Much better! The modern look for the logo represents the school as gaining experience and maturity. Keeping the rising sun was definitely the right choice. I look forward to seeing the fatsurfer retire without much fanfare. Regards, A fellow alum

It can be quite a challenge for any dorm roommate, living with another student who is lazy, messy, or being irresponsible. In a double, you have to deal with the person because both of you are occupying one entire room. For those that live in suites, that one person can upset the rest of the occupants by not keeping the common area and kitchenette clean and tidy. It is especially difficult when that messy roommate is your best friend. It is true that we all have different living standards. It depends on the environment, parents' upbringing, and their self-conduct. You might get the roommate who does not know he or she is a slob. You may get another roommate who knows he or she is a slob, but makes no attempt to clean after himself or be somewhat responsible. Or you get a roommate that tries to be clean and considerate but is not always consistent. If you know there is going to be a problem, be proactive! I know some have suggested that you have to give some sort of financial incentive. It is kinda ridiculous because you're paying quite a lot for attending Case, and now you are paying $20 bucks to your suitemate to clean up after himself. That's pretty lazy. Maybe you can offer him a share of the empty soda and beer cans. He can take them to Dave's or Giant Eagle and get them recycled and he can pocket the nickels. Who knows if you have a penny pincher living in the suite. Whether you are living in a double, triple, or a suite, start by drawing up a duty list at the beginning of the semester. Rotate on cleaning up the trash, the dishes and sink, dumping out the ashtray, and keeping the place just a bit tidy. Draw up some penalties like $5 bucks for missing your turn or you have to buy pizza for the suite or something. It seems simple enough. But we do have to acknowledge that there are some people out there who are so lazy that they won't clean up the area until the ants and cockroaches start infesting the place. He could be the person that would hold impromptu social gatherings in the suite, but does not clean up the place afterwards. He won't partake in cleaning up the vomit and spilled beer on the carpet. Yep, it's University property, but you and your suitemates have to live in that place for the whole entire semester, if not the whole entire academic year. Could you really deal with the smell for that long? If it really gets bad, then your RA or RD should get involved. I understand that the suitemates have to take responsibility and learn to resolve the problem themselves, but there is always the situation that will require action from the "folks upstairs." Or you can do it yourself, but in a nagging way. If the suitemate is really a slob, be extra anal with the cleaniness. If he left a piece of clothing with some trash, throw it all out, and apologise for the "accident." Use air freshener on a consistent basis. Start vacuuming the suite during the hours when he's sleeping. If he left some beer cans on the table, drink it all, and dump the rest and tell him that he probably drunk it all since he was passed out. Be literal in throwing his food out of the fridge one day after it's been there. If they start complaining, then they can either deal with it and fuss up, or just transfer to another dorm suite or room next semester.

The need to build and solidify relations between students and alumni of Case Western Reserve University has been important then ever before. There are so many opportunities for both to interact with each other, to help each other, to inspire, to advise, and so on and so forth. The steps taken by some students to establish a Student Alumni Association is one such example. In a way, having an official undergraduate student organisation as a counterpart to the Alumni Association is an efficient and more effective step. In the past, there used to be a UAA-Student Alumni Relations Committee where undergraduate liaisons from the major groups met with alumni to coordinate joint events such as Hudson Relays and Senior Week. In 2000, the Student Turning Point Society (STPS) was established dedicated to maintaining close ties to alumni. They had an advantage of meeting with university administrators and prestigious alumni at various luncheons and receptions. An overall student group dedicated to the Alumni Association would be the best ideal medium to have in order to coordinate and assist events for both constituencies. This group should hold special status and cannot be treated as a standard organisation (i.e. getting recognition). Such a group should be co-sponsored by the Student Executive Council (SEC) and the Alumni Association. Know that STPS is the formal student rep for the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, and is sponsored by the Office of University Alumni Affairs. In fact, perhaps the Student Alumni Association should be created as part of the alumni arm of the Student Executive Council. It will assist the major groups with events such as Homecoming, Senior Week, and Hudson Relays. In addition, it can host local events with the Cleveland Chapter at Alumni House. It's one step to give students a better understanding of what the Alumni Association is.

I have been on the fence regarding commencement for the past 5 months. This past week, I knew Sunday's deadline was approaching. After talking it over with my parents (who really want me to do it), I decided to register. So, Sunday afternoon, at 3:30 PM west coast time, I clicked on the link on the main Commencement web site that had been open in my browser for the better part of the week. To my surprise, I was greeted with a bold message that said registration had closed. I scratched my head in puzzlement. I know the link to register boldly stated April 1 as the last day. So, I fired off a quick e-mail to commencement@case.edu explaining the situation. I expected to get a reply today, but none came. Realizing time was critical, I wanted to call to resolve the issue, but there is no number posted on the web site. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to wait for them to respond via email. Perhaps I'll start badgering them and poking others at Case who could tell me who to contact directly. It is worth noting that after I realized online registration was closed, I found an old e-mail stating that it would close on April 1 at 5:00 EST. Sadly, there was no mention of this on the web site (at least none that I saw). When you see "through April 1" in bold letters without an asterisk, you immediately assume a 12:00 AM deadline. Aye aye aye.

April 3 Update

Last night, I sent a follow-up email to commencement@case.edu after not hearing back from them within 24 hours of the first e-mail. I let them know that if I don't hear back by 2:00 PM EST today, I'm going to contact Eric Dicken. I hate bothering the "Director of Campus Events" with such an arguably trivial concern, but I can't find any other names anywhere on the Commencement web site.

Clearly, it's the highest ever amount made available to groups in one semester. Rollover from the Fall was a measly $16,500. At least groups are somewhat spending their money efficiently. Hope that continues.

As noted in the USG Briefs section on the February 2, 2007 Observer issue, there was discussion about two USG members writing a letter to the editor in the Jan. 26 issue calling for University intervention in the current Student Executive Council (SEC) structure. Please note that ideas and suggestions to reform the SEC is not new. Student leaders in the past, including myself, have attempted to change the existing structure, but without success. Under the University's Grant of Power to the major governing groups that comprised the SEC, the Council was envisioned as a place where USG, UPB, Media Board, and IFC/Panhel can meet to share information about their projects and issues, cooperate in major events, govern the Student Activity Fee allocation, and resolve disputes. From the document, each major group had a different form of obligation and responsiblity to the students. At that time, the SEC was never used in any official capacity. If you wanted to complain about campus issues, go to USG. Programming and concerts was UPB. Television, newspapers, magazines, and newsletters fell under Media. Greeks were under IFC/Panhel. In the late 1990's, student leaders from the major groups convened the Student Executive Council for the first time in years. It was definitely a surprise when the student leaders of that time did not know they had a SEC though the grant of power document stated the existence of one. The groups were just using standard liaison representatives to attend each other's meetings. It was realised (obviously!) that the SEC could be used as a forum for inter-communication between the major groups. It was also the first time the SEC got officially involved in major projects such as the Heart of the Campus and the Student Center Project via the Student Life Coalition (SLC). Another first was the invitation of the Residence Hall Association (RHA) into the Council as a non-voting member. One major achievement of the SEC was the funding of SpringFest via the student activity fee. UPB introduced such a proposal in 1998, and the rest of the boards agreed to a permanent percentage in 2001. This was the first ever change made to the SAF fee structure. Cooperation and respect were probably the only ways to get substantial progress done through the SEC. While most members wanted reform, no one wanted to be seen as invading someone's turf, or trying to increase one board's prestige and power over the others. Even discussion on the fee structure was hard. One time, as USG Vice-President of Finance, I introduced a resolution in the SEC to give USG a 0.5 to 1.0 percent increase in next year's fee structure. Much of the increase was supposed to come from the increase of the SAF overall revenue since it was tied to our tuition rate. UPB and Media Board rose in disagreement. They suggested that USG review its books and see if student groups were not accountable in their funding, and should watch their spending. IFC/Panhel were quite protective of their share of the proceeds so they did not want any change. Thus, the resolution died pretty quickly. The reason why SpringFest passed was the overall positive impact it had on the University community and that every Board had to give up something for it. Of course, with eight members (2 USG, 2 UPB, 2 Media, 1 IFC, 1 Panhel), USG, UPB, and Media could just get together and decide the SAF percentages, locking out the Greeks. Or USG, UPB, Greeks versus Media, and so on. Unfortunately, it would not improve campus relations at all. Realistically, we cannot ask the University to intervene and force-change the existing SEC governing structure. One, it shows that the student leaders that you have elected are unable to resolve their differences. Two, it is bad sportsmanship. It is similar to asking the linesman if there was a penalty after the referee decided there wasn't any. The students must solve their own problems. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * After many years of reflection, I have a proposal for this: 1. Based on the assumption that USG is our primary governing authority on campus, the Student Executive Council should not be held to a higher level. Thus, the Student Executive Council should be renamed the Student Administrative Council. 2. The new Student Administrative Council shall cover:

• Student Activity Fee structure (year to year basis)
• Required budget and audit reporting from all members (current and upcoming years)
• Oversee Springfest revenue allocation
• Oversee Senior Week revenue allocation
• Share communication between its members on events, projects, and issues
• Establish ad-hoc committees related to the above items 3. The membership of the new Student Administrative Council:
• Undergraduate Student Government (2)
• University Program Board (2)
• Media Board (2)
• Three student voting members
• IFC (non-voting)
• Panhel (non-voting)
• RHA (non-voting) 4. The Council shall organise the SAF fee structure (year to year):
• USG (revolving percentage)
• UPB (revolving percentage)
• Media (revolving percentage)
• IFC (set amount)
• Panhel (set amount)
• Senior Week (set percentage)
• SpringFest (set percentage) This is a drastic proposal, but it should be able to start effective discussion on the right solution to address this. We cannot just put on several band-aids and hope it will work. Substantial action must be taken to show the willingness of our student leaders to combat favoritism, turf battles, and personal ego to give the students what they want. While it is factually true that only members of SEC can decide what changes they can make to it, it does not mean that they can enjoy a free ride within the Board organisations themselves. The officers that represent the Boards to the SEC are also accountable to the members of the group itself, as well as the entire student populace. I understand it is a big task to take. Over my years as a member and officer of USG, I was chair of the Constitution Committee that pushed through changes in our constitution for the first time in a decade. I threw out the Funding Bylaws, and wrote a new set instituting categorical recognition (of course, that got replaced several years later), and a new set of Operating Bylaws. These things will take time, but they are not impossible. Kind regards, James Chang Former Vice-President of Finance, USG (1999-2000) Class of 2000

I would like the campus newspaper, The Observer, to write an article about the difficulty in changing your social security number as your primary identifier. I want to see the reporter try to document his or her attempt to go to the Registrar's Office and submit a change for the Student ID number. Does Ohio have any law in place regarding the use of social security numbers? Waycross College has their project plan online on switching from SSN to unique ID's Many other colleges and universities are implementing unique ID systems to replace the SSN as the primary way of identifying a student.

The results are in and a little over 1,100 Case students responded to the USG smoking referendum questions. Resolution A calling for a smoke-free campus barely passed with 50.68% (562 yes to 547 no). The other two resolutions B & C calling for designated smoking areas and limits on smoking around buildings failed, but it was pretty close. 51.67% against for C and 52.93% against for D. Turnout was 27.69%, based on FTE equivalent of 4005. Obviously, a complete smoking ban may not be possible. Would the campus police department be able to enforce such a ban and would that take away from their purpose of protecting students from robbery, theft, assault, and other more dangerous situations? I know smoking is bad for your health, but we could focus on counseling programs and offering support for smokers to kick the habit. Banning them to the suburbs is not the ideal way to foster community and unity. Would the ban cover all university-sponsored housing? Being able to smoke in your own residence hall room will be a thing of the past. Smoking is a social ill. After this is done, alcohol will be next on the purists' target list.

More work and discussion is needed before an attempt is made to present a referenda to the student body. See past blog post on the Smoking Forum

Academic Integrity Board Let's clear this thing up. The board is comprised of three students (voting members) that are appointed by the Undergraduate Student Government, two faculty (voting members) appointed by the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate and two administrators (non-voting members). One administrator will be a dean from the office of undergraduate studies. The other administrator, the assistant vice president for student affairs or his or her designee, will chair the board. USG does not approve all members to the Integrity Board, it only approves the three student positions on it. Now, if USG has not been doing this, then there is a failure of communication. I would have thought the VP Academic Affairs would be aware of such a thing. Perhaps maybe it should be included in the officers' manual for next time. Archives Still Nothing I am a strong advocate of giving students the ability to access all USG documents because we are supposed to be a public entity. Come on here, the students elected the government, and they are accountable to them. After two years of politely asking, the Archives section is still saying "Coming Soon." The only place a student can check USG legislation, agendas, and minutes from 1999 to 2004 is here. It's not that hard. Yes, the creation of the online funding system took up manpower and lots of hours, but uploading scanned copies of minutes and legislation is not that difficult. As a New Years' resolution, please, pretty please, get all the archives online next semester. Restricting number of student groups next year How many active groups are we at currently? A quick look at the groups list off the USG site shows about 144. Five to six years ago, we had roughly 95-100 groups. The increasing trend rate is not too bad, but does this mean we should start restricting people from forming new groups. Not really. We had about 4,300 undergrad students enrolled for the Fall semester. This is up from about 3,400 to 3,500 from several years ago. Being an officer and member of the Finance Committee is a very hard job, and you cannot put a cap on group membership because there are just too many of them. Obviously, there should be more of an effort to determine if a new group should be recognised by USG and whether it helps improve student life. With an increasing SAF fee every year and a larger funding budget, the Finance Committee should be expected to handle this. This is why we still continue to justify that any candidate running for VP Finance must be a member of the Finance Committee for at least one semester. A restricted cap on the number of groups is an easy cheapshot solution. Another more effective solution needs to be made instead of this. It would also be nice to know how much money has been requested from all the student groups. Every mass funding bill that has been passed only shows what has been allocated. A summary report of what was requested and funded should be available off the USG web site. If it is, let me know. The Smoking Open Forum First, an open forum is a place to communicate and exchange ideas for anyone concerned. Now, I would have thought the forum would be the initial starting point to bring up solutions and debate them to tackle the issue of smoking on campus. By introducing the three USG draft resolutions on the subject, it would seem to me that you have already "mostly" decided on what should be the solution to this problem and the forum is used for just feedback. Observer's take on it showed that the forum could have been used more effectively. The forum should have just focused on three areas regarding smoking: an outright ban on it, designated smoking areas, and areas where smokers are not allowed. No draft resolutions should have been introduced. You want to give the sense that "everything is on the table for debate." After this, a task force study group should been created to debate the finer points of writing up the draft resolution. The smoking topic would undoubtedly affect everyone on campus, so it would be favorable to include graduate and professional students. This would give an united student viewpoint to the administration. Of course, future open forums would also be needed. Giving students to vote on three separate smoking referendums seems friviolous. First, an outright ban is not the ideal solution and should be subsequently dropped. Sufficient smoking shelters should be erected throughout campus, and designated certain floors or residence halls for smokers should be considered. This would make quite a lot of sense to most people. Areas that should be off-limits to smokers such as ventilation systems, building entrances is obvious. Imagine if the outright ban was the winning resolution, it would make resolution two and three unnecessary, but for the University, it is not the ideal way to solve this problem, so then it is a waste of time for USG. Eastwood's suggestion of a program to help end smoking addiction is a great idea and should be included in any USG comprehensive resolution. In any case, more work is definitely needed on this hot topic. A smoking referenda during the first two weeks of classes is much too soon and will NOT be conducive. How can you have an open forum on Nov 21, then decide two weeks later to hold a referenda when students get back? Student turnout will not be high. Students would not have all the facts to make the right decision. It would show that the open forum was meaningless. I would actually want to see the draft that was presented at the forum and the final version. Was there any change? =) =) =)

I will be officially done in 8 days. I cannot wait. Four years and many thousands of dollars later, I am ready to graduate with a degree. I am excited at the opportunity of being publically recognized for my accomplishments. I am excited at attending the ceremony that will put closure on all of my hard work. My parents are excited to see me recognized as well. You wouldn't believe the disappointment we both felt when we realized there is no formal December graduation ceremony. Instead, there is a Mid-Year Graduates Reception. A reception!!??. Held in Havorka Atrium!!?? I invest all this hard work and money and all I get is a reception!!?? I understand I have the opportunity to return in May to walk in Commencement, but do I really want to do that? Not only will I have to fly out here from California, but I would have to take off at least a day of work, assuming I celebrate afterwards. Not only that, but I would have to wait almost six months. The magic of the moment will surely be lost by then. I want instant gratification! I am trying to rationalize why Case doesn't have a December Commencement, and I am shooting blanks. One would think that a university which encourages experiential learning, a practice that commonly affects the graduation date of students, and a university who commonly sees many December graduates would offer such an opportunity. Sure, it might make economic sense to hold one giant ceremony with all the bells and whistles in May, but that doesn't stop you from holding a watered-down version in December. I want to wear a gown. I want a Commencement speaker. I want to walk across the stage and receive my diploma, even if it is fake. I want an event culminating my experiences. My parents want to come away feeling their expense was justified. Waiting six months just doesn't cut it. And Havorka Atrium! What is that about? At least try to make it classy. We compare ourselves to "peer institutions" and dare to call ourselves part of the "New Ivy Leage." Well, it is time we start behaving like one. No Ivy is going to hold a graduation reception in an atrium! At least rent out Severance Hall for the event. That would be classy and would go a long way towards making up for the lack of a formal ceremony. This reception will most likely be the last memory both my parents and myself have of Case. The lack of expectations being met will linger with me for years. I'll keep that in mind when the university is asking for money.

With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, now is as good a time as any to start my "Reflections" series of entries about my undergraduate experience at Case. The first article: favorite classes and professors. Like many students, there is a strong correlation between my enjoyment of a course and my enjoyment of a professor. It is no surprise that my favorite classes were the ones taught by my favorite professors. In no particular order...

• CHEM 111 - Ignacio Ocasio (Doc Oc) - Words cannot describe how amazing a person Doc Oc was. The first time I raised my hand in class, he called upon me by name, having never met me. There were over 200 people in the class. He commanded the lecture hall with authority and confidence that is rarely seen. To top it off, he had a vivid interest in every student in the class. His office door was always open and he was always willing to let you crash on his very comfortable couches to discuss whatever was on your mind. I made it my agenda to always drop by and see Doc at least once a month, even after I was through taking classes from him. He will be missed by everyone who knew him.
• ENGR 131 - Joel Kraft - ENGR 131 was another amazing class from my fall semester freshman year. The reason? Joel Kraft. Joel found ways to make learning C++ fun. It is almost impossible to make learning a programming language in a lecture environment anything but dull. Yet, Joel found a way to do that every lecture. If things appeared to be going south, he always found a way to liven up the environment, albeit through somewhat unconventional means. But, hey, that's what made it fun. Specific memories include the use of a somewhat unconventional "class" for learning object-oriented programming and the fun and games at the expense of those sleeping during lecture. Like Doc, Joel shares a passion for the students and will do all in his power to help you.
• PHYS 221 - Corbin Covault - Most people take their first two semesters of physics and vow never to enroll in a physics course again. Being an Imaging and Computing BME at the time, PHYS 221 was a technical elective. I looked at the course and decided it was worth a shot. After all, there was no lab and modern physics is one of those subjects that was so perplexing, I had to explore it. Before the first lectures, I was afraid the material would be way over my head and the professor would be one of those absent-minded physics professors you always hear about. Dr. Covault eased these fears immediately. Dr. Covault is surprisingly down-to-earth (for a Ph.D in physics) and was always effective communicating the oftentimes abstract concepts taught in class. Like all previous professors discussed, he was always accessible and gave me assistance when I needed it. If you have the opportunity to take PHYS 221 from Dr. Covault, have no hesitations.
• POSC 352 & POSC 355 - Emery Lee - Unlike most engineers, my social science sequence consisted of two 300-level courses. The main reason was Dr. Emery Lee. I have always had an interest in political science. If I had the opportunity, I probably would have minored in it. After taking POSC 109 with Dr. Emery Lee freshmen year, there was no way I was going to miss up on another opportunity to take a course of his. So, when Junior year rolled around, I enrolled in his course each semester. The material for both of these courses, American Political Thought and Modern Political Idealogies was interesting on its own. Dr. Lee completely surpassed all expectations, however. My appreciation for these classes and for Dr. Lee arises from his teaching style. In a class where critical thought and discussion is encouraged, Dr. Lee always found ways to make the discussion lively and entertaining. Moreover, Dr. Lee, a liberal at heart, rarely let his personal opinions show during discussion. You often hear of many professors injecting their personal opinions in the classroom, indoctrinating their students. Dr. Lee never did. The issues were always addressed from an objective standpoint. When students wanted to engage in debate over the validity and relevance of political ideologies, for example, Dr. Lee served as a neutral moderator, supporting and critiquing each side when appropriate. If discussion were rather dull, Dr. Lee would always find ways to liven it, oftentimes via clever use of analogies. And finally, like all previous professors on this list, Dr. Lee always had time for the students. His door was always open and he would happily discuss any issue with you, relevant or not to the classroom.

So there it is, my favorite classes and professors from my undergraduate time at Case. It is no accident that all of these share a common thread relating to interest in the students and liveliness in the classroom. These are qualities that I view to be essential to cultivate a learning environment. I will not soon forgot the positive effect these professors have had on my time at Case.