"Since its inception in 2007, there has been a divide among faculty, students and staff over College Hour.
"The theory behind College Hour makes sense. As Associate Provost Rameen Mohammadi pointed out in this week’s story, it gives commuters the opportunity to attend programs without driving back and forth to campus. It also provides a universal set time for lectures and other educational programming.
"But theory is different from practice.
"While some students are genuinely interested and go to programs propelled only by their own curiosity, most of the faces you see in College Hour audiences are sullen and cast downward in a listless despair. That is because the overwhelming majority of students attending programs have been forced to be there, either as extra credit or as part of class assignment they’d rather not be doing.
"And the students who go to programs, coerced or otherwise, are only a small portion of the total number of students on campus on any given Wednesday. The vast majority divide their time between napping, eating and, if they’re feeling uncommonly industrious, doing homework. So what do we receive from the College hour policy? The chief result has been congested dining halls, upset commuters and confusing schedules. Not to mention the headache of a debate over its very existence that has been carrying on since it started. If Oswego State wanted to implement a weekly siesta they couldn’t hope for a better result than what they are already getting with College Hour.
"Some people are College Hour apologetics. In all of its iterations, they formulate an excuse as to why it has not yet succeeded. Some say its is because of the of the awkward time slot. The truth is that no time would ever be less awkward. If you slash an hour out of the middle of the day it will obviously create some problems.
"Anyone who has attended a Faculty Assembly meeting in the past two years has seen the divide it has caused among faculty members. First among many concerns is that it interferes with their scheduling of labs. In the end, the 21-17 vote that ended College Hour reflects these views.
"Throughout the past two years multiple suggestions have been made to modify or change the time of College Hour in order to preserve it. The Student Association itself wrestled with this issue, first working to preserve college hour at a different time, then advocating for its demise after even their plan failed the next semester.
"Thankfully, as Mohammadi said in this week’s edition, College Hour has been indefinitely canceled starting this spring. Mohammadi said that the decision was partly made because of the start of the construction on campus. It’s been said that we all have to make sacrifices for construction, but forgoing College Hour will be no hardship. The Oswegonian feels this is a reasonable ending to a long, troubled chapter. So to College Hour, good bye. And good riddance.
"
