In response to the article in The Baylor Lariat, “Professors unite against concealed carry,” I would like to voice my concerns as a faceless Baylor student.
First off, everyone should have a say in policies that would, in fact, affect their personal/professional lives, yet to make technical claims that are outside the scope of one’s expertise, claims that these professors make, should be first thoroughly researched before attempting to sway public policy. Dr. Burleson, a religion senior lecturer, and Dr. Wallace, a professor of musicology, while wise and learned are certainly not the first individuals whom I would take credible statements from regarding a topic primarily associated with criminological and sociological studies. Having said that, I found some errors supporting this claim.
After reading the Feb. 19 article “Professors unite against concealed carry,” about how opposed the faculty at Baylor is to concealed carry, I felt a rebuttal was called for, and some misconceptions need to be corrected.
After all, isn’t proper academic rigor focused on objectively evaluating facts, not making decisions based on mere emotion?
First, a simple correction: The bill introduced by Sen. Birdwell was Sen. Bill 182, not 128. That’s an understandable typo, but it did make it more difficult to get the facts of what is being proposed.
Before we begin, it must be stated that this is not a unanimously written editorial.
The Lariat editorial board, whose voice is supposed to be represented in this space, could not come to a unanimous decision on the issue of allowing concealed handguns on campus.
That is why it is the official position of the Lariat editorial board that Baylor University, through the Office of Institutional Research and Testing, should make it a priority to survey the campus to see where we all stand on the issue. It should then make those findings public as soon as possible and send them to area lawmakers.
During Gangnam Style’s rise in U.S. pop culture, my Korean professor spent time in class going through the lyrics to help us understand the cultural references in the song. When I shared with others the meaning of Gangnam Style, it seemed as if most didn’t particularly care. And in the months after we learned about the true meaning of Gangnam Style, the popularity of the video pretty much faded away. The trend quickly became ancient history, and people began catching onto the next big thing — the Harlem Shake.
Students are expected to do their homework, attend class according to the attendance policy and keep ahead of their assignments and grades.
To do so and keep track of our progress, we’ve been given Blackboard, our one-stop answers website. Professors can post syllabi and document students’ attendance and grades. This wonderful tool can help keep both students and teachers organized — so why doesn’t everyone use it?
On Feb. 18, the Lariat wrote an editorial advocating a standardized grading scale.
In general, the article argued that Baylor should not allow professors to require a percentage higher than 90 in order to receive an A.
The basis for the argument comes primarily from a feeling of unfairness. According to the article, a professor “should be able to lower the threshold to earn an A,” but raising it “is deceiving and can really affect students who work hard.”
I’m pleased that the topic of language study appeared on the opinions page of the Lariat on Feb. 7, and that the editorial there, “Five-day language classes hurt, not help,” advocated the study of another language for all Baylor students.
What concerned me was the misunderstanding about the value of a five-day-per-week meeting schedule for first-year language classes. In support of this assertion, the editorial stated that students would learn more if they had class fewer days per week. Is this true?
Most people don’t mean it when they say, “You don’t like it? So sue me.” But one graduate student who didn’t like her grade did just that.
A judge recently ruled against former graduate student Megan Thode, who was suing Lehigh University for $1.3 million in damages as well as to raise a C-plus grade she earned in a class that was mandatory to earn her master’s degree in counseling and human services. Thode claimed the professor of the fieldwork class discriminated against her because she agrees with same-sex marriage and the professor does not.
