How Mid-day Meetings Have Affected SLU Students

This semester, SLU implemented a period from 11:30 to 12:30 during which time no classes can be held. This time slot is reserved for administrative and sports team meetings. Why is a supposed institution of higher education removing available class time for athletic and administrative meetings? The university should be prioritizing education, but this decision suggests that education is low on its list of priorities. This period of time is optimal for learning: not so early that people are still asleep, and occurs before lunch, when people tend to slow down. Why can’t we have these meetings earlier in the day? It may be inconvenient for the people who must attend them, but taking away class time slots when people pay thousands of dollars to obtain an education is against the best interests of the students.

SLU has been pushing Friday class times recently, too. I have heard some of my peers say that this is an attempt to push the academic rigor of the institution and to curtail Thursday-night partying. If the school is so concerned about its students’ supposed lack of academic zeal, then it should lead by example. It’s hard to feel intellectually motivated when the institution I attend seems not to prioritize the very thing I am paying them to provide. I didn’t come here for our D3 sports teams or to support administrative meetings whose purpose is, to me, dubious at best.

Last semester, I was prevented from registering for a course I really wanted to take, because these Tuesday and Thursday meetings have caused a lot of professors in the biology department to offer their courses at the same time. I could not take both my research methods course and ecology. SLU advertises itself as a small community that puts students first. So put them first. Provide the educational opportunities that should be prioritized by an administration with very few students to manage.