I’m Amber Jorgenson and I’m just like you. I go to my classes (usually), work insane hours to pay my overpriced rent and occasionally go to random house parties on the weekends. The largest similarity is that we both spend a crap ton of time on campus, although it’s usually awkwardly weaving through crowds and getting stuck behind people walking painstakingly slow.
As a result of spending an ungodly amount of time here, there are some things about campus that I can’t help but notice that completely suck, like the rise in tuition nearly every semester. To the contrary, a lot of things are undoubtedly awesome. I mean come on, the addition of nearly the full Taco Bell menu? It’s the best freaking thing to happen to my lunch hour since I learned how to open my own milk in the second grade.
Sadly, a rude awakening tends to come. Why would we build a fancy new Taco Bell when the University of Wisconsin System has already approved pre-design plans for a union that could be finished as soon as 2018? Why is parking so difficult when UWM is largely a commuter campus? Why do students not living with their parents have to live in the dorms their freshman year? Like really, not all of us wanted to live in Sandburg and get woken up by someone creating a popcorn fire in the microwave… again. Oh, or see people drunkenly puke in the lobby at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday.
I must say that I’m pretty damn positive other people feel this way as well. I want to help the average student understand the issues going on under our very noses. Through the discussions with my classmates, colleagues and possibly all the people that hang out in the Eighth Note on such a regular basis that I do not think they go to class, I hope to not only convey my opinion on campus issues but your opinions as well.
Since my wee days as a freshman when I used to clam up when a person asked me how I felt about Jesus Christ in Spaights Plaza, I’ve wondered how the average Joe can tackle these everyday issues we may or may not think about. There are the obvious issues (Why do I get half of my textbook money back when I didn’t even crack open the book?) and then the not so obvious (Why does Lubar smell like chlorine? Is there a pool we don’t know about?!).
Through research, random surveying and my own personal opinion, I hope to help the students of UWM understand the everyday issues and help find alternatives to making this whole college thing a little bit easier. So if I come up to you and ask you a super random question, don’t worry, I will not at all relate it back to your relationship with Jesus Christ.