Technician
A popular website allows students to grade their school, and N.C. State doesn’t make good marks. Story By Lauren Vanderveen
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t’s a long-standing tradition for students to receive grades based on how hard they work in class, but now the tables have turned. College Prowler, a popular collegiate website, allows students to rate and review their school’s work ethic.
N.C. State’s Internet report card ranges from an ‘A’ in athletics to a ‘C+’ in parking. About 640 individuals have written reviews about the University and their experiences with campus life. But is this site reliable and useful for both prospective students and university leaders and policymakers? Dining and transportation—two of the biggest concerns with N.C. State addressed on the site—will actually be seeing improvements over the course of the upcoming school years. The recent Campus Mobility Plan seeks to provide a more effective transportation system for students through transit changes, such as the Wolfline buses and their routes. According to Emerson Barker, a senior in political science and the Student Senate president pro tempore, revising board bucks to be ‘dining dollars’ that can roll over into the next year is another way student concerns are being taken into account. “It’s something that [the Student Senate] and dining had kind of talked about because it is currently annoying and it doesn’t make any sense,” Barker said. The quality of dining hall food, however, is reviewed on the site as generally “adequate but not amazing” and “OK but repetitive.” Denise Suter, a junior in bioprocessing science, believes some of the reviews on College Prowler are also debatable. “I don’t think there’s really much on campus that I’d give an ‘F.’ That’s
27 2012
Pack Poll presents campus views Semi-annual surveys provide insight on student opinions. Sarah Dashow Staff Writer
a percent or two. Thomas Stafford, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, disagrees with the claim that State is not diverse, having seen the changes it’s undergone over the years. “I’ve worked at State for 41
Two years ago, Michael Cobb, associate professor in political science, public and international affairs, started Pack Poll, a survey for students. The project is supported by Dean Jeffrey Braden of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “My idea was trying to teach undergrads how to do survey research from start to finish. So, the crafting of questions, how surveys take place, how you sample... I can keep track of this at least once a semester indefinitely so that we can create time series data and see what people thought 10 years ago compared to today,” Cobb said. His current standard is to offer one big poll every semester with recurring questions in order to analyze trends in undergraduate thinking and opinions. Depending on the students helping with the project and the important topics at the time, unique and specific questions may also be asked. Currently, Cobb has four students working on the project. However, he is hoping to expand it and has a few ideas for the future of Pack Poll. “Going forward, I want to be able to start doing more polls. A series of smaller ones... in addition to the big ones, so that we’re constantly on top of breaking news that people are talking about to be able to poll students and see what they think about that as well as the bigger, meatier poll,” Cobb said. Cobb has also created the website, PackPoll.com. “[We’d like to] develop software on the Pack Poll website in which students can do cross-tabs with the data on our website,” Cobb said. For now, the Pack Poll data is posted and openly available for anyone who wishes to use it.
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Jordan Moore/Technician archive photo
Freshman in animal science Cameron Overby slides down an impromptu slip and slide at Tucker beach April 14, 2011. College Prowler gave the University’s local atmosphere an A-.
pretty harsh; that would be downright terrible,” Suter said. One ‘F’ review on the site criticized State’s financial aid. “My experience with the financial options is not good,” Suter said. I am working on a graduate certificate in e-learning. N.C. State does not offer any financial aid to students unless you are in a degree program. There is no consideration for the continuing adult student.” The site doesn’t explicitly state where its statistics come from and how updated they are, according to Suter. “After taking a statistics class here, I kind of don’t really trust much of the statistics that I see,” Suter said. “You don’t really know how many people they ask or who they’re asking.” She added, however, that the site lists interesting places students like to go and student demographics. College Prowler’s quick stats of N.C. State’s diversity state the majority of students, 77 percent, are white. Asian Americans make up 5
Ryan Parry/Technician Archive Photo
Showing their spirit, members of the Student Wolfpack Club paint their chests with the letters “N-C-S-U” on them earlier this year. College Prowler gave University Athletics an A.
percent, and African Americans are 9 percent of the student body. The College Board profile of N.C. State, which gets the majority of its information from the colleges themselves, confirms the statistic that white students make up 77 percent of the population, with the statistics for minorities differing by
University listed as environmentally-friendly
insidetechnician
N.C. State is among the honorees of a list of 320 environmentally-friendly schools. Lindsey Rosenbaum Staff Writer
Story headline
Students forgo being trendy and dawn sweat pants and T-shirts to avoid distractions while studying. See page 7.
Looking back at the Pack
Technician takes a look at some of the best of N.C. State athletics over the past year. See page 10.
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Raleigh, North Carolina
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University gets low online reviews
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With Earth Day celebrations winding down and allergy season reaching its peak, the University received a pleasant surprise when Princeton Review named N.C. State one of the most environmentally-responsible campuses. The Princeton Review is a service that helps students prepare for their journey into higher education by giving help in ACT, SAT and LSAT preparations and giving high school students guides on how to choose the right college. Recently, they partnered with the U.S. Green Building Council to create The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges. This 230- pluspage guide profiles 320 colleges that demonstrate a strong commitment to sustainability on their campuses through aca-
Oliver Sholder/Technician
A board displays N.C. State's plan for low impact development into the campus landscape. The venture is is progress and is taking place primarily between Owen Hall and Turlington Hall.
demic research, activities and career preparation. Many students, like Jennifer Gough, a sophomore in fisheries and wildlife sciences, are pleasantly surprised to see N.C. State made the cut. “I think that [the University] deserves recognition for the programs it has implemented,” Gough said. “It provides free public transportation
to its students, promotes green construction, and provides recycling for plastics, paper and electronics.” Gough said the campus constantly reminds students to be more environmentally-friendly. “I am constantly receiving flyers about donating clothes or dorm furnishings to help reduce waste, and most people on campus either walk or ride skateboards and bikes to get
APRIL 26 & 27 - 10am to 4pm ON THE BRICKYARD
to class,” Gough said. Tara Easter, research and lab support in biology and member of the Roots and Shoots organization, also thinks the University is more than deserving of this recognition. “I’ve noticed this sort of sentiment all over campus towards the simplest things,” Easter said. “I mean, when you go to football games, you see a lot of commercial coverage about recycling more and being greener.” Yet some students believe the University could be doing a lot more to make the campus look visibly green. Melissa Keeney, junior in environmental technology, is of this mindset. Keeney is an officer in Students for Solar, a student led group on campus promoting renewable energy. “Most students are not aware of the sustainable projects around campus, although, there are a number of projects, such as the solar panels on top of Carmichael Gym to heat the pool’s water,” Keeney said. However, Easter feels that many of the organizations on campus work extremely well at getting people involved and encouraging respon-
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NC STATE BOOKSTORES ONLINE BUYBACK LOOKUP Check buyback quantities & prices online:
In the event of rain, the sale will be moved into the bookstore onto the textbook sales floor.
go.ncsu.edu/buyback