2 BV Letters in the last edition

[FriendsofAN44]

Many reasons to bid good riddance

By Stephanie Boyle

Advisory Editor



A student’s declaration of independence:

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one person to dissolve the bands, which have connected her with another, … a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that she should declare the causes, which impel her to the separation.

I hold these truths to be self-evident:

• Walking around with a backpack in any dorm at 5 p.m. on a Friday doesn’t fool anybody. Hope it’s something better than Keystone Light in that Jansport.

• Drinking a case by yourself in a weekend, however doable, does not make you cool.

• Kicking seniors off campus just hours after they graduate sends a clear message: give us your tuition money and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Calling it “tough love” is about as accurate as saying Ike Turner “love tapped” Tina.

• They’re throwing us out, but seniors all still got those “donate to Bonaventure” letters. Make sure any money you donate is restricted giving, or you might wind up paying for those plastic containers they charge 20 cents for the in the RC Cafe.

• Rules of logic do not apply in the Bubble. My friend sacrificed nine-tenths of her time here at Bonaventure to other people. She actively participated at Mt. Irenaeus and barely slept in her four years here so she could graduate with an honors degree. She was notified by e-mail on Tuesday that because her GPA did not meet the 3.25 requirement, she would not receive that degree. She was notified after she completed and presented her honors project. Honors projects take an unbelievable amount of work and two semesters of one’s life to complete.

• Notifying someone by e-mail that their work during the last year was all for naught must be against Franciscan values.

• I learned that until a few weeks ago, students had a right to withdraw from a class even if they cheated. I learned this week that a student could slave away for four years and still not graduate with an honors degree because the head of a program couldn’t check a grade sheet in August.

• The motto “Get a life worth sharing” insults everybody who reads it along with the people who go here. The opportunities this university provided have helped me become who I am today, but my life was worth sharing before I set foot on this campus. And I wouldn’t have a drinking problem.

• Part of “getting a life worth sharing” should be spelling Procter correctly in a commercial about university alumni.

• It now costs about $28,000 per year to “get a life worth sharing.” Students need to question whether benefit of education outweighs cost of said education.

• Security Services is not secure. Most students won’t have the luxury to call security three times at 3 a.m. if something’s really wrong. But park behind the Reilly Center for five minutes, and bam, there’s one of those soccer mom vans.

• There’s only one place in the world that Sudafed, ibuprofen, yellow lozenges and salt packets can cure everything, and it’s on this campus.

• No matter how many times staff of The Bona Venture catches people, including administrators, in lies, nothing ever happens. And it says right on the university’s Web site that this school values integrity. Really?

• People give the staff of The Bona Venture little thanks and a lot of flak. I don’t know why. They’re students and they’re learning their trade. Try doing what that staff does in a week.

• Off-campus residents and non-Bonaventure students seem to vandalize our campus regularly. Maybe we should put up a gate.

• I don’t care what the numbers say. Parking and housing will never be convenient. Never.

• From December to May, the potholes on campus do more to slow traffic than the speed bumps.

• Students get three free newspapers here every weekday. Read them. Doing crossword puzzles will improve your vocabulary.

• Professors here are rarely paid what they’re worth.

• Though some pass it off as such, the Reilly Center is not a student union.

• Reading old Bona Ventures from the 1970s just might provide some perspective. Turns out, students back then faced the same things we did. And they had to worry about intervisitation.

• The archives will also show you students will complain far more than they will act to improve the situation.

And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, I pledge my life, my fortune and my sacred honor. I will miss some of these things, these memories, these truths I have come to know. I will miss my friends and the professors who showed me how to write. They have all been part of my “good journey.”<br>
Oh, and did you know that Bona Venture, translated into English, means good luck? Didn’t think so.

To those who remain, good luck.





Students will leave university unwanted
By Holly McIntyre

Advisory Editor



They don’t want us here anymore. At least, that’s what it feels like.

I had three great years here at St. Bonaventure. Everything came together. The school was great, the classes were good and the friends were wonderful. I love this school, I’ve loved most of my classes and professors, and, like everyone says in The Faces You See stories, I love the place and the people.

Even after the basketball scandal my sophomore year, I had the greatest hope and respect for the new administrators.

It has been a great senior year with great classes and friends, but what happened to this university? Suddenly, I’m disappointed in the school.

The administrators took away our beer truck and gave us drink tickets for senior week. OK, I don’t like it, but I can accept it. At least they made an attempt to compromise. I’m still not sure I’ll buy senior week tickets, though.

Then they effectively ripped up their faculty’s syllabi by telling them even if the syllabus said plagiarism deserved an F, the administration could overrule the syllabus. Ouch. The syllabus should be an agreement between professors and students, not between students and the administration with professors hoping the administration agrees.

I came here for the faculty and the good things I heard about the journalism school. The quality of this university will be seriously hurt if professors start leaving because the administration overrules their decisions.

Students stand behind the faculty before the administration. The faculty and students are the face of the university, but they’re not smiling anymore.

Finally, they are literally kicking us seniors out. They want us out the day of graduation. The housing office sent letters to seniors and their parents listing tips for moving out fast. Take stuff home before graduation, they said. Pack up the car in the morning, they said. Sounds kind of like, “Thanks for your money. Get out before we lock the doors.”<br>
Traditionally, seniors could stay until the morning after graduation. The graduation ceremony ends in the afternoon. After four great years, we want to say goodbye, not race to our vehicles and see who can cram the most stuff inside in the minimum span of time. People who live more than a few hours away will be driving through the night after a long and stressful day.

Not a good note to end four years of St. Bonaventure University on.

And soon, the university will ask me to donate. Ha! My first priorities for my money are food and shelter.

But some day I do hope to have enough disposable income to donate—even on a journalist’s salary. It’s not going to the university as a whole, though. It’s going to the journalism school. It’s going to The Bona Venture. It’s going to the groups around campus who welcomed my peers and me.

I haven’t felt welcomed or respected by this university in the past year.

Administrators, this university is losing its sense of community. Bits and pieces are still great. Much of it is failing. Lighten the chokehold on the faculty, and let the students enjoy their time here. I once had such hope for.

[sbuSTUDent2005]

I read these articles in the BV and thought they were trash. Why do they bother printing such garbage?

[mbish9]

I hate to say it but the writers are on the mark with their criticism of many (not all) of the things they disagree with within the University... hell, when I walked onto the SBU campus in 1997, tuition was about $17,000, so I can understand the gripe there. Regardless the school has taken more than its fair share of negative press within the last two and a half years.

What these writers fail to do well is write about what is good on the SBU campus/community. I think that anyone that is/was priviledged enough to graduate from St. Bonaventure will tell you that their college experience is unlike any other. You do not realize what St. Bonaventure truely means until you have left.

Hey that is just one man's opinion.

[TransplantedBonnie]

Here is my point-counterpoint to the first article. As far as the second one, I feel its just another version of the first article and wonder why the OP-ED editor allowed both writers to have pretty much the same points. Would have been better if it was a point-counterpoint article by the two combined. With that in mind, here is my own to the 1st article:

• Walking around with a backpack in any dorm at 5 p.m. on a Friday doesn’t fool anybody. Hope it’s something better than Keystone Light in that Jansport.
Me: Funny and true.

• Drinking a case by yourself in a weekend, however doable, does not make you cool.
Me: True, it is also alcoholism. Drinking with friends might make it memorable, but alone is just sad.

• Kicking seniors off campus just hours after they graduate sends a clear message: give us your tuition money and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Calling it “tough love” is about as accurate as saying Ike Turner “love tapped” Tina.
Me: I would feel that as a woman writer, you would have been more tactful then to use such an analogy with a major problem facing women with that of being inconvenienced. It's disgusting to see someone be that inaccurate and lazy as to compare domestic abuse to having to move. Just cause you don't want to take some extra time during senior week to pre-pack, you have to associate it with abuse? You insult every women who eve has been abused by using that analogy and look foolish at the same time.

• They’re throwing us out, but seniors all still got those “donate to Bonaventure” letters. Make sure any money you donate is restricted giving, or you might wind up paying for those plastic containers they charge 20 cents for the in the RC Cafe.
Me: I bet you get flyers from you HS asking for money and you probably had issues there too. The alumni base helps out a lot and SBU doesn't expect you to give a lot, but to keep them in mind in the future.

• Rules of logic do not apply in the Bubble. My friend sacrificed nine-tenths of her time here at Bonaventure to other people. She actively participated at Mt. Irenaeus and barely slept in her four years here so she could graduate with an honors degree. She was notified by e-mail on Tuesday that because her GPA did not meet the 3.25 requirement, she would not receive that degree. She was notified after she completed and presented her honors project. Honors projects take an unbelievable amount of work and two semesters of one’s life to complete.
Me: If you know what you have to do to acheive a goal, then you must do it. I feel for your friend, I truly do, but the fact remains she didn't meet the goals set up prior. She might have had great experiences at the Mt., but if she would have made it 8/10ths maybe she graduates with honors. There is a time to be helpful and time to be selfish and she didn't see that. It her fault, don't blame SBU.

• Notifying someone by e-mail that their work during the last year was all for naught must be against Franciscan values.
Me:That is a BS way to do stuff, she did deserve a call.

• I learned that until a few weeks ago, students had a right to withdraw from a class even if they cheated. I learned this week that a student could slave away for four years and still not graduate with an honors degree because the head of a program couldn’t check a grade sheet in August.
Me: The first is an issue in itself that this board has talked about and doesn't need rehashing. As for the program head not checking a grae, its on the student to followup. It your grade, not the program head's.

• The motto “Get a life worth sharing” insults everybody who reads it along with the people who go here. The opportunities this university provided have helped me become who I am today, but my life was worth sharing before I set foot on this campus. And I wouldn’t have a drinking problem.
Me: I am under the "everybody" and I'm not insulted. I think its a clever motto as many kids loaf through college with no real motive. SBU atleast encourages to do something worth while.

• Part of “getting a life worth sharing” should be spelling Procter correctly in a commercial about university alumni.
Me: I am not sure what this means.

• It now costs about $28,000 per year to “get a life worth sharing.” Students need to question whether benefit of education outweighs cost of said education.
Me: You chose to attend SBU. You most likely had an option to attend a cheaper state school, but chose SBU. Be mad at yourself, not SBU. Not to mention, tuition usually increases across the board for college and SBU ranks low on cost for private Catholic universities.

• Security Services is not secure. Most students won’t have the luxury to call security three times at 3 a.m. if something’s really wrong. But park behind the Reilly Center for five minutes, and bam, there’s one of those soccer mom vans.
Me: Agreed, SBU needs to do something with security. They are not fully equipped to handle a major issue if it arrises. Its not the security services workers who are to blame though. Secondly, don't be a lazy ass and take a parking spot reserved for a scool employee. They deserve those spots, while you have certain spots marked out for you. You deserve every ticket you get for not following the rules. Usually you can pleed it down and I don't think that will happen with real police.

• There’s only one place in the world that Sudafed, ibuprofen, yellow lozenges and salt packets can cure everything, and it’s on this campus.
Me: When did they add salt? I do agree they aren't well setup either.

• No matter how many times staff of The Bona Venture catches people, including administrators, in lies, nothing ever happens. And it says right on the university’s Web site that this school values integrity. Really?
Me: It does value integrity, but you also have to go through the motions and many levels to get things done. Look at the US justice system. Do you honestly think OJ and Michael Jackson would have a chance of going free if they were an average person?

• People give the staff of The Bona Venture little thanks and a lot of flak. I don’t know why. They’re students and they’re learning their trade. Try doing what that staff does in a week.
Me: Thanks. I know how much you work and enjoy working late on Wednesday's.

• Off-campus residents and non-Bonaventure students seem to vandalize our campus regularly. Maybe we should put up a gate.
Re: A gate? You complain about not wanting to give money and ask for a gated community? Where does that money come from? It wouldn't be very tasteful looking at best and I'd prefer my alma mater not to resemble a security prison.

• I don’t care what the numbers say. Parking and housing will never be convenient. Never.
Me: Housing will never be what students want. Parking is getting better, but you're young, and I assume in shape. If your legs work, use them. Young people drive to a gym to go running, but complain they have to walk an extra 500 feet to class in the morning.

• From December to May, the potholes on campus do more to slow traffic than the speed bumps.
Me: Weather does this to most roads. Atleast SBU tries to fix it as opposed to towns, villages and cities.

• Students get three free newspapers here every weekday. Read them. Doing crossword puzzles will improve your vocabulary.
Me: I suggest reading world news rather then crossword puzzles. We lose sight of what goes on around the world, and its going to hurt the US in the future.

• Professors here are rarely paid what they’re worth.
Me: Neither are janitor, security officers, and normal employees. People usually get paid a lot less at SBU because they value the community. Not to mention a dollar goes further in Olean than in NYC.

• Though some pass it off as such, the Reilly Center is not a student union.
Me: Fine, but it is a major gathering area. Why is this an issue?

• Reading old Bona Ventures from the 1970s just might provide some perspective. Turns out, students back then faced the same things we did. And they had to worry about intervisitation.
Me: Agreed, history tends to repeat iteself, but I wonder how many past exiting BV writers chose to complain and vent in their final article rather than to talk about the good times.

• The archives will also show you students will complain far more than they will act to improve the situation.
Me: I read that as "Pot, this is the kettle calling." You're complaining and not acting.

And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, I pledge my life, my fortune and my sacred honor. I will miss some of these things, these memories, these truths I have come to know. I will miss my friends and the professors who showed me how to write. They have all been part of my “good journey.”<br>
Oh, and did you know that Bona Venture, translated into English, means good luck? Didn’t think so.
Me: Never did either. Where does it say a school has to wish you luck. You're supposed to be prepared, not rely on luck.

To those who remain, good luck.
Re: To those who remain, enjoy, be young and have fun. Don't be resentful and hate your time at SBU or you'll regret it when your older.

I feel that Stephanie has issues with the school but many memorable experiences too. I wish I could have read those instead of venting. With all the bad press for SBU lately, I hate seeing others throw it under the bus and that's why I fel the need to post this. Sorry to take up the community's time.

[bonniesin2k6]

I'm a senior this year and have experienced the same issues that this BV writer speaks of. I agree with transplantedbonnie for the most part.

There have certainly been some moments during my four years here in which I was quite upset with administration, but I wouldn't trade my 4 years here for the world. The students and faculty as well as the administration are all tremendous people as a whole and far outweigh any of the negatives such as a lack of parking which she listed. I'd call her lazy, but I've got enough money worth of parking tickets this year that the school might be able to afford a monorail after I pay them all off.

Go Bonnies!

[LumsdnA10Academc98]

What on earth was this incoherient crap?
Put up a gate around campus? Is this the Chautauqua Institution, Canisius, or Little Valley Jail? Get a grip.
Implying the quality of this university is in jeopardy because professors may begin to leave is as premature as The Buffalo News saying Tyler Relph might never play in the Reilly Center.
The BV, as a whole, is a very good paper that generally represents the voice of the student body. These reporters, however, complain about the administration kicking them out after graduation and rip Bona for everything from senior week to potholes to housing two weeks before they'll leave here, never to face that administration again. If you don't like being pushed out right after graduation, how are things any better after you, as a BV reporter, aired out all of Bona's dirty laundry as you accept a Bona diploma? Don't call out the sticks in Bona's eyes when you have logs in your own.

[wgt]

Years from now when Stephanie & Holly look back at their Bona years I feel their memories will be more in line with their following statements: “The opportunities this university provided have helped me become who I am today,….” AND “I had three great years here at St Bonaventure.” And “It has been a great senior year…”
Their complaints about pot holes, no beer truck, inconvenient parking & housing will pale in comparison to dealing with real life issues of commuting to a job, skyrocketing housing costs & dealing with the “flak” that the working press must contend with daily.
There are some valid comments made in both articles but overall both hint of serving as the mouthpiece for some professors. I could be wrong, but I feel that 20 years from now when both women pick up & read their final writings at Bona they will yearn for the opportunity for a re-write to create a better balance between no beer truck like complaints and the myriad of opportunities for service that Bona provided them & all who experience “The Good Journey.” I wish all the best to Stephanie & Holly & all our Bona 2005 Grads. You will learn that Bona prepared you well.

[TonyOny]

Many of the same points I would have made, proud grad of class of '86 that I am.

So what do I say:

-Solan was a pain in the butt 19 years ago and tossed us right out after graduation too!
-All private schools ask for money all the time, even before you graduate. Or you could go to SUNY Fredonia.
-Is SBU worth $27,000 (or $12,000 in '86). I don't know, but I bet the people that work for me that went to Big 10 schools, University of Chicago, BC, & William and Mary would say so.
-Grow some thick skin...the real world's much tougher than anything you ran into at SBU.

Congratulations and welcome to the SBU Alumni Club. Now get out there and make us (or at least your parents!) proud.

[southhampton]

• Off-campus residents and non-Bonaventure students seem to vandalize our campus regularly. Maybe we should put up a gate.
Re: A gate? You complain about not wanting to give money and ask for a gated community? Where does that money come from? It wouldn't be very tasteful looking at best and I'd prefer my alma mater not to resemble a security prison.


As for this, i took it as sarcasm. Blaming those who arent around for the problems on campus. This was the case for a racial slur earlier in the year

[Chaz]

Was Tony Oney around in 1986 still ?

[Felca]

What is the issue with making the kids depart so quickly?

[Bona91]

Felca said:

What is the issue with making the kids depart so quickly?

Don't know, but they have been doing it for years.

[MFS]

Not true. In years past, students had until the morning after graduation (Monday) to pack and leave campus. This year, seniors have to be out of townhouses and gardens by 5pm on Sunday...roughly 3 hours after graduation ends.

[DerekBrower]

wgt said:

Years from now when Stephanie & Holly look back at their Bona years I feel their memories will be more in line with their following statements: “The opportunities this university provided have helped me become who I am today,….” AND “I had three great years here at St Bonaventure.” And “It has been a great senior year…”
Their complaints about pot holes, no beer truck, inconvenient parking & housing will pale in comparison to dealing with real life issues of commuting to a job, skyrocketing housing costs & dealing with the “flak” that the working press must contend with daily.
There are some valid comments made in both articles but overall both hint of serving as the mouthpiece for some professors. I could be wrong, but I feel that 20 years from now when both women pick up & read their final writings at Bona they will yearn for the opportunity for a re-write to create a better balance between no beer truck like complaints and the myriad of opportunities for service that Bona provided them & all who experience “The Good Journey.” I wish all the best to Stephanie & Holly & all our Bona 2005 Grads. You will learn that Bona prepared you well.

I couldnt agree more. I did my fair share of complaining while at Bonaventure, mainly about parking. Then I started working at a school where I have to walk further from the lot to my building than I ever had to walk as a student at Bonas. Once she gets into the real world, she will realize how good she had it at Bonaventure.

[MFS]

Students who complain about parking at St. Bonaventure are pathetic! Not only are the spots ridiculously close to all the buildings, but a parking pass is $65 per year. I know of high schools that charge more than that to park!