<p>I heard this phrase often but I dont know what it really means</p>
<p>red tape anywhere means that it is difficult to get things done for bureaucratic reasons. maybe you have to go to a bunch of different offices, deal with seemingly arbitrary rules, or go through a lot of paperwork. I guess when people feel this is their experience at Cornell then it is “Big Red tape.” here is a recent example: [Cutting</a> the Big Red Tape | The Cornell Daily Sun](<a href=“http://cornellsun.com/section/opinion/content/2010/01/28/cutting-big-red-tape]Cutting”>http://cornellsun.com/section/opinion/content/2010/01/28/cutting-big-red-tape)</p>
<p>I think it’s kind of exaggerated. It may be that you have to go around to get something done, but if you talk to the right people, you can get away with just about anything. For example, I took a summer course for transfer credit here. I know certain professors are very particular about the course requirements to get credit, so I specifically talked to the one whose teaching style aligned with the other class I took, and got credit for it.</p>
<p>Yeah. I don’t think it’s all that bureaucratic either. You do need to read and understand and follow the rules, however. That’s something that some students apparently don’t have the time for.</p>
<p>Other students complain about Cornell nickel-ing and dime-ing them, but I don’t know if that is necessarily true either. Granted, you have to pay for the bus pass or a fitness center pass, but not every student would use these, so it would have been silly to make me pay for part of these as part of my tuition when I never used them.</p>