The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 1, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 25, 2006 Page: 3 of 8
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The Rambler
Opinions
January 25, 2006 3
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Photos by Tyler Atkinson
Pay to the order of Texas Wesleyan University
The Real World:
etter three hours too soon than a minute too late.
-William Shakespeare
Extenuating Circumstances:
7'think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird
and not enough the had luck of the early worm.
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
Christine
Peirce
Some think late fees are ridiculous, that they should
be ignored and removed under "extenuating circum-
stances." However, here is my question: in the "real
world," are there ever extenuating circumstances?
If your grandmother dies and you have to fly to
London, isn't your credit card bill still supposed to be
on time, or otherwise suffer the consequence of a late fee?
If you are 300 miles away from your apartment when rent is due and
you don't turn it in on time because your car is broken down, will your
management company still require you to pay late fees?
Perchance you simply forget that taxes exist and you file April 17,
does the government say, "oh poor kid" and ignore the late fees?
No. None of these situations have an extenuating circumstance policy
allowing "this one to slide."
Nor should you expect a school that expects students committed to
the education process to be allowed to sign up late for classes without
some penalty. If your education is important, then you should be prompt
and on time in your registration, just like the majority of the student body.
If you think Wesleyan is different than any other school and that we
have it so much worse, think again.
The University of Texas has a varying fee structure for students.
Those who register late through the fourth day of classes are charged $25.
It's S50 for the fifth through 12^ day and S200 for anything after the
12t" day for all spring and fall semesters, according to the university Web
site. Granted, the school's late fees may not be as strenuous as our $100
flat fee for the first 12 days, but other schools are far worse.
In addition to these penalties, there are expenses at nearly all schools
if you desire to change a course section number, add a class or drop one.
At Wesleyan, we have no fee for this.
So my question to all those who feel that this is too strenuous - a
$100 fee for a person's failure to meet a simple deadline, instead
disrupting the inner workings of the entire third floor of the admin-
istration building - is would you prefer UTA's policy and fork over
nearly $300? Or DBU's SI50'.' 1 think not.
Here is my advice; sign up on time, just
like you pay your bills on time or pay the
consequences if you don't. And if you have never
paid a bill before because someone else has always held your
hand, move out of your parent's house and get a taste of the real world
This is where many of us
(your fellow students) live,
and it is where the university
operates.
Christine Pierce is a mass communication major and is a staff writer for The Rambler.
Zach
Davidson
Going to school is not cheap. However, the extra cost
involved with attending a small, private university where
students are more than names on a roll pays dividends that
go beyond one's checkbook. However, I do object to extra-
neous fees charged for circumstances often beyond one's
control. The specific fee to which I refer is the fee for late
registration.
My primary objection to the late registration fee is that it does nothing to
deter students from registering late. According to numbers obtained from the
registration office, the last three semesters have actually seen an increase in the
numbers of students who register late.
In spring 2005, 201 students registered late. In the Fall 2005 semester, 212
students registered late. In the current semester, 248 students registered late. I
concede that the increase in late registration is terribly large, but the point still
remains that paying an extra fee after a certain date does not encourage students
to register on time. The fact is that students who care to register on time will do
so, and those who do not care will register late, whether there is an added fine or
not.
Furthermore, the registrar's office levies the fine after the given date regard-
less of circumstance. Students may have attempted to register on time and ran
into problems not in their control. If a student feels that the fine is unfair, they
can appeal it, but this simply adds to the time it takes to register. If the purpose
of the fine is to prevent the staff of the registrar's office from having to register
everyone at the last minute, which is a common sense goal that I support, then
they ought to take into account individual circumstances in administering the
fine in the first place. If it is a problem on their end, then the student should not
have to pay the fine.
Finally, I wish to address the economic arguments against the fine.
Especially in registering for the spring semester, students may not have the
money to pay tuition before Christmas. They may face a choice of buying
^Christmas gifts for their family or paying a fine in January for registering late,
do not believe the university sets out to place anyone in this situation.
However, I do not believe it is fair to penalize students because of their
financial situations, which is often the end result of the late registration
fine.
I do not wish to attack the registrar's office, and I
do understand the thinking behind the fine. However,
think the school ought to rethink the fine, taking
into account mitigating circumstances.
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Zach Davidson is a political science and history major and is a staff writer for The Rambler.
Judiciary Committee has no clothes!
Zach
Davidson
On Jan. 9,
Judiciary
Committee
Chairman Arlen
Specter called to
order the confir-
mation hearing of
Judge Samuel
Alito for the U.S.
Supreme Court.
What followed
was a week of
hectoring, grandstanding and empty
questions on the part of senators. In
response, Alito declined to answer
many questions, and the answers he
did provide were technical and legal-
istic defenses of his tenure on the
third circuit.
In all, the hearings shed no light
on what type of justice Alito would
be and provided further proof that
senators are, in general, pompous
and vacuous windbags in love with
their own voices. The 17 committee
members decided how they planned
to vote long before they ever set foot
into the hearing room. The proceed-
ings brought into question the rele-
vancy of hearings in a poisoned
political atmosphere.
1 have previously stated my
opposition to Alito as a conservative
judicial activist. The hearings did not
change my opinion of Alito; they
merely left me disgusted at the poor
behavior of senators on both sides of
the aisle.
On the first day of hearings, the
senators and Alito all gave their
opening statements.
The eight Democrats
all expressed concerns
about Alito's record
on abortion, on presi-
dential power and on
whether he gave a fair
shake to plaintiffs or
sided with business
and the federal gov-
ernment. Republicans
praised Alito as an
accomplished jurist
who would not legis-
late from the bench. These and many
other substantive issues could have
made for an enlightening lesson in
judicial process. They did not.
Instead, senators concentrated on
whether Alito was a bigot.
The poster boy for senatorial
peroration, though by far not the
only committee member guilty of
talking more than listening during
the hearing, was Delaware Democrat
Joe Biden. In the first round of ques-
tioning, Biden talked for 26 of his
allotted 30 minutes, giving Alito four
minutes to respond to his winding
questions.
When the senators were not
practicing their rhetorical skills, they
were bickering among
themselves.
Specter, R-Penn.,
and Massachusetts
Democrat Ted
Kennedy got into a
spat on Wednesday as
to whether Specter
had subpoenaed docu-
ments related to
Alito's membership in
a controversial and
allegedly bigoted
alumni group at
Princeton. The whole episode would
have been humorous were it not so
sad.
Republicans acted no better than
Democrats. Conservative committee
members such as Orrin Hatch, R-
Utah; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and
John Cornyn, R-Texas, spent their
question time defending Alito and
responding to Democratic allegations
rather than actually asking the judge
questions. The questions they did ask
were almost rhetorical in nature.
Among the softballs republicans
threw at Alito were "Are you really a
closet bigot?" asked by Graham.
When Alito offered the obvious no
answer, Graham sympathetically
responded, "No sir, you're not."
The question was a response to
Democratic questions about Alito's
membership in Concerned Alumni of
Princeton, a group that opposed per-
mitting women and minorities into
the university. Alito was never active
in the group according to records,
and Democrats probably made too
much of his mention of membership
on an application to work in the
Justice Department under President
Ronald Reagan in 1985. However,
Democrats at no time accused him of
being a bigot, and for Republicans to
suggest they did is disingenuous.
Alito's own muddled response
that he simply could not remember
the group did not help matters. Then
again, the hearings as a whole were
anything but helpful.
Zach Davidson is a political science
and history major and is a staff writer for
The Rambler.
Iden-
)uild
nate
:ility
son,
)ther
st as
said
Kelli Lowers. Advlsa
Renee Greer, photo editor
Stuna Mendoza, sports editor
Colleen Burnie. entertainment editor
Hrginia Thompson, campus life editor
The Rambler
Founded in 191? as The Handout
Harold G Jeffcoat. Publisher
Member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association
Chad ttVlie, editor-in-chief
Tyler Atkinson, managing editor
Michael Kennard. ad business manager
Shaw n Polling, new v editor
Opinions expressed in The Rambler are those of the individual author only
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Texas Wesleyan community as a whole
Letters to the editor The Rambler, a weekly publication, welcomes all letters
All submissions must ha\e a full printed name, phone number and signature, however, confidentiality will be granted if requested
While every consider* :ioit " :nede to publish letters, publication is limited by time and space.
The editors reserve the right to edit all submissions for space, grammar, clarity and style
l etters to the editor may be subject to response from editors and students on the opinions page
"We are not afraid to follow the truth, wherever it may lead." -Thomas Jefferson
Address all correspondence to
Texas Wesleyan University, The Rambler. 1201 Wcskyrn St., Fort Worth, TX 7610?
Newsroom: 531-7552 Advertising: 531-7582 Fax: 531-4878
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Rambler Ratings
Thumbs up to Texas Wesleyan
Moot Court teams for advanc-
ing to nationals. Carrie
Yovanovitch advanced to the
semi-final rounds.
Thumbs down to the bookstore
for not having textbooks in
stock before class started.
Thumbs up to Student
Government Association for
feeding the campus barbecue
Jan 19.
Thumbs up to the precipitation
that visited the Metroplex last
weekend.
\ ' V *
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Wylie, Chad. The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 1, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 25, 2006, newspaper, January 25, 2006; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth253358/m1/3/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Wesleyan University.