As a staff writer for the Navigator this past spring, one of the things I heard a lot about was the paper's policy of putting mugshots on the front page. Some of the comments were derogatory, some were amusing, and some were flat-out ecstatic. Seeing other students' arrest reports on the front page certainly stirred up the Piedmont community. For better or worse, we have yet to know.
Most of the arrests were for the same crime over and over again - drinking on campus. Since Piedmont has a dry campus, not even students who are over 21 are allowed to consume alcohol while on the school's property. The kicker was that most of the students who were arrested weren't of age yet: not only were they breaking Piedmont's rules, they were also breaking the law.
Yet after weeks and weeks of seeing their friends and colleagues arrested and their mugshots printed on the front page, nobody seemed to care about the school's policy or about the actual law. So this year, Piedmont's rules changed. Now, instead of getting arrested and sent to jail, offenders are taken to a "holding cell" in GB to sober up.
Why would Piedmont choose to not punish students who break the rules? Not only do they break Piedmont's own policies, but they're also breaking the law! That's kind of a big deal! I sort of understand where the older students are coming from - they're of age, after all - but there is no excuse for younger students, freshmen especially, to be drinking on campus.
The most common theory about this new rule change is that all of last year's arrests were making Piedmont look bad to prospective students. But really, there were so many arrests last year, and several of those arrested were repeat offenders, so was the punishment even severe enough to have any effect?
Those who have broken the dry-campus rule in the past are sure to be happy about the change, while others merely sit and scratch their heads wondering why.
What do you think? Should Piedmont have changed its policy of arresting students who drink on campus? Why or why not?
Thursday, August 23, 2012
State of the Internet
Alright, I'll admit it. Last year, when I heard the Purcell guys whining about how they couldn't hook up their Xboxes to the Internet and how they couldn't play any online games, I was more than a little disdainful. Surely they had better things to do than play video games all night. Like, for instance, studying. Online gaming, I thought to myself, is not the most important thing in your life. You'll live without it.
Of course, I didn't know what would happen over the summer.
Almost as soon as school let out, my brother got me to play one of his games, Team Fortress 2. If you've never played it before, the short story is that it's a first-person shooter where you basically play Capture the Flag while trying to destroy as many of your opponents as possible. It's a lot of fun and a bit addicting, to be honest.
Over the summer, my brother convinced me to start playing this game with him, and we actually got to be fairly good at it. I mean, if you consider not dying as soon as you run out of the base 'good,' that is. One step at a time.
When I left to come back to school, I told him we'd play TF2 when I had some free time between classes, work, and homework. I was also looking forward to playing online with a few of my friends who are also fans of the game, especially since someone had told me that Piedmont's internet was fast and didn't kick you off game servers every thirty seconds, like the internet at home liked to do sometimes.
Well, whoever told me about Piedmont's internet was right about it not kicking you off servers. Mostly because it won't let you on servers at all.
It's not just a dorm internet problem, either: I have tried to connect to a server in my room and in the student center, but it's a no go. This seems a bit odd to me, because I distinctly remember watching people play League of Legends in the student center last spring.
The internet situation last fall was much, much worse. If you don't recall it, I'll sum it up for you: Ethernet cables. Ethernet cables everywhere. Last fall, wireless internet was basically a myth, and the Ethernet cables didn't make it much better. When IT finally updated the campus-wide internet, everyone rejoiced. There was one random weekend when there was no internet at all except in the student center, but I'm pretty sure that was a fluke. Supposedly, there's more than enough bandwidth to support online gaming now, but the ports haven't been opened yet.
Why haven't the ports been opened? We just don't know. Does IT even want to open the ports? We don't know that either.
I've heard two sides to this argument. One says that IT should definitely open the ports, and they should open them now. After all, we're all (mostly) responsible adults here; why can't we play a little Xbox now and then? Come on, Piedmont, it's not a big deal.
On the other hand, some people say that if IT allows online gaming, nobody would do any more work ever, or, like me, they'd procrastinate until the last possible minute and turn in third-rate assignment. Online gaming, they say, ruins grades and ruins lives. (Of course, there are some people who say online gamers have no lives to begin with, but I beg to differ. We have several.)
A year ago, I would've sided with those who say NO to opening the ports for online gaming. I would've said it was a waste of time and that, as college students, we have more important things to focus on, like, for instance, grades.
But now, I just want to keep my Pyro in shape so I can kick my brother's Medic into next week.
What do you think? Should online gaming be allowed on Piedmont's campus, or would it be too distracting and keep us from doing our best work?
Of course, I didn't know what would happen over the summer.
Almost as soon as school let out, my brother got me to play one of his games, Team Fortress 2. If you've never played it before, the short story is that it's a first-person shooter where you basically play Capture the Flag while trying to destroy as many of your opponents as possible. It's a lot of fun and a bit addicting, to be honest.
Over the summer, my brother convinced me to start playing this game with him, and we actually got to be fairly good at it. I mean, if you consider not dying as soon as you run out of the base 'good,' that is. One step at a time.
When I left to come back to school, I told him we'd play TF2 when I had some free time between classes, work, and homework. I was also looking forward to playing online with a few of my friends who are also fans of the game, especially since someone had told me that Piedmont's internet was fast and didn't kick you off game servers every thirty seconds, like the internet at home liked to do sometimes.
Well, whoever told me about Piedmont's internet was right about it not kicking you off servers. Mostly because it won't let you on servers at all.
It's not just a dorm internet problem, either: I have tried to connect to a server in my room and in the student center, but it's a no go. This seems a bit odd to me, because I distinctly remember watching people play League of Legends in the student center last spring.
The internet situation last fall was much, much worse. If you don't recall it, I'll sum it up for you: Ethernet cables. Ethernet cables everywhere. Last fall, wireless internet was basically a myth, and the Ethernet cables didn't make it much better. When IT finally updated the campus-wide internet, everyone rejoiced. There was one random weekend when there was no internet at all except in the student center, but I'm pretty sure that was a fluke. Supposedly, there's more than enough bandwidth to support online gaming now, but the ports haven't been opened yet.
Why haven't the ports been opened? We just don't know. Does IT even want to open the ports? We don't know that either.
I've heard two sides to this argument. One says that IT should definitely open the ports, and they should open them now. After all, we're all (mostly) responsible adults here; why can't we play a little Xbox now and then? Come on, Piedmont, it's not a big deal.
On the other hand, some people say that if IT allows online gaming, nobody would do any more work ever, or, like me, they'd procrastinate until the last possible minute and turn in third-rate assignment. Online gaming, they say, ruins grades and ruins lives. (Of course, there are some people who say online gamers have no lives to begin with, but I beg to differ. We have several.)
A year ago, I would've sided with those who say NO to opening the ports for online gaming. I would've said it was a waste of time and that, as college students, we have more important things to focus on, like, for instance, grades.
But now, I just want to keep my Pyro in shape so I can kick my brother's Medic into next week.
What do you think? Should online gaming be allowed on Piedmont's campus, or would it be too distracting and keep us from doing our best work?
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