Does this seem like a good idea to you?

I admit it -- I've been a little busy with school lately, and so haven't quite kept up with all the bureaucratic things I need to do for graduation. For instance, I just took the required graduation survey today. It was fun and exciting, as online surveys tend to be. However, it's what happened next that has me worried.

One of the reasons I'd put off doing this survey was that my printer's dead. That's fine (except for the papers I need to print on it...), but it does mean I tend to put off tasks that require me to print things. Since this survey said I'd need to print off proof that I'd finished it, I did it today at the library. The "proof" they were so intent on me having? An e-mail saying "yes, you've taken our survey." It wasn't more than five lines long -- not exactly a vital source of information.

And why did I need proof of this e-mail, anyway? To pick up tickets for my actual graduation ceremony, which is a separate ceremony from commencement. I checked out the website that lists pickup times and noticed something strange. Almost all of the schools are now allowing students to pick up graduation tickets. That makes sense -- what better way to encourage yourself to do well on finals than to have graduation materials staring you in the face? But for CCAS kids (so, me), pickup doesn't start until Friday the 16th. Given how many kids there are in CCAS, I'm kind of worried about this. My guess is the lines are going to be worse than Disney World. Columbian's website seems blase about the process:

Please allow time to pick up your tickets, as there may be a line.

There may be a line? Have they been dealing with students long? My guess is that this is going to be one long, frustrating afternoon.

Is this the way it usually is? Why is CCAS so late compared to all the other schools? Given that my family is getting in that Friday, and given that I've got other stuff going on that day already, I'm now worried that instead of being able to enjoy spending time with my family and friends one last time before I leave, I'll be in the midst of a bureaucratic nightmare.

The fact that I can't pick up tickets to my own graduation until the day before it happens is pretty unsettling. For the first time, I wish I had picked a different major.

Our worst fears realized: CVS No. 10 is on it's way

As first reported by James back in January, as one of the options for filling the empty Tower Records space, GW was considering leasing the building to CVS, making the spot the tenth CVS within walking distance of the GW campus.

Yesterday, word came from The Hatchet's blog that CVS had signed the lease and would be moving into the spot. A story on the deal is expected to run in tomorrow's Hatchet.

Since it was apparent that the school's administration sought no student imput on putting up another CVS, and since many people I spoke with were and still are opposed to the idea (with many more to surely follow once this story hits The Hatchet tomorrow), I propose the following calls to action to counter the "red menace":

1) Join the newly-created anti-CVS in the Tower Records space Facebook group.

2) Write a letter to the editor of The Hatchet and express your displeasure with not only the CVS, but with the GW administrators failure to take student input into account.

3) If and when it opens, boycott the CVS!!!

This election is getting ridiculous

For the past few weeks, I've been reading the Hatchet and one thought keeps going through my mind: "These GW kids really take the SA elections seriously.  Too seriously, actually.  It's only the SA".  The candidates announce their candidacy in the newspaper, and there was the race-card scandal.  And this week there was a debate. 

This article, about a collegiate consulting firm, was when I realized that the SA elections were seriously overblown here at GW. 

But seriously, it's only student government.  Maybe everyone in the SA needs to realize this.

Now, I realize that almost everyone who goes to college in the DC area wants to be involved in politics one day, and most people who run for things like the SA want to be the President one day, but what the SA candidates aren't realizing is that in the real world, it's not that big a deal. 

GW students can be a force of nature. They are a huge group and living in a city where things can get done.  Maybe they should put there time and energy into doing more good (seriously, they could only raise $500 for the National AIDS Fund?) than trying to be president and campaign manager and consultant for the SA.