Library request system an inconvenience to students

How long is the Madden Library supposed to take to complete? I am so inconvenienced by the inaccessibility of books and the wait time to get them that my grade has suffered.

At a school where I am paying thousands of dollars for tuition, I expect to have library resources available.

When I need a book for an assignment, I don̢۪t want to give up an arm and a leg and buy it in the Kennel Bookstore; with those prices, I could take out a second mortgage!

I commend the school for rebuilding a library to make improvements, but until that time they need to make better arrangements.

When I need a book for an assignment due Thursday, and I have to wait more than a week to even find out if they carry it, I wonder why I am paying so much money to receive so little.

The Madden Library was essentially a good idea, but severely poor planned. Is it too much to ask that I want to check out a library book in time to do an assignment?

Amanda Ramos
Freshman
Pre-nursing

Philanthropic efforts targeting local communities worthwhile

You donate a handful of change to a Trick or Treat UNICEF box. You support federal government financial aid to Africa. You applaud international adoption and missionary efforts. And yet, you refuse to even glance at the man asking you for a dollar in the parking lot and complain about the socialistic nature of welfare and universal health care.

How can humans distinguish between charitable donations or relief work and welfare or universal health care?

Why is it less socially acceptable to help the impoverished within our own borders than without?

Recent studies show that 36.2 million Americans go hungry each year — or 12.2 percent of our population (MSNBC).

Millions of our own citizens, each year. Who are we to condemn warlords who hoard gems and gold and neglect their starving, dying people when we are guilty of the same?

It is nigh impossible to ensure that our contributions of food and money will reach our international relief targets.

This is not to say that international aid is worthless — it is certainly a valiant effort. However, if we concentrated our efforts on people in our own neighborhoods, we could improve the quality of life for millions of human beings.

Kathryn Barretto
Freshman
Biology

Americans need to stop ‘trying to sell’ secularized Christmas

When I went looking for Halloween decorations, I was expecting ghosts and witches, skeletons and bats. However, when I opened up the newspaper, there was Toy-R-Us’ “Big Toy Book,â€Â complete with snow and Christmas elves.

It was two months before the holiday, and there were already advertisements!

Christmas used to be a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Sure, there were presents exchanged between family and friends, but the way it is now, we will be buying Christmas trees in July.

Why do people always twist a good thing in order to make a profit? It is not even that Christmas is being secularized; it is that we are trying to sell it.

I still care that people are forgetting the true meaning of Christmas, but it should not be so ridiculously profit based.

I realize that not all people are Christian, and we should not force them to be, but Christmas should still be about more than money.

People had Yule celebrations and religious celebrations before Christianity; they exchanged gifts and had feasts with friends. Now it is all about presents.

Christmas has changed from a time of friendship to a time to outdo everyone else with the expense and flashiness of gifts.

Even in the dorms, we are not talking about having Christmas parties or baking cookies, but about what gifts we are giving our roommates.

We are missing even the secular point of the holiday: friends, food and fun.

Jessica Harmon
Freshman
Linguistics

Students should ‘take accountability’ and bus their own tables

I am a student who lives on campus at Fresno State. Thanks to the University Courtyard, I have easy access to things around campus, like the dining hall they provide for the residents.

When students go to have a meal, there is a little sign at the desk saying to clean up your table when done eating. To my surprise, most people don̢۪t bother to clean a single thing from their tables when they̢۪re done.

Sometimes there is a large group that leaves everything from plates of food, to cups and napkins for the workers to clean up. It is bothersome to see so many residents do this because they̢۪re only making the workers̢۪ jobs that much harder each day.

It is hard to take accountability of all the people who don̢۪t follow the simple request since there are so many who leave without cleaning their tables.

Everyone who eats there pays money to have food and a clean place to sit. It is solely up to the residents to be respectful about what the University Courtyard is asking, and that is to take your plates to the kitchen area.

The dining hall workers make the food and keep the place sanitized, so follow their request and clean up your table.

Don̢۪t make their jobs harder than it has to be.

Eric Fujihara
Freshman
Criminology

Fresno State women̢۪s soccer poorly represented in Collegian

Fresno State women̢۪s soccer. Did you know Fresno State had a women̢۪s soccer team? Did you know that they won the WAC in their division?

I willing to bet you did not.

This is, sadly, because soccer is not an important sport in the athletic world here in the United States. Even though it is the widest-played game in the world and is the fastest growing sport in America, Fresno State seems to have missed the memo.

The edition of The Collegian that had the article about the women̢۪s soccer team was on the last page in the corner and had no more the 200 words, while the football team had a front page section.

I do not know about the games or the times of this team because of the attention paid to other sports on campus. Let Fresno State Bulldogs be proud of all of our accomplishments. The women̢۪s soccer team has a lot of talent and the student body as well as the citizens of Fresno should be taking an interest in this highly talented team.

Victoria Guerrero
Sophomore
History

Trampling deaths make Black Friday a black day

Black Friday has now come and gone and to discover what I had predicted I went out to see what all the fuss was about myself. I knew that there were good deals, but nothing like what I saw. Our economy is terrible right now and no one can afford to buy anything or go anywhere, but things changed when it came to Friday, November 28, 2008. There were thousands of people out on the streets and in those stores all for the booming sales. But, is all of this really worth it?

Is fighting the crowds worth your life? The news had said that there was a Wal-Mart employee who got trampled over by the crowd pushing and shoving their way in and they killed him.

Now, who would be to blame for that?

There also was a count of two guys being shot at in a Toys-R-Us store. Is saving some money really worth risking your life for?

It is something that you should think about before the next Black Friday rolls around.

Amanda Pimentel
Sophomore
Liberal Studies

Students need to reject broken financial aid system

Education should never be considered a privilege; but with tuition fees rising students are finding themselves making decisions on whether they should attend college or not.

All of this could be avoided with the help of financial aid.

But wait! Financial aid is anything but aid.

Much of the middle class families today make enough to cover bills, but this so-called aid thinks that somewhere in your parents̢۪ pockets are thousands of dollars waiting for you.

So when it comes time to fill out that FAFSA form the computer system determines if you̢۪re eligible. Why are we letting a computer system determine our financial need?

And to top it off, the system is so screwed up that some people are forced to lie in order to get the help they need. It makes me frustrated when I see that there are students getting more money than they need.

Much of that extra money they get could be used for other students rather than a shopping spree for some.

Students, I am asking you get out there and help fight this so called “aid.â€Â And I understand that the parents should support us but not many of us are so lucky, also, getting a job here in Fresno is almost near impossible.

We need to get out there and voice ourselves because once again, education should not be a privilege but a free right.

Quintessa Guzman
Agriculture Education
Freshman

Expensive tuition a good reason for students to grow up

Yes the economy is bad. Everything is bad. Tuition keeps rising and financial aid doesn̢۪t do a dime thing about it. Many struggle with it but stop complaining!

There is always a way to pay for your education.

Go to community college and work at Burger King.

Apply for scholarships if you can̢۪t pay for all of tuition.

I̢۪m not saying it̢۪s going to be easy but where there̢۪s a will, there̢۪s a way. Whining and complaining don̢۪t get people anywhere. People who don̢۪t take action have no right to complain.

So stop it. Quit it. Act like a college student. Act your age. Be an adult. It̢۪s about time.

Things will no longer be done for you. You have to do them yourself.

So if you don̢۪t like the way student fees are increasing: join a student club, start a petition or get a job.

Monica De La Mora
Sophomore
Nursing