No one ever said being a student was easy, but as with most things in life, the devil lurks in the details?the little things you forgot or didn’t know to worry about when planning out your life this semester. Campus life comes with irritations in all shapes, sizes and afflictions. Some can be fixed; others arise from complex, immutable sources.

Neighbors don’t want cars drawn by the nearby commuter campus on their streets. New buildings eat up ground, but green space holds its ground. Meanwhile, enrollment grows.

And there, in a nutshell, you have parking at the state’s flagship university.

Or, on the other end of the scale, the U card office could just invest in making higher quality IDs instead of reprinting my ugly, green tinged photo every six months.

Either way, the Chrony wants to know what’s driving you nuts. And for those of a constructive mindset, solutions would be nice.

Here’s one of my gripes:

The process leading to graduation is stressful enough, without the extra bureaucratic confusion.

After six years, and no shortage of delays, I hope to pick up my diploma and step out into much-talked-about “real world” this May. After frequent and productive meetings with my academic adviser, I felt confident that I would be on my way shortly.

I filed for graduation.

I waited almost two months. I received an official DARS report in the mail.

Gen eds, or for the quarter system girl that I am, the Lib eds, looked good. The problems came with my biology major requirements.

Despite what the report indicated, I don’t think my summer intensive physics course was a figment of my imagination. And I’m not so sure why I took all those courses if they did not fulfill my core requirements.

In true journalist fashion, I had delayed finalizing my graduation plans until the last minute?the same semester I was supposed to receive my diploma. With so many NO’s filling my DARS report, it looked as if I had another two semesters ahead of me.

As instructed by a hand written note on the DARS, I called the department.

Don’t worry, I was told. It seems the Office of the Registrar really has no idea what’s going on with departmental requirements.

I scheduled a meeting with my adviser anyway. He performed equations with my credit hours to verify, that yes, I was good to graduate.

In retrospect, it seems the process could be streamlined?I’m not sure why I even had to file for graduation with the registrar. At least they don’t make us pay anymore.

Send your gripes to: [email protected]