By Erin Leach |Staff Writer|
One quarter, ten weeks: simple, short, and sweet, but this familiar system may be subject for change.
CSUs are being forced into the semester system despite the fact many students prefer the quarter system.
Student Janika Kelly likes the fact that quarters are so quick.
“Semesters are way too long, students are going to have a tough time making that transition. They may be setting us up for failure,” she said.
CSUSB is one of the six remaining CSU campuses where quarters are intact, but not for long.
If there is continued pressure from the Chancellor of the CSU Timothy White, those schools are most likely facing a change even sooner than expected.
Quarters surpass semesters in student popularity for a variety of reasons.
“I receive exposure to a variety of classes. I am afforded the opportunity to take a whole set of additional classes a year and if for whatever reason I don’t like them, I only have to tough it out for 10 weeks,” said student Jack Abbott.
The CSU argues that there needs to be standardization and cohesion among the schools and that the long term benefits include revenue saving.
However, students seem to remain pretty attached to our current system and so am I.
Student Pablo Cruz said that he likes quarters even though they are the same price as semesters, because they are more convenient.
Once a students gets used to the pace of quarter systems they can be advantageous for many reasons.
In addition, quarter systems provide students with the opportunity to get their feet wet without jumping in.
Students can experiment with classes, they may be considering, for their major or concentration without committing half the year to it.
Quarter systems also provides the opportunity to meet more people.
An extra quarter gives students a brand new pool of people to network with and form relationships.
Networking is arguably one of the most important opportunities in the collegiate experience.
CSUSB and its cohorts are also given the entire Summer away from the stresses of school.
Although not an executive order, it is a strong recommendation from the office of the chancellor and the change will most likely take effect within the next couple of years.
It seems to me that the Chancellor’s Office is looking out for what is best for the system not for the students within it.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will be the first to begin the transition and the chancellor’s office is already experiencing backlash from their campus.
The Mustang Daily school newspaper for Cal Poly reports that the potential changes are a result of the urge to standardize the CSU, and that in the long run the change will make things more cost efficient.
Students are resistant to the change, as some of the other six campuses have been.
CalPoly recently polled students and over 80 percent of their campus preferred the quarter system.
The quarter system at CSUSB makes us unique and provides students with something that will likely be rare in the coming years.
So what can we do to make a change?
Chancellor White will be coming to campus May 9, our university is organizing an open forum at 1:30 p.m.
I say we should show him how much we care.
This forum will provide students with the perfect opportunity to inquire about the pressures coming from him and his office, as well as fight to keep our quarters.
Students should remain rigid regarding the change because ultimately the system serves its students and should have their best interest in mind.
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