His first paragraph encompassed succulent observations he made of the weekend’s festivities. He states that college is an “otherworldly” time in a person’s life, and “under these conditions, it should surprise no one that students are taking longer and longer to graduate.” He goes on to bring up points, however, that blames both students and the university as an institution for the longer graduation time. From summer courses to various types of internships, Hokans contemplates the issue from a multitude of facets. Despite all of the provocative thoughts he raises, he ends with bringing his piece full circle: “green beer” and the weekend’s celebrations. I agree that students should take initiative and seize the reins of their education by meeting with advisers, taking reasonable credit loads, attending career fairs, etc.

I also agree that the university needs to better educate students in how to take charge of their college degrees and how to ensure they are making adequate progress in a good time frame. Hokans, however, voids all of the great points he makes at the beginning of the column by saying, due to the social culture on campus, it’s no surprise people want to take longer to graduate. If it’s no surprise, then what’s the point of the rest of the column? One weekend of celebration, and students are accused of not taking their degrees seriously.

Although I understand and agree with many of his points, I feel celebration on St. Patrick’s Day weekend should not be a marker in assessing the severity of students’ dedication to their degrees. I wonder if the weekend before finals week — which I’m going to throw a wild guess and say the social scene is a lot more subdued due to student exam preparation — would remind Hokans of the same issue.

Vikram Mandelia, mechanical engineering and English sophomore