UH should consider improving services

The University of Houston’s smiling banners and website tell me we’re Tier One. And, with overflowing Cougar spirit, I am more than ready to believe and accept that fact.

The added respect and prestige is a bonus that any Cougar could appreciate, and it increases the University’s good qualities. We have a clean and beautiful campus, a state of the art recreational center, a myriad of dining choices and we are the second most racially diverse university in the nation. But of course, we don’t stop at what we have achieved because, there is always more to be done for a Tier One university — like the little things.

However, there are many aspects of university life that students, with all the positives in mind, have seen as a source of anguish for many years. PeopleSoft is among them. It is clunky, visually unappealing, poorly designed and more than one student has found themselves angry after forgetting their password — a password that changes at what seems a minute-to-minute basis.

UH websites are consistent. The University’s poor design choices extend to many of its online resources. On the bright side, no honest student can complain about the efficiency of the University’s payment system. Handling business online, while annoying at times, is no doubt better than waiting in long, spirit-oppressing lines to handle another mistake made concerning your financial aid. And, it is much less stressful then searching for parking after 9 a.m. Waiting sometimes weeks for error corrections is an art in which many UH students can proudly profess to be masters.

The elephant on campus is the unavoidable crime, in which our best efforts are put forth to mitigate. The weekly crime reports promise variety, from the odd to the violent, the misdemeanor to the felony, the car robbery to the dorm break-in, and normal to the perverse.

The criticisms of our Tier One university have, for some, grown tiresome and pointless. But the constant criticisms are not without merit, and there are problems that many students are aware of.

This is only the case because most of the criticisms have been unanswered, mildly addressed or led to unsatisfactory results. It is only reasonable to expect higher tuition fees that properly reflect our new status, but it would very nice if it went to fixing the little things.

Marcus Smith is a creative writing sophomore and may be reached at [email protected].