New building for Honors College

IndianPwnerDude
Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:25:19 +0000

And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the new $12 million police station is much more in response to the regular student body than the nerds in the Honors College.

So I think the rest of the students are being taken care of.



Certainly sounds like a very statement though I don’t completely disagree with it. The police station is to help ensure everybody’s safety and it benefits honors students as much as it benefits everybody else. And the majority of regular students do not engage in criminal activity either.

I personally feel the mission of an honors college should be to supplement the education of better students. With just nine extra classrooms (at a huge cost), I don’t know how good a job it does.

Certainly attracting better students is a useful goal and this may contribute towards that end by associating exclusivity to the Honors program. But it would also alienate other students who are paying tuition money towards a facility that is not open to them. Also, it reduces social and academic interaction between honors and non-honors students, which does harm to both groups.



I have no problem with the best and brightest students being given extras or other incentives to get them to attend UMass. IMO, they don’t do enough, especially compared to some of the southern schools. And really, the barrier to get into the Commonwealth College is not that high, pretty much anyone who is willing to work for it can get in.



I agree that the bar isn’t too high. But I think bigger scholarships, study-abroad programs, and funding for undergrad research would be a better incentive, especially in this economy. Being admitted to Commonwealth College did not play a major role in my college choice. A scholarship, on the other hand, would have probably made me decide to attend UMass and would cost less money to fund as well. Improving academics and renovating buildings that everybody uses would be in my opinion a superior way to spend the money.