Though most professors don’t release final grades until after exam week, Pipe Dream is giving out its report cards early.
Student Association Executive Board — B+
For the second semester in a row, almost all of the accomplishments of the Student Association’s leadership have come from Aaron Cohn and Dan Rabinowitz. Though the rest of the E-Board certainly hasn’t embarrassed us in any noteworthy way, they have yet to do anything particularly noticeable, except for the expansion of blue bus service. We think this year’s group has the ability to make us proud — we encourage them to take more risks next semester.
Presidential Search Committee — A-
It feels unnatural to applaud any official body at this school for its transparency, but this council has truly been a refreshing exception to a long-followed rule. On top of keeping the process moving at a very reasonable pace, the people in charge of this process have gone out of their way to incorporate those who will be most affected by its eventual choice — students and faculty. Some candidates actually backed out because the process was too transparent for them.
Physical Facilities — B
Though we can’t complain about the response to the water main burst that flooded or damaged Science III, IV and the Science Library, the fact of the matter is that Physical Facilities should never have had to respond to a flood in the first place. The pipe was decades old and it most likely broke due to stress. We understand that they may not have the resources to fix everything, but when a maintenance problem becomes an academic and economic one — months of research was destroyed in the process — we have to wonder if there’s anything that could have been done differently, whether here or in the budget allocation process.
Albany, as always — F
In most cases, lame duck refers to the short period of time after elections and before inauguration. In this special case, it’s a suitable term for the New York Legislature in its entirety and SUNY’s been left in the dust along with everything else. We suppose it’s possible that the Cuomo administration could make a difference, but we doubt it.