As much pride as we take in our beautiful school, our adorable mascot and the breathtaking cherry blossoms, we can’t help but think of improvements that will make UW even better. With things like our registration struggles or the ridiculously thin one ply toilet paper in every bathroom, UW certainly needs to rethink a few aspects of the campus. With midterms and finals around the corner, nothing quite blows off a little steam like complaining about things we can’t control.
1. Libraries aren’t for League of Legends
When you seriously need to buckle down and finish that 15-page research paper you put aside for weeks, you don’t want to worry about the state of your chair. Looking at the seating in Odegaard Library, it doesn’t look like they were built for studying. “[I don’t like the] uncomfortable seating in Ode third floor quiet room,” junior visual communication design major Tom Peiran Tan said. “They force you to recline.” Even if you can find a semi-bearable seat, you still need to deal with gamers. “What annoys me about UW is the people playing League of Legends on library computers when others are trying to find a place to study or print something out,” said junior journalism major Rhea Panela. Instead of suffering in the libraries, you’re probably better off lying on your bed with your laptop, or maybe not studying at all. It’s up to you.
2. Registration or The Hunger Games?
Nobody likes waking up at the crack of dawn to open her laptop for registration each quarter. To make matters worse, signing up for classes isn’t as easy as pushing a few buttons. “[I’m not] able to register for classes that actually pertain to my major because they’re all full after the first senior registration day,” said Caleb Rier, junior math major. This leads to scrambling around to find random classes or the dreaded wait list, which basically keeps you tethered to your laptop like a chained dog. I bet they do this on purpose. Preventing students from graduating so they can charge us tuition fees forever? Nice try, UW, but we’re on to you.
3. One-ply toilet paper
One-ply toilet paper makes a quick run to the restroom take five times longer than it should. “Back in the good old days they used crumpled up newspaper as toilet paper, and even that is thicker than the crazy thin stuff we get at UW. Stupid one ply paper got us unrolling 10 times more each time, so if you really think about it it’s probably cheaper just to buy two-ply or three-ply toilet paper to go through less rolls of it. C’mon UW, simple cost-benefit analysis,” said junior art major Andrea Tiffany. Would it kill you to invest in some paper thicker than the old “my dog ate my homework” excuse? Our butts depend on it.
4. Too Many Loud-Mouthed Tourists
When I have a little downtime on campus, I enjoy sitting in the quad, admiring the cherry blossoms and taking Insta-worthy selfies like any other Husky. But unlike the tourists, I know how to keep my mouth shut. “Visitors/tourists on campus aren’t respectful of campus space. Masses of children were screaming in the quad last quarter during two of my finals, [and] tourists [were] chatting in Suzzallo study space,” said junior political science and ESRM major Sydney Romero. We get it, you think UW rocks, but just because you’re on vacation doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t need to read hundreds of pages in the next 12 hours. “Maybe just a reminder that this is a university where students are always studying and to control noise level, maybe inform visitors at the booth when it is finals week…that’d be great,” said Romero.
5. The Useless Summer Quarter
Every smart Husky knows that summer quarter means the perfect opportunity to get ahead while everyone gets turnt on the beach. Sounds like a dream…except for the fact that summer quarter’s not as great as it seems. “There’s nothing offered summer quarters except 100 levels and 5-600s, and everything is at noon,” said junior biology major Salome Frevol. In other words, thanks for nothing UW. Looks like you’re stuck taking classes during the rest of the year like a commoner. How mainstream.
6. Scantrons=Goodbye Spring Break Fund
Remember bubbling your A, B and Cs on the tests your teachers gave you in high school? Who knew those little scantron sheets were a luxury? As unglamorous as high school felt at the time, I’d give anything to go back to that freebie haven. UW requires its students to provide their own, and although scantrons cost less than a dollar, that starts to seriously add up, which means less money for guac. “I mean seriously? They can’t just be included with the exam? This school charges you for literally everything,” said junior material science and engineering major Bryan Melanson. Soon they’ll probably start charging us just to breathe their precious air.
7. Crazy Major Requirements
As a creative writing major, I need to take 15 credits worth of pre-1900 lit classes, AKA the bane of my existence. Who wants to read the writing of some old dead guy? As horrible as that feels for me, that’s nothing compared to the BS other majors have to deal with. “You have to do three credits of research for a physics degree where you just work in a lab. Which means you have to pay three credits worth of tuition to work for somebody, which is a bit ridiculous, and it flies because we all just want out degrees,” said junior physics major Grant Leum. Sounds like extortion to me. Why not just straight up ask for a check? “I deal with the same shit in psychology—paying out my ass to do my thesis research because they require 20 credits of 499, 498 etc. to graduate with departmental honors,” said junior psychology major Sierra Wollen. Is this real life?
8. Lack of Decent Resources
Did you know that as a UW student you have access to more perks than Angelina Jolie? Me neither. “UW is bad at informing students about the plethora of resources that students have access to (i.e.: library databases, free visits to Hall Health every quarter, free Microsoft software, etc.),” said junior finance and informatics major Stephanie Lim. If I knew about all of these, I could’ve actually gotten medical advice from somewhere other than WebMD, who apparently believes that a simple headache means you have a brain tumor. Seriously, UW—why must you keep these resources a secret when so many students desperately need them?
Aside from freebies that nobody knows about, the other well-known resources aren’t all sunshine and roses either. “Why is that we can afford to fill the entire second floor of Odegaard with basically league of legends machines but we can’t afford to fill the CLUE Writing Center with four computers that aren’t crashy and ancient? There is no reason I should have to worry about my computer shutting down while I’m working with a student on their paper,” said junior CLUE writing adviser and HCDE/English major Olivia Michaels. Good point.
9. Dean’s List or Nah?
If you’ve ever made the Dean’s List, you’ll know how accomplished you feel when that email lands in your inbox. After all, you bust your ass everyday trying to do your best in your classes. Now imagine how you’d feel if you didn’t qualify despite your hard work. “In some majors you can’t make dean’s list, even when taking 16–18 credits per quarter and putting in double the class/clinical hours, because their credits don’t match the “standard” university rubric and therefore don’t get considered,” said Jennifer Hogan, junior nursing major. Why not change the requirements so students can claim their spot on this prestigious list that they rightfully deserve?
10. Course Readers or Textbooks: Just Choose One
A special place in hell exists, reserved for professors who require both expensive as hell textbooks and course readers. I don’t know about you, but I dread the site of Rams Copy Center because that means I’ll leave with my wallet feeling much, much lighter. As if that doesn’t suck enough, you usually just end up using one. You can return textbooks, but course readers are yours to keep forever. They also love to fall apart, making it 10 times harder to cart around everyday. Life would feel 10 times easier if professors would just upload PDFs onto Canvas. If I want to print them out I will; don’t make me pay for something I can read for free on my computer.
