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-Editorials
Can you say Office Hours?
I thought you could!
By HEATHER KIMBLE
Recently, it has been brought to my attention that faculty
members are not at the beck and call of the students 24 hours a
day. Imagine that! After all, we, the students of Mercer Univer
sity , do pay their salaries (meager as they may be!) So, any time
that they are not in class, all professors should be perched in then
offices anxiously waiting for a studenjTo appear. Right? Wrong!
Contrary to the beliefs of some misled Mercer students, 24 hour
service is limited to the Hardee's down the street, Kroger, and
a few self serve gas stations.
"What is she talking about," you may ask yourself. Well, unless
you're one of the campus whiners, the above comments may puz
zle you. So, I’U explain. In case you haven’t noticed, for the past
two weeks or so, faculty members have been daily donning their
robes and marching around the Administration Building. I won't
go into the whys attached to their protest because you can simply
mm back to page one of this newspaper to learn the whys. What
I will go into, however, is the outrage that I felt when I learned
that "several students" have complained to various officials that
the daily marching is preventing professors from being available
for student conferences. I’ve heard of unmitigated gall, but I believe
this occ takes the cake!
Number one, the faculty is protesting during the daily activity
period. I haven't been able to find one sliver of paper that even
insinuates that professors are to be in their offices during activity
period.
Number two, the vkst majority of professors do have office
hours. Some students qtparady don't know what this term means,
so let me define this term for their benefit. —Office Hour: A posted
60 minute span of time in which the poster (for our purposes, we
can substituie professor) is in his or her office with the sole pur
pose of meeting with the public (students). Imagine that, most pro
fessors have slots of time during the day set aside to meet with
studems. If you doubt me, take out a syllabus for this quarter,
look at the top. Now, what do you see. More likely than not, you
do in bet see “office hours," or in some rare cases, you may
see "by appointment." Is this term unfamiliar as well? Well, an
appointment is an arrangement between two or more people to
meet at an assigned time and place. Yeah, I know. I'm really
pushing the point. However, I can't help but wonder if maybe some
students really don't understand these terms.
In this case, the only alternative to ignorance, is, as I alluded
to earlier, a misconception that professors are to be at the beck
and call of students during every waking hour. If you adhere to
this philosophy, try this little experiment. The next time you need
to see a doctor or dentist, just show up at his/her office'. Don’t
call first to ask for their office hours, and by all means, don't make
an appointment. Chances are, you’ll be sitting in the waiting room
a heck of a long time!
I don’t mvWsunrt lust what makes students feel like professors
are different from any other professional. As a matter of fact. I'd
be willing to bet that the majority of you have at least one parent
whose work is considered of a "professional" capacity. Can you
imagine your mom or dad's reaction to Mr. simply showing up
at his/her office and then complaining to their boss that he/she
was unavailable.
What concerns me most about this issue, however, is the insen
sitivity that said students are showing for the faculty protest that's
occunng. Well, actually students in general are being insensitive.
*%o far, I have yet to see more than five or six students join the
faculty in the protest. Think back to the student protest over los
ing the six week break. Quite a few faculty members wholehearted
ly supported our protest, yhy can't we show the same support
to them that they showed to us. Yes, I include myself in the WE.
I think that we could all be a bit more supportive of the faculty.
I might also add that if you are having a problem with clast, what
better tune to catch your professor than as he/the is casually mar-
dung around the ivory tower.
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Anyone interested in getting involved
with The Cluster, please contact me by
calling 752-2871, or by dropping me a
note in Box A. We need writers, cartoonists,
photographers, and advertising representatives.
Thanks,
Heather Kimble
ftiercer |p Cluster
Editor-In-Chief Heather Kimble
Associate Editor Marcus Durham
Activities Page Editor Jennifer Neal
Features Editor Camille Cotton
Entertainment Editor - Rich Benson
Sports Editor Anthony Hooker
Chief Photographer Michael Lake
Business Manager Phil Khayat
Advertising Manager Gregg Franklin
Advisor Gary Blackburn
Technical Consultant David Tucker
Staff Writers
Bryant Chitwood, Gwen Pollock, Chuck Junitins, Jeff Bowen, Jodie Evans, Tobie Gass,
Tammi Robinson, Travis Grave!!, William Smith, Patrick Lee, Rhett Thomas, Mark
Rosen, Michelle Renn, Jarome Gautreaux, Drew Nord, Trtsh Warrick and Terry
Browning.
Address: Box A, Mercer. Office located on third floor of the Student Center. 744-2871.
The Mercer Cluster welcomes letters to the editor. They should be coodse and typewritten.
Getters must be signed and should he accompanied by a current address and telephone
number. Letten should be addrmtd to the Editor-In-Chief.
Opinions expressed in The Mercer. Cluster are those of the editor or the writer of the
srtide and are not necessarily those of the university or student body.