Staff Rants are back and they are here to stay! Check in every Tuesday to see what our staff is complaining about. This week, it seems that our staff is fed up with the student experience here at NYU, as well as the absence of athlete-themed beverages.

On Lab Fees:

While I wish studio art lab fees didn’t exist at all, I can understand them for sculpture, drawing, painting and other art classes that provide materials — but design class is where I draw the line. My first year, I sat in a computer lab that is technically accessible to all NYU students, trying to convince myself that the extra money was worth it, but instead felt Andy Hamilton laughing at me for being such a fool with each dollar that left my bank account. Yes, the computers in the lab had the Adobe Creative Suite, but for $250 a semester I say that is not enough. At this point in my college career, I have taken three studio art classes which have amounted to $750 in lab fees. NYU estimates yearly expenses as a student to be about $72,900. Is that not enough? What will ever be enough NYU? Does the university really need my extra $750? Where do we draw the line? At least throw in the Adobe Creative Suite on my personal computer to make me feel better and make it easier to do my homework so I’m not paying $250 for nothing.

— Rachel Buigas-Lopez, Creative Director

On Recitations:

I do not believe that there is a less productive way I could spend my Friday than being in recitation. While some students need these extra sessions in order to understand the key concepts outlined in lecture style classes, others find the sessions to be redundant and a waste of time. In recitation, we view almost the exact same slideshow that we saw during class, while the teaching assistant gives an often less complete explanation of the material. I understand that having TAs and break out sessions is beneficial for grading assignments and providing extra help, however making recitations mandatory as part of a students’ participation grade is cruel. Rather than sitting in a hot, overpacked classroom where I get lulled to sleep by my dull TA, I could be doing anything. I could be training for a marathon, or catching up on sleep. But, no, I have to waste my Friday mornings on brain-numbing recitations.

— Tyler Crews, Opinion Editor

On Overachieving Students:

I’m sick of the mindset so prevalent among NYU students that you can’t JUST be a student while you’re here — you have to be in a ton of clubs, work an internship and maybe fly to the moon every single semester. As long as you’re spread as thin as possible, you’re “succeeding.” And I’m 100 percent guilty of having this mindset too; I always feel like I’m not making the most of being a student here if I’m not doing everything humanly possible to optimize my time. But we’re not supposed to be machines, and it’s kind of insane to think that so many students here are involved in so many different things that they essentially have 40+ hour workweeks. We’re, like, 20 years old! I totally understand wanting to get a head start on your career and gain as many new experiences as possible, but I constantly wonder if I’ll look back on my college years as a period of personal and intellectual growth or a period of trying to jumpstart the rest of my life to the point that I didn’t even have time for myself.

— Natasha Roy, Managing Editor-at-Large

On NBA-themed Kombucha:

It is a disservice to the greater good of the American people that AriZona Beverages has not created a brand of NBA-themed kombucha called “Scoby Bryant.” I really enjoyed Soda Shaq while that was still available, but it’s been a dead product since 2015 and I don’t see Arizona doing anything to further their brand. Kobe Bryant just won an Oscar and kombucha is a hot drink with yuppie Brooklyn-ites: it’s a perfect business plan and an even more perfect pun.

— Tom Miritello, Audio Engineer

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