Don’t abuse free printing

Dear Editor:

By now you’ve probably noticed those boxes around campus that say “One-Sided Paper.” What are those boxes for? Well, just that: one-sided paper. Did you just print two copies of something on accident? A rough draft? A mistake? Throw that white paper that’s only been printed on one side into those bins and the library can reuse it in the printers. Let’s all do our part to reduce the vast amount of paper waste we produce at Macalester. Remember to recycle, print double-sided and print multiple pages per sheet. If you don’t know how to specially print, just ask a lab worker—they are happy to help.

Nora Scherer ’03

An easier approach to finals

Dear Editor:

Do you have two or more final exams scheduled in the same day? Do you have multiple 8 a.m. exams? Are you generally dissatisfied with your exam schedule? A number of other liberal arts schools have a simple solution to this problem: the implementation of self-scheduled final exams. As the name suggests, students plan their exams in alloted time slots. The tests are administered in large lecture halls under supervision.

This flexible method for finals provides a great deal of flexibility for students: something which is well desired at the end of the semester. Schools such as Smith, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Amherst (partially), Wellesley and Carleton have adopted this policy which rings quite popular with their students. It reduces the stress level in a period of high tension and makes things easier on everyone.

Critics of self-scheduled exams emphasize the increased risk of cheating, for the first students to take the exams can inform their classmates of the content. There are few ways to combat this risk, one of which is grading on a curve. But in general, for self-scheduled exams to work, the administration and faculty need to trust the student body to not adhere to cheating in this manner (or any other manner). This is not all that much to ask, as a number of schools deemed “comparable” to Macalester have adopted self-scheduled exams and have logged few concerns.

Overall, I feel the policy of self-scheduled exams would be a very positive change for Macalester. Macalester students are trustworthy enough to handle the responsibility, and the option of self-scheduling would certainly ease the strenuous process.

Eliot Brown ’05