LETTER: Don’t like reading days

Editor,

I was very displeased to read Ericka Ensign’s quote in Wednesday’s Statesman, in which she is quoted as saying, “There’s a difference between doing what the students want and doing what we feel is best for the students. We as credible leaders should be able to ascertain what the students want.”

It seems to me that some of the ASUSU leaders need a refresher course in representative leadership. We (the students) elected you (the leaders) to represent our opinion; in other words, to represent “what the students want.” We did not elect you because we think you are omniscient and know what’s better for us than we do, nor did we elect you to represent your own opinions and agendas.

It was also expressed in the article that there is “significant support” for the proposed reading days before finals. However, I have never heard anyone say he supports these reading days, especially once he knows the costs.

Like most students, I already think that the semester is long enough without taking four days out of our summer break and adding two reading days to each semester. When finals week rolls around, most students want to just get their finals over with and get out of here.

Second, increasing the school year by four days is just giving the school a reason to raise student fees to pay the extra wages for the librarians, bus drivers, computer lab personnel, etc.

Third, I think that the majority of students will not use the reading days for their intended purposes; I know I won’t study any more than I do now. Giving us a four-day weekend just gives us the opportunity to go home or go on a short vacation rather than staying here in Logan to prepare for finals.

I hope that the ASUSU Executive Council will take an honest, unbiased poll of students and then represent the opinion given them. And for anyone who still wants two days without classes to study for finals, I propose that the university already provides such a luxury — it’s called a weekend.

Jeff Gittins