Customer service not available

I made the mistake of getting on campus early last Friday, December 1, in hope of going to the Academic Advising office and getting a few questions answered about a lingering GE requirement that popped up on my grad check.

The office notice, which appears in the "Helping the Student" section of the Spring 2001 Schedule of Classes, said the office was open on Friday's from 9-12 for all the students' advising needs. Unfortunately, that is not what I found to be the case.

Posted on the office door, no small hike from parking lot 14 where I park, was a sign saying that the office would not be seeing any walk-in students that day.

Walk-in students? I referred to that handy ad in the schedule of classes again and nothing there said anything about making an appointment.

Three, yes three, very nice ladies were there at the reception desk to greet me and tell me that the office was understaffed that Friday due to sick calls and only appointments would be seen. When I asked if it was required that I make an appointment and where it stated that, my question was politely deflected with the non-answer that appointments guarantee me a spot with an advisor, but I could always wait. If someone failed to show up for a scheduled appointment, the advisor might be able to squeeze me in.

I glanced around the office and still saw no sign informing me that an appointment was necessary, but to go along with the program I asked when the next available appointment was. This time the answer was very direct-December 13 had a few slots and the 14th was wide open.

Two weeks away and well into finals I can imagine the appointment calendar was fairly free, but then again, I wasn't.

I was told I could make an appointment, but in the hope of being seen sooner, I could come in every day and see if I could get one of those coveted "squeeze me in" meetings if I wanted. Then they quickly reminded me that I might not get a full session as students with appointments come first.

Mark Blackburn

I went away with no appointment, unadvised and extremely upset.

In order to get advisement for a class I have to take next year, I can either skip a class I am taking this semester or be late to the job I have to pay for the classes. Where is the logic? Especially with that new and tighter attendance policy being considered and fees going up, I can't skip class, can't skip work and can't get an answer to my question.

Cal State Long Beach should be run like any business, with the students as paying customers. We should be offered services such as night and weekend hours, not this banker's hours crap that many offices gets away with. Hell, even banks don't follow bankers hours anymore, yet here at CSULB, the administration clings to the idea that the student should work their schedule to fit the universities, not the other way around. No wonder it takes six years minimum to get out of here.

If appointments are required, put that in the ad in the schedule of classes, and if the offices are not supposed to be taking appointments, then either make them stop or change the damn policy. Answer to the students, your paying customers, and ask them what they want.

After eight years, two degrees, and however many hundreds of thousands of dollars I have given to this school, I shouldn't have to make an appointment to be advised. The college should be calling me and asking me if I want to be in the Master's Program, not the other way around. Why not make user-friendly hours for the students, open more then one advising office on campus and give us working slobs a break and open on the weekends?

And as for that alumni donation, I have the same response for the school as I got when I called about one of my diploma's -- "Don't worry, it's in the mail."

Mark Blackburn is a criminal justice and photojournalism major at Cal State Long Beach.

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