Irma Van Scoy, USC Connect’s executive director, said in a meeting Thursday evening that it’s the responsibility of students to make the most out of the college experience.
We agree.
That’s why we’re so befuddled by the $2.5 million program.
So far, the only tangible thing to come out of it is this “beyond the classroom” search engine. The idea behind that is flawed, and still would be even if it returned more than 250 results (an absolute joke when there are 30,000 of us at our Columbia campus alone). At its base level, it’s redundant.
The population of USC students who wish to seek these opportunities out have already found them through the numerous other informational outlets available to them on campus. Those who don’t wish to seek out these opportunities won’t all of a sudden want to just because Joe Smith, the overachiever whose face is on a USC Connect poster, did. And they certainly aren’t going to suddenly flock to a search engine and magically want to become involved.
The bottom line is this: USC Connect is not the reason successful students are successful — they would be without the help of USC Connect. No $2.5 million push is going to force other students to be successful. In a university already teeming with other resources to get involved, a pricey, ill-stocked search engine just doesn’t have a place.
More Like This
Column: The hypocrisy of protesting against free speech
By Ross Abbott | Nov. 10, 2015Column: Opinions worth having and considering
By Ben Crawford | Aug. 14, 2015