Tan, Pui: President

If I were president of SAU, I would make some immediate changes to the university. I would like to say I would build an underground subway system, one that’s not too complex, that links directly to McDonald’s (and possibly, if God permits, Walmart) but alas, the state department will never allow it to pass, let alone fund it. So in all seriousness, I will not build an underground subway system, even though it would create an exponential increase in future student enrollment at SAU and would also bring tremendous and overwhelming joy to all current students of SAU.

Instead, I would do what any sensible university president would do—improve what I can improve instead of building a $200 million underground private transportation system. First off, I would eliminate mandatory class attendance after a student’s freshman year. In other words, sophomores, juniors, and seniors will be exempted from the usual mandatory “come or have your points taken away” attendance policy. A student fresh out of high school would not know what to expect in a university setting and therefore should not be given the choice of attending classes or not. After the students’ freshmen year however, they should possess enough maturity and common sense to know what’s better for them, educationally speaking. If students takes advantage of the no-attendance policy and skip out on all their classes and end up failing all their subjects, I would slap a warning on their foreheads and prepare myself to kick them out of the university if they do not heed the warning given. After all, SAU is a university that prepares student for the real world. I would gladly say to the students, “You want this degree? I’m not going to hand it to you on a silver platter; come get it.”

Another thing I would change is the cafeteria’s menu. No, scratch that; the menu is fine—it’s the quality I’d change. I would hire someone with actual qualifications in culinary and/or nutrition to oversee the cooking process. I would limit the amount of sodium chloride used in any of the dishes and require the cooks to taste their own cooking; sanitarily, of course. I’d put in more diverse dishes into the everyday menu—dishes from all over the world. I’d make sure there would be a place to make your own coffee and hot chocolate, complete with whipped cream, marshmallows and the works. But of course, all these additions to the cafeteria sound pretty hefty on the school’s budget. To counter that, I would create a new rule regarding food wastage in the cafeteria. Students will be penalized for any unfinished leftovers on their plates. The amount of food leftover must not be more than a quarter of the plate. This will help curb food wastage and in turn save money and the environment. 

There are many things that can be done to make SAU better and these are just two of the many things I would do if I were the president of SAU.