Ahh, The University of Alabama. Where legends are made, home of Crimson Tide football, and home of continuing issues that need to be fixed? UA is an amazing university that offers more than we can handle, but there’s still a few things that could be tweaked and added to the campus that would equally benefit everyone. I’ve discovered five things that UA could change to make the campus a happier place for everyone.
1. A Bagel Shop:
This is one thing that The University of Alabama does not have! Something similar to Einstein Bagel, or a nice mom and pop bagel shop with bomb coffee choices? That would be an amazing addition to the campus. Having this bagel shop in close proximity to The Ferguson Center would also be great because the shop could be a great place for meetings, studying, or just grabbing your favorite bacon, egg and cheese bagel on the way to your destination!
2. Parking:
Listen... every year we pray that they add some new parking options for students, but I swear our prayers are always overlooked because there are more options for faculty to park than enough parking to house the 38,000-40,000 students that attend this beautiful university. Simple. We need to have more access to parking via the zones that they allow us to park. Looking for a park on campus is almost like a hunt, constantly dashing and racing to beat someone to a park and when they take it? It’s time to start hunting... AGAIN. Hunting for parking is not fun nor is it pleasant when it makes you late for class.
*Prays 100x harder for better parking for the 10,000,000 time*
3. The CrimsonRide System:
Between whiplash and the time arrivals, the CrimsonRide system could use some work! I get tired of constantly being yanked back and forth on the bus with the abrupt stopping of waiting for pedestrians to pass or just coming to a complete stop, in general. As for the time arrivals? Yes, the Rider app is a blessing to have but the accuracy can be off.
*That moment when the bus says its 5 minutes away and 15 minutes have passed*
Lastly, when you’re walking from the parking lot to the bus stop, these bus drivers don’t even wait at least 2-3 minutes before pulling off. They will see a swarm of people trying to catch the bus and just pull off... and the next North Commuter is 15 minutes away... but class starts in 5 minutes #TheStruggle.
4. The Amount of $$ You Get at BuyBack:
The UA Supply Store is the ultimate Joanne The Scammer scheme when it comes to BuyBack at the end of the semester. We pay thousands of dollars for textbooks, only to get not even a fraction of the money back. One semester, I paid $700-800 for my books, and I only got about $60 back...
I was beyond shook. Shook isn’t even the word, not even shookedth.
I was just appalled by the amount of disrespect UA tried to pull on me...for the third year in a row. If one thing needs to change, it’s definitely THIS! Students should get back a percentage of what they paid for the books because not everyone has scholarships, grants, or financial aid. This money can come out of pocket for a lot of people.
5. Professors That Don’t Use Blackboard:
I have ample time today for professors that don’t use Blackboard. How...? How do you not use the one tool that has been bestowed upon us to make life easier? I will never understand why professors take the time to grade our assignments and then surprise us at the end of the semester with our grades... ON BLACKBOARD!!! It’s 100 times easier to grade our assignments, upload them to Blackboard, that way we can track our progress throughout the semester and ask questions when need be, instead of begging for extra credit assignments or being shook by our grades at the end of the semester.
All in all, The University of Alabama is a fine campus and I love what they have to offer, but there are some things that need to be changed and added to the campus that I think will help everyone all together.
