Student IDs identify you, allow you in certain campus buildings and provide you with discounts in assorted shops around Christopher Newport University. When a student loses their ID, they are stripped of all of these benefits and need to buy a new one. The price they must pay to do so is $25.
Rumor is that our University buys 100 blank cards for $5; so why are students charged so much?
A poll of 50 random students was conducted in the David Student Union this past week. The results demonstrated that having such high prices to buy an additional ID card may actually benefit students by encouraging them to not lose them. In the 50-student poll, 32 students had never lost their IDs while 18 students had lost their ID at least once and 10 had done it more than once.
When asked how they felt about the $25 charge for a new card, students wanted to know why they are charged so much
The information desk in the DSU refused to disclose information about the ID prices or the amount that the school pays for blank cards.
According to university faculty and staff, they too must pay for their lost IDs at $25.
Although ID pricing still remains a mystery, students and faculty agree that having such high prices subconsciously urges them not to misplace their IDs.
It has NOTHING to do with the price of the plastic. I lost a new ID I had but still had an old one (that I had lost and found again) that just wasn't activated. They reactivated my old card…and still charged me $25. And how the heck would high prices keep students from losing their cards?! No one loses anything on purpose!
This is news? This was worth print money? That having a high-priced ID discourages students from losing their IDs? I figured that out the moment I arrived here. I didn't need one of your "insightful" pieces to tell me this. Captain's Log, you're a terrible paper. You need to clean house. Your writers need to be vetted for grammar, syntax and writing ability. My HIGH SCHOOL paper had higher standards than this.
You are SUCH a lovely person.
Lovely or not, I believe he's quite right. This article is not news. It provides neither novel information nor a novel point of view. This piece can be summarized in one rather bland sentence: "IDs are expensive, and students don't want to misplace expensive IDs." Really? I'm honestly disappointed that newspaper space was devoted to an article like this. Then again, virtually content-free offerings aren't atypical for The Captain's Log, which often fails (admittedly, from my point of view) to provide timely, valuable, and interesting information. Why are there no articles about the meetings of University governing bodies? Why are there so few articles about changes to University policy? Why are there hardly any mentions of lectures, colloquia, or talks occurring on campus? All of these items are standard fare for university newspapers, and with very good reason. They are timely, pertinent to the student body and university employees, and inspire debate and action. Take a look at other university newspapers and you'll see a striking difference in content and quality.
I do believe that everyone should be able to voice their opinions. If someone wants to write about how students don't want to misplace IDs, that's fine. If someone wants to write an article that essentially says, "There are rumors that the contents of the recycling bins aren't recycled," without making an effort to look into the truth of said rumors, that's fine. But a newspaper is not the proper venue for such articles. Most newspapers aren't free-for-alls, which is why you can pick up any major newspaper and find that they aren't publishing articles about how people don't want to misplace their driver's licenses because losing your license is awfully inconvenient. They don't publish articles like that because articles like that aren't intellectually stimulating. Most newspapers publish content that is deemed to be of political, social, or intellectual interest.
I also agree with Juan's comment about grammar and writing ability. I certainly don't claim to have perfect grammar or wonderful writing skills, but I do my best to edit my writing and ensure that it is readable. I'm just not seeing similar efforts from the editors and writers who contribute to The Captain's Log. Every issue that I've picked up is riddled with misused punctuation, misused words, run-on sentences, and terrible grammar. I regularly come across sentences that are so ill-formed that I simply have no idea what the author wanted to convey. The grammar and punctuation problems are very serious, and they reflect badly on the capabilities of the student body. I believe that the paper's editors should review articles for grammar and flow before they're published. The editors should make suggestions to the authors about improving grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, and allow the authors opportunities to revise the articles before making a final submission. Unless I am mistaken, I believe that this is standard practice for most newspapers, including university newspapers.