Having tolerated administrative indifference and funding politics all through my time in public schooling, I (and my fellow petitioners; see below signatures) thought that I might get a break from it in college-- a place where, in order to continue attending, I must shell out more money than I have ever spent on any one thing in my life per semester. To me, it seemed that school would cease being a required institution and would instead become something of a business; surely student satisfaction should be a (if not the) top priority.

Unfortunately, I have found this to not be the case here at USF, and I am sure that my fellow students, preceding alumni, and even students at other public colleges have all had to deal with the hair-pulling, teeth-grinding, blood-pressure-raising experience that is attempting to get anything done administratively at college. At times it can feel like being bounced around in a pinball machine designed to rob you of your precious quarters while at the same time making the experience that is college as muddled and frustrating as possible.

After wasting far too much time and energy trying to beat this metaphorical pinball game (the breaking point came today, when I was shunted to three different departments only to finally be told that there was nothing that could be done), I have decided that enough is enough. That is why I have drafted this petition, which calls for sweeping reform not just at USF but at all Florida public colleges. In short, we, the undersigned, would like a centralized, easy-to-use system for paying fees, ordering books, and signing up for classes at our college, among other things. We would like there to be one department for dealing with things such as this. We would like for the people in said department to be well-educated and trained in whatever position it is they hold.

If this is not possible, we would like a similar system on the Internet (Blackboard, OASIS and the like does not count, because Id hardly call that system easy-to-use), so that, at the very least, we can solve our own problems with ease and efficiency rather than having to wait for others to half-attempt to solve them for us. We would like for this system to be constantly maintained and updated, and we would like it to rarely (if ever) go offline due to server traffic. (After all, USF at least has a current student base of 45,000; traffic should be expected.)

Please understand that I truly think USF is a wonderful school, though I cant speak for my fellow petitioners. I love it here, and I would love to stay here throughout my college education. That said, if USF were a more traditional place of business, such as a store or restaurant, I would have walked out and never come back by now with service this poor.

Please dont frustrate us to that point by ignoring us now.