While everybody else made New Year’s resolutions on Jan. 1, Ed Board took a few more days to contemplate what we wanted to change in 2003. Aside from collective promises to lose weight, give to charities and join the clergy, we decided on a few other things that should also be addressed …
Ed Board resolves to continue writing editorials that critique the Student Senate, praising it when it does things right, telling it off when it does something wrong (or doesn’t do anything at all), and generally pushing it to go beyond the ordinary responsibilities of its offices into doing something bigger and better for this university. And with the spring elections coming up, Ed Board resolves to keep an even more unblinking eye on candidates for student body offices, critiquing their platforms to make sure that the platforms they’re running on are solid, worthwhile and realistic. In the end, it is the responsibility of this newspaper not only to report on what the Student Senate does, but to make sure that it is doing its job effectively.
Ed Board resolves to continue ridiculing the parking situation at SMU as it is, in fact, ridiculous. Last semester saw many poor decisions and sorry situations in the area of parking, including fees hiked up to $200, numerous robberies, burglaries and vehicle thefts, lots blocked off by construction equipment, commuter lots closed for no good reason and university parking studies that were kept secret from students until November. As very little good can be said about spending half an hour circling the campus looking for a parking spot, only to be relegated to parking in the Dedman 3 lot, what Ed Board does say will continue to be critical.
Ed Board resolves to ask why dedicated and skilled staff and faculty members, such as former News and Information Director Bob Wright and former director of Residence Life and Student Housing Eddie Hull, are leaving SMU to go somewhere else. However, Ed Board will probably not get an answer.
Ed Board resolves to continue demanding that the university upgrade its admission guidelines to get a better class of students. Ed Board resolves to complain when students continue to get grade curves, even when they aren’t deserved. Ed Board resolves to ask why the school refuses to pay for room and board to academic scholars while wining and dining its athletic stars. In addition, Ed Board resolves to hold the administration to its benchmark schools, and to remind the university that tier one status can only be achieved by improving academics.
Last, but not least, Ed Board resolves to continue providing this campus with important controversies, intelligent opinions, demands for improvement and praise when things are going right.