New syllabus rules a step in the right direction
A new rule has made syllabus distribution a requirement for professors on the first day of classes (See story in NEWS). Syllabi are the roadmap that professors and students follow in their journey of higher learning. Most professors do their due diligence and post their syllabi on Owlspace before their classes, but some do not. Rice University and the Student Association widely standardized this practice by mandating it across all departments. Rice plans on archiving these syllabi online.
This presents several benefits. First, potential employers will now no longer have to play a guessing game when evaluating the relevant coursework of a job applicant. Second, this principle holds true for transfer credits to other institutions as well. Finally, the new system will allow students far more information when shopping around for classes. This will not only help undergrads make better choices but will also reduce the elaborate first-week ritual of class selection that causes unnecessary stress and paperwork.
All this is great, but as Alec Baldwin famously said in Glengarry Glen Ross, "Always be closing."
None of these great aspects of the syllabus plan will come to fruition if the university does not follow through with what it has promised to do. The Thresher urges it to do so at the quickest possible speed possible.
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Rice should commit to protecting its international students
Last week’s news that five international students – three current students and two recent alumni – have suddenly lost their visas should alarm anyone who values this campus’s global community. The federal government’s “Catch and Revoke” program has already revoked the visas of hundreds of students from universities across the country, raising widespread fears about the stability of international study in the U.S.
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