Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with campus

Can we ask a sick person to leave?

MorningPerson — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:48:59 -0800

Can we ask a sick person to leave? I work on a college campus. In our office, we have several video editing workstations that are available by appointment only. Today, a student who reserved one station came in, and is VERY ill. For the last two hours, he's been sniffling, sneezing explosively and coughing without covering his mouth.

In short, he is making me extremely uncomfortable and paranoid. I cannot afford to get sick right now.

Our workspace is not open to the public and the university has asked sick students to stay home and self isolate. Do you think it would be fair to ask him to leave and reschedule his appointment for when he is well?

Academic novels from student perspective

alicat — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:21:46 -0800

I'm looking for academic novels from the student's perspective (apparently this is a subgenre of campus novels called varsity novels). Bonus for books considered "young adult." Ideally, I want books like Tam Lin by Pamela Dean: fiction set at a university, narrated by a student, written for an adolescent audience.

But I'll also take adult fiction such as Donna Tartt's The Secret History. Novels that include students among other point-of-view characters, such as Jane Smiley's Moo, are also fair game.

Already on the list:

YA
Ivy League novels by Diana Peterfreund
Light Years by Tammar Stein

Adult
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand
Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd
Joe College by Tom Perotta
The Magicians by Lev Grossman

I'll take any genre: literary, mystery, SF/fantasy ... Thanks!

Where is class gonna be?

soelo — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:21:00 -0800

Who decides when and where (and which) classes will be held in a typical public, American University? I am frustrated with many aspects of my University's class schedule and have been for years. I want to know more about the typical process for assembling this schedule, specifically when multiple campuses are involved. It's a state school, but not the Big One.

There are whole departments that never hold a single class on my campus (we have 3 different ones). I have been asking around and emailing various people but I have not had any luck in getting answers as to why, and how I can get this changed.

I have been working with the Student Senate, who put me in touch with a Campus Rep. She has not been very forthcoming, and told me I must go to the other campuses. I have told my teachers that I appreciate them holding class on my campus.

Is my adviser the person to ask? Each department head? The Office of the President?

Thanks

Campus Architecture

senorpuma — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:48:20 -0800

What Universities have great modern architecture projects on campus? I'm a recent graduate in Architecture, and I'm interested in visiting some campuses that have great architecture. I appreciate historic architecture (Georgetown, Rice, and Stanford come to mind) but what I'm looking for are campuses that have a lot of modern and contemporary architecture. Thanks!

Campus Bandwidth Fix

mccarty.tim — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:28:50 -0800

My roommate and I both are pretty upset at the speed of the wired network on our college campus. We get faster wireless reception from the campus's library next door. Is there a way we could bond the two connections? My roommate and I have realized that the wireless network on campus is faster and has much less latency than the wired network. With an antenna or repeater on the windowsill (both of which we have lying around, but not on campus), we're pretty sure we could log on from our room, as there are a few access points at the library and cafeteria next door. Would it be possible, out of curiosity, to bond the two connections into one with more bandwidth?

Or, could we at least tell the OSes (I use OSX Leopard, he uses Windows Vista) to have some tasks go over wireless and others go over wired? The campus has a pretty good DC++ network, but it is not on the wireless network.

If it's relevant, the wireless network requires a log in through a HTTP page. Is that going to make this harder?

Also, would it upset the campus IT department if we used a wireless repeater? I have been using wireless transmission from my Mac to bridge the ethernet connection to my Wii, and haven't had much trouble with that, but it's not broadcast very far and I only have it up for an hour or so at a time.

Thanks for your help.

Suggestions for activism on a college campus?

nuclear_soup — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:28:34 -0800

How can I make volunteering/charity fun or interesting for college students? I just started working as an AmeriCorps *VISTA at a college, and I'm trying to think of fun events to hold on campus that have something to do with volunteering/social issues and/or philanthropy For example, in November I'm planning a Hunger Banquet, and in the past this campus has been involved with projects such as Daffodil Days. We also have students who are involved with organizations in the community. I did some googling, but I didn't seem to find anything that seemed quite right. Did any of you do anything great at your colleges, or know of any good ideas? This is a pretty small (around 2,000 students) liberal arts college, if that makes a difference. Ideas for events to plan, causes to donate to, or even documentaries to screen on campus are all welcome. Thanks in advance!

Philly quick and fun activities?

zeek321 — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:59:56 -0800

new-to-Philly-filter: Casual, short dating activity--no food, coffee, or alcohol? New to Philly. I met a girl on the internet, and we're going to meet to see if we'd like to semi-casually hook up in the future.

A coffee shop and a walk is doable but always potentially awkward. I'm wondering if there's anything out there that would be fun and distracting during gaps in a conversation. Stores? Streets? Mini-museums? Libraries?

We're both somewhere on the West side fairly close to the campus area.

So, keeping in mind that we need to be able to have an articulate conversation:

0. I'm looking for something around very-early-evening.
1. Anything unique and entertaining that doesn't involve food, coffee, or alcohol?
2. In lieu of (1), any coffee shops that have tons of distracting character, but no loud music and are more intimate/less utilitarian?
3. In lieu of the campus, center city, of course, must have infinitely more stuff to do, and might be the best option. Please recommend stuff where it's really easy to grab a cab.

Thanks!

How do blind people navigate college campuses?

bmalicoat — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:26:12 -0800

I hope this question doesn't come off as crass, but I've always been curious when I see blind people on campus. It took me long enough to find out where the major buildings on campus are plus each semester my classes are generally in a new building I've never been to. How do blind people handle this? Also it generally takes a lot of focus to not get hit by bikes/mopeds/cars. Am I right in considering blind people super heroes for being able to do these things?

Any insight is appreciated. The campus in question is Michigan State, but really any large campus would be similar.

Will they let me in?

koenie — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:48:53 -0800

I'll be visiting the USA for a couple of weeks this summer, and I would like to attend a few classes at Caltech in order to get an idea of what school is like over the pond. Will I be able to do so? Over here in the Netherlands, it is very easy for an outsider to attend most lectures at the university I'm currently studying at. You can just walk in and take a seat. Probably, no one will even notice you're not a regular, since the audiences are quite large. I don't think anyone would have a problem with it even in the smaller classes. What can I expect in America?

Is a job in Education sheltered from the market?

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:11:05 -0800

I have just been offered a staff position at a large University of California campus. Given that my current job is with a small (employees<15) consulting company in the technology field, and given the current national (and global) economic situation; is a UC job more likely to be stable in the next 5 years when compared to one in a small tech company? Also, what's it like to work at a UC? Is the UC system subsidized by the government enough at the state and federal level to make it as secure as a government job?
Will a big CA educational institution weather the inevitable financial storm comparatively better than other sectors?
What is it like to work for a big UC school?
The benefits are good, but is working for an academic institution as political and as slow moving as people say?
What have you experienced as a UC employee?

Misfortune of a fortunate job?

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 22:16:50 -0800

Help analyze my terrible work situation! I REALLY apologize for such a lengthy question, but it has been developing over some time now and I finally gave in to ask the great collective knowledge here..

I got a job in a department located in a fast-developing portion of my university's campus roughly a year ago. The position I was accepted for is basically a building IT guy-- fix computers, run cable, respond to general tech emergencies-- but I also was responsible for some general graphic design and print work. I work under a supervisor, manager, senior IT manager, event coordinator and a building coordinator.

So initially (up to 4 months) the job was great. I had great equipment to work on, the assignments I was given were right at my skill level, I had a great coworker who was hired at the same time as me, and there was just a nice collaborative vibe in the office. On random occasion when working with my higher ups, I'd be told that I could have a chance at a full time position after graduating, which encouraged me to really put 110% into my job.

So I'm working my butt off to please everyone in the office, doing random things like designing vibrant brochures to advertise our building, picking up the trash after large events, helping move furniture and boxes around, and I start to get a knack for graphic design. At some point one of my flyer designs catches the eye of people in other buildings who frequent the one I’m in. As a result, the event coordinator starts getting more requests to hold events in the building, and naturally I am asked to produce graphic media for nearly every event that is booked. So I did—and I was unstoppable because years of NOT doing this sort of work had built up a pile of creative ideas in my brain that would flood out into Adobe Illustrator. Did I mention I was still doing every other task the other higher ups assigned to me? How about cleaning up a room after an autoclave explodes?

Around this time I am at home one evening when I receive a call from my manager who had consulted with the building coordinator about offering me a full time position. I kindly declined because my first priority is school (I wouldn’t even be in this situation if it wasn’t). So life went on, and things kept going at a fast pace, until one day there’s a big announcement that most of the full time employees in the office are moving to another building as part of a multi-phase plan to create a central management point for the entire area of the campus where I work. Oddly enough, I’m told that I am also going to move and be given my own cubicle and filing cabinets and all things great about office jobs—keep in mind that I’m just a student employee who had been sharing a desk with a coworker.

Since I’ll be moving and the building still needs tech support, a new guy is hired who I will refer to as BG. The thing about BG is that he’s really eccentric, introverted, and he sorta smells like body odor, but I don’t worry because I’ll be moving to a new office in a week or two (or three or four). Well, the day before the official move was supposed to happen, the building coordinator announces that plans have changed and nobody is moving anywhere, but we’re still going to manage the surrounding area as well as the current building using all the current staff but the same office space (remember I was sharing a desk?). And this is where the trouble starts…

Since me and my coworker from the beginning are pretty cozy with each other, I figure that BG will be let go since he was hired on the assumption that he’d have an actual place to work when most people left. Nope. Turns out my boss has some policy where she considers student employees to be on a contract so the only time they’re let go is at the end of a term. At this point in time I’m bummed about not getting my own work area, but the office vibe is still good and I want to be welcoming to the new guy. I offer to share my machine with him since our shifts bump up against each other… possibly the worst idea I could have ever had. BG turns out to be incredibly messy and disorganized, and he apparently thinks its okay to leave pirated games, movies, and music on my work machine. I bring it to the attention of my supervisor who ends up not doing anything, so I tell the senior IT manager who doesn’t do anything, and then I tell the building coordinator who doesn’t do anything but tells my supervisor to do something, but he doesn’t do anything. I finally take it upon myself to pull BG into a private conference to tell him to not leave a mess and to not put “that” stuff on my machine.

Because we are the tech support guys, we occasionally get spare machines that aren’t new but still are fully functional, and BG gets one so that he can finally have his own computer to use. The machine isn’t working, so BG attempts to get it working, but fails and decides to leave it alone and just use the other guy’s machine. About a week later, the senior IT manager comes in asking if he can have my computer for a project he’s working on and offers to buy me a brand spanking new computer. I gladly oblige and get to configuring it the way I like, and my supervisor ends up ordering another one just like it for us to use. The computers come in after a few days and I’m giddy because I feel like I really earned mine and I could use the extra GHz/RAM for when I do graphic design. I begin to unpack mine when BG jumps out of his chair and begins unpacking the other box while mentioning “alright it’ll be great to not have to use this piece of crap anymore (referring to the spare machine that came in)”. I have an issue with this, but I’ll skip to the next chapter of the story and let you figure out what my problem is.

In my best efforts to remain professional in my behavior at work, I just deal with the fact that BG is probably staying around. I try talking to him to get some goodwill going, but he only gives quick responses to questions and never initiates conversation (he still hasn’t to this day). I continue on as the graphic design guy, doing whatever I need to so I can keep up the 110% effort, and things are going well. Somewhere around this time the senior IT manager and the building coordinator decided they’d do something for me and nominate me for an award, but they didn’t consult with me at ALL and failed to tell me that the nomination committee would be checking my GPA. I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I got a letter in the mail saying I failed to receive an award that I wasn’t aware of, and that my current GPA didn’t meet the requirements for said award that I was unaware of. Ever relapse into clinical depression? Not fun.

So forward on a month or two later and I get an offer to be sent off to a training seminar along with the event coordinator and my supervisor (not all at the same time). I get hyped up about going and book my flight and hotel and wait until the day to arrive. Well a few weeks before I’m supposed to go, I’m pulled aside by the senior IT manager who is relaying a message from the building coordinator that maybe I need to not go to training yet (I had gradually started burning out on graphic design and the BG situation wasn’t helping either, so I was still civil and sociable, but I was in a “bad week” mood). I had no choice but to cancel my trip and hotel and try to get myself back on track, although I’m not sure I was ever off?

Well, I hope I’m not alone in saying it doesn’t make me want to be a superstar employee when I keep receiving offers for really great opportunities, only to have them snatched back a few weeks later for no concrete reasons. Currently, I’ve just been working on some low-key work doing SQL and website development, and some occasional graphic design on the side. I feel fed up with my higher ups who I originally thought were great people, but now work feels like drama. I guess the popular thing as of late has been to treat me like an imbecile and ignore me whenever possible. (I honestly have NO idea why they’re doing this to me)

I suppose the good thing is that I picked up a lot of experience that I have been using to apply to other jobs at the university. Unfortunately, some of these jobs pay at a lower rate and offer less hours (the nice thing about my current work is that the pay is pretty well for part time and I can work up to part time max hours).

So my big question is, should I stay at my current job where I’m making decent pay and have top-of-the-line equipment to work on but have to deal with a stinky, eccentric coworker, unfaithful bosses, and more drama than daytime network television, or take on a new job where I could get a pay cut and less hours, but have a chance to start over in my work ethic when it comes to working at a university and hopefully know where to draw the line so I can stay as neutral as possible until I graduate school (not to mention it would be nice to get away from the people I work with now and [this is just horrible], but I think it would be really fun if they ended up trying to talk me into staying).

Also, any sort of analysis and criticism against me is appreciated. If I’m just acting like a jackass, then I need to know.

Separation of church and medical care?

Wroksie — Sun, 13 May 2007 07:34:09 -0800

The school nurse called my best friend a slut! Well, not exactly, but darn close. My (24 yo) best friend attends a large public state university in Kentucky. She recently went to the campus health clinic to get some birth control pills, and the nurse taking her history asked how many sexual partners she'd had. The answer was ten, and the nurse immediately grabbed my friend's hand and said "oh, honey, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here for you. Having that many sexual partners usually means there's a problem in here (indicating her heart)"
My friend was outraged and insulted, and upon completing her appointment, immediately asked to speak to the director of the health clinic. The director said she didn't see the problem and that she agreed with the nurse, that ten sexual partners at the age of 24 was unhealthy from a physical standpoint-and from a moral standpoint, ten sexual partners at any age was unconscionable.
This is a public school, not a religious school. My friend wants to know if the nurse broke any laws or any medical code of ethics with her moralizing, and where she should take her complaint next (school newspaper? university president? My friend is not afraid of publicity, she doesn't care who knows how many people she's had sex with).

Can you recommend any poems about university life?

janecr — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 10:17:49 -0800

Can anyone recommend any poems about university life? It is for a book group where we're reading some campus novels and we're looking for a poem on the same subject.

Campus activism event ideas and advice

electric_counterpoint — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 09:38:10 -0800

What are the most successful/engaging/popular events you've seen put on by campus activist groups? Any general tips for organization or planning? A new campus pro-choice group has sprung up to fill an ideological void, and a friend is running the show. I'm asking this on behalf of my very involved girlfriend. She sez:

"What are some good, easy to plan pro-choice demonstrations/events to put on a campus, particularly a conservative campus?

"I just started a students for choice group at my university after some anti-choicers started their own 'students for life' group. They seem to have much more time, energy, and organizational skills than we do, and they have a better presence on campus than we do. My pro-choice group desperately needs to make a huge statement on this campus ASAP, but every member of the executive board has a horrendous schedule, so it also needs to be something that's easy to plan.

"Our group is full of very passionate people who aren't afraid to be controversial, so please feel free to be as open as you like with suggestions."

We've seen this thread, but we're looking for more concrete event ideas than it offers.

Flip Flopping Daughter

Mutha — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 06:09:27 -0800

My daughter has announced she doesn't want to live on campus next year (freshman). We agreed months ago she would live at school (an hour commute). Any personal experience with changing your mind? I'm concerned about her driving daily on congested highway (NJ) and about her not facing her fears.