor every time they have a cold.
- The “no technology” policies for lectures should be demolished. Without technology in class, handwriting notes could take away much-needed time from listening to the lecture and is typically more time-consuming than typing notes., Especially when professors don’t talk slowly, that extra time helps a lot.
I hope that one day, these accommodations can be enforced at the University. It would make the lives of a lot of students much easier. We pay so much to be here; they owe us at least the basic accommodations.
