Honors College fee doesn’t benefit many Honors students

The headline in Monday’s Wildcat about the newly implemented Honors College fee reads: “”Pay or Leave.”” What a fantastic message to send to all those who strive for a more challenging educational experience at the UA.

If graduating with honors is the “”hallmark of academic excellence”” that the Honors College advertises, Patricia MacCorquodale seems rather unconcerned with those that have recently chosen to opt out because of an inability or unwillingness to pay the new fee. According to MacCorquodale, the value lies in the Honors experience — an experience that, as a science major, I find is lacking.

More specifically, I find it difficult to justify paying a fee that goes toward new classes with little relevance to my major, advising that I rarely use and programming for residence halls that I don’t live in. In fact, honors science classes aren’t even funded by the honors college; they are organized by the College of Science. It is notable that both of the students interviewed in Monday’s article with dissenting opinions about the new fee were science and engineering majors, a demographic that makes up a sizable 50 percent of the honors college student body. The college should expect to see a steady decline in that number should they continue their implementation of this fee without making some serious changes in the way that these funds are allocated.

Kristin Bratton,

Junior majoring in biochemistry and molecular biophysics

In support of LGBTQA housing

The local news has picked up on the plan to create an LGBTQA wing and gender-inclusive housing on campus, and I’d like to speak to some of the things I’ve seen in the news. First, let me begin with the fact that I am a huge supporter of equality for all people, especially in terms of sexuality and gender. I plan to dedicate my life to working for equality.

With that, an LGBTQA wing is not a step backwards. It is not segregation. It’s not creating a target. It is providing a safe space on campus for those of us who want to live in a residence hall without facing daily discrimination, harassment and even physical abuse. And yes, these all happen. Many of us have woken to have “”fag”” written on our whiteboards, our roommates banning us from having same-sex friends in the room, and even false reports to RAs about us “”sexually harassing”” roommates when we do nothing. I know I’ve had experiences with all three. Discrimination is alive and well, people. Not everyone comes to college with an open mind about LGBTQA people.

We are not asking for special privileges or isolating ourselves when we create this wing. We are providing an optional safe space for any student who has been marginalized for their sexuality or gender, and I’m disappointed that there are people actively fighting to take away this safety from our students.

Christina Bischoff

Intern, ASUA Pride Alliance