Letter: Squawk succeeds in amusing

It's been doing this for longer than 4 years. It did this through my graduation in 2009 (and I was at SJU since 2005).

Dear reader,
Here is the link to the previous article.

http://www.sjuhawknews.com/ras-experience-internal-conflict-1.2669358

I wish that the original article had been posted online, because I unfortunately have no access to it and would've loved to have read it. I loved being an RA in the beginning, and then due to a lack of support from the Office of Residence Life and Community Standards, everything deteriorated and I was more than happy to part ways with my job, even though I loved my residents. The Office of Residence Life was one of the most ridiculous operations that I've had the misfortune of being a part of when I was an RA (for a couple of years, mind you, so I wasn't one of those people who quit after a day). They were in the habit of rewarding students with inexcusable behavior -- who negatively affected their neighbors' living experiences -- through enabling them with Community Standards with a slap on the wrist and trivial sanctions when harsher ones were needed at times. It was the Office of Residence Life who made it difficult to be an RA, and often gave no support to their RAs. They put RAs on my staff in terrible positions too frequently, and threatened to fire RAs on multiple occasions for absurdities.

Even after this article was posted, the creator consulted a "lawyer" and is going ahead with creating the database. Sincerely hope the administration does something to prevent this from happening. There is nothing "unique" or "special", as the creator puts it, about borrowing other students' ideas and claiming them as your own!

As an alumna of Saint Joseph's University and a firm believer in academic integrity, I was disappointed to see some of my peers attempting to create such a database. The creators of this group, and those who would have readily submitted their own work to others, evidently do not understand, nor value, the worth of their diplomas. Dr. McDevitt says it best: "If it is based on lies and dishonesty, then the diploma is not worth the paper it is written on." Hopefully this publication in The Hawk will now bring light to this issue of academic dishonesty on campus and showcase to students what *not* to do with their education. Not only are these students pissing away thousands in tuition just to "party" and have others do the difficult thinking for them, they are undermining their own individual minds and potential. What a sad thing. I know our University is better than this, and I hope these students reconsider their paths for their remaining years at SJU.