Quad to shut down during Winter Break
As if waiting for Jolly Old St. Nick weren’t a big enough challenge, there’s one more thing Utah State University students will have to wait for this holiday season: grades.
Like children anticipating the opening of presents on the morning of Dec. 25, USU students will be anticipating the opening of the QUAD on the morning of Dec. 18.
According to the “Spring 2003 Schedule of Classes”, students will be denied access to the QUAD from Dec. 13 to 17 while the faculty posts grades.
Every semester, the faculty spends four days working vigorously like Santa’s little helpers with red pens, calculator and coffee, grading finals and determining which students have been naughty or nice.
When the results are finally calculated and the list ready to post, the faculty is often greeted with a humbug user capacity error. The problem is usually caused by an overwhelming number of students peeking to see what grade they got that semester.
Meanwhile, USU administration and advisers are trying to do the job of Rudolph and steer students clear of foggy academic danger but are also unable to get through the cloud of eager students.
After receiving complaints from faculty about this problem, USU registrar Glenn Davis said he decided to close the QUAD to students.
“This decision was made with the interests of the students in mind,” said associate registrar Heidi Beck. “In order to encourage timely submission of grades by faculty, we have to make sure the system is available to them.”
This semester is the first time the QUAD will be shut down for grading.
Grading day morning some will log onto the QUAD to find the next best thing to a new laptop – an A in one of his or her toughest classes. Others will find the regular stocking stuffers of Bs and of course the much-needed but highly under-appreciated pair of new underwear – Cs.
Unfortunately, many will find those less-than-desirable gag gifts and an occasional lump of coal. These are often the grades students will stand in line to return or exchange at the customer service desk.
One thing is for sure; there will be no peeking this year. All students will just have to wait to find out what’s in store for them.
In the future, a new system will actually eliminate the wait altogether.
Beginning in spring 2005, the QUAD will be replaced by a new system called Banner.
Banner project manager Rory Weaver said the new system will “help eliminate this QUAD bottleneck … [and] should mitigate that phenomenon.”
Perhaps best of all – on the new system, Banner, will be available to students year-round, 24-hours a day, seven days a week – even Christmas morning.
-tamber@cc.usu.edu