Multiple ideas merged. Here's how I merged them.
TITLE OF MERGED IDEA:
Description of merged idea.

PREVENT NURSING STUDENTS FROM BEING RESTRICTED FROM COLLEGE CLASSES:
As of currently, the school of nursing is restricted from registering for classes on sis with the academic group description being College & Graduate Arts & Sciences. Some examples of these classes would be Psychology and Languages. Being a double major for psychology and nursing, I see first hand how greatly this impacts us because by the time that we can sign up for College classes, they are filled. This prevents nursing students from meeting their required general education classes for social sciences and other like courses while we still have flexibility in our schedule Some people may even be prevented taking on another major or minor. This has affected many students in the school of nursing and we would like to get this fixed so that we can sign up for them before they are all full for the coming semester.

ALLOW ENGINEERING STUDENTS INTO COLLEGE HUMANITIES CLASSES!:
The STS classes in the Engineering School are not enough to create a well rounded education for engineers. It is really difficult for engineers to get into Anthropology, Psychology, Economics and Language classes, but it is really important for engineers to broaden their education so that we can broaden our perspectives, which will come into play when applying our engineering education!

CURRY STUDENTS ALSO HAVE A RESTRICTION ON CLAS CLASSES
There has already been a concern raised about Nursing, SEAS, and Architecture students being restricted from CLAS classes, like psychology courses, and I've found that this also applies to Curry students. Can we merge this topic with the already existing one?

(Merged and edited by Klaus Dollhopf, Academic Affairs; nmd3ey@virginia.edu; 4/25/12.
Curry merged on 4/26. Klaus Dollhopf)

Housing at UVA is literally a joke. I have personally had (as well as have had countless students' accounts) so many problems with housing. My biggest concern is the amount of noise due to maintenance and construction on grounds. Why is it necessary to jackhammer the sidewalk at 9 am? I understand that some maintenance is of emergency status and cannot be avoided. However, when housing is using a loud machine to rip bush roots out of the ground in front of my building in order to put down grass so early? Not necessary. Especially during exam time. If we have to have adhere to quiet hours, so should housing. College students need our sleep!

The two-semester survey course that engineering students have to sit through is unacceptably poor. The class demonstrations often fail and the professors are sometimes unable to solve their own example problems. Lecture attendance is mandatory via clicker questions -- which wastes time better put towards studying the material independently. The department appears to be running on its own steam, as the professors and their courses do not change year-to-year. Whatever feedback the department is receiving is clearly ineffective. The reputation for poor teaching and abysmally low-quality instruction is not something I would like to see continue, much less fund with my tuition. Perhaps recent interests in promoting STEM education should start with the weakest link.

Second semester of my second year...I learn about this online blog/ bulletin. I should've looked into this sooner!

Anyways, it's the end of the year and they're finally going to complete the renovation in Lambeth. But honestly, why did I have to pay the same amount as those living in brand new apartments with new furniture, new shower curtains that aren't nasty looking, a new stove, new carpet, etc. so unfair!! Am I right? Same thing for first years...I lived in Mccormick with no elevator to haul my heavy fridge into my dorm and out of my dorm... stink bugs and cockroaches in my rooms, and no AC the first blazing hot month of school. Yet I paid the same amount as my friends living royally in the hotel-like Kellogg dorms.

I think all this is totally unfair and something should be done!!

Who's with me?!

Computing IDs? What? Why not just your name (e.g., jonathansmith@virginia.edu)? Currently, if I want to email someone, I either, 1) have to try and remember their esoteric computing ID or 2) have to search their name on UVa People Search, which will lead me to their computing ID. Ok, if I wanted to spam someone, I could easily find their email anyways, so why not just make one's name their email address? And don't give me that rebuttal that you can create some alias with @email.virginia.edu. Let's be more professional, like the countless other universities that just use students' names as their email. Trust me, simply writing one's name, followed by @virginia.edu, will save time, look more professional when applying for jobs and communicating outside the UVa "bubble", and facilitate communication within all facets of the University.

Back in March I enrolled in McIntire for the Fall 2012 semester understanding fully that I would be paying an additional $3000 a year in tuition.

Two days ago, I received a notice that the Board of Visitors decided to increase tuition by another $1000 dollars.

That's roughly one and a half months after I accepted my spot.
Can someone please explain to me how it's fair to take advantage of students who are already emotionally and financially invested in a degree, and then raise their tuition for the following semester with no advance notice? I am at a loss. The way this was handled by the Board of Visitors is downright wrong.

I'm not arguing against the tuition increase (I obviously don't like it, and I disagree with some of their reasoning, but that's not the point). The point I'm making is that, in principle, the Board could very well have raised tuition by another $5000--and we could have done nothing about it.

Clearly, they are not thinking about us--they are thinking about the bottom line, and in doing so they have forgotten that they have a responsibility to keep their processes transparent so that unjustifiable situations like this don't come out of the blue.

For those who think that this isn't relevant to them, I dare you not to pay attention to the changing cost structures at UVA. Look at the Board's latest meeting--you will see the word "increase" written everywhere and targeting very specific programs.

I've found it EXTREMELY difficult to get dependable wireless coverage in many areas of campus. Even in my dorm (in the Mccormick area), the internet often crashes or is extremely slow. I am unable to video chat and that impedes my ability to catch up with my friends and family back home! In the chemistry building today, too, my internet crashed and I was unable to check emails for a meeting I had scheduled. I understand that it takes a lot of bandwidth to support video chatting and web mail, but if I'm paying so much for tuition and fees, I expect to have reliable internet access.

In the last few weeks and months, there has been a surge in vandalism in the Lambeth parking lot.

Confirmed events include:
Spray-painting of the sides and windows of cars (Including mine).
Smashing of windows and mirrors.
And the most recent one: A STOLEN CAR.

If windows can be smashed and ENTIRE CARS STOLEN, then what is to say our actual safety is not in peril? These are no longer stolen bike issues, these are dramatic holes in security that are unacceptable. How safe can a young woman feel coming home in the middle of the night, when certainly stealing an entire car must be more difficult than kidnapping a woman.

Last year especially with the rash of "Forcible fondling" UVA police sent out statements regularly to alert the community. NOT ONCE has an official beyond our lambeth RA's made any statement of acknowledgement! When these events were occurring, entire bluephone stations were installed to protect us! Yet not one thing has been done beyond filing a report on this rash of very, very expensive vandalism.

The most popular solution seems to be installing a set of surveillance cameras in the parking lot. *According to the RA's* the UVa police have dismissed this option repeatedly. Why? Cost? A set of 5 security cameras which record 24/7 (or for any period necessary) can be installed by one person for less than $500. Do they claim that someone must monitor them the whole time? I say no. Record 24/7, keep the recordings for a month, and simply review what needs to be reviewed whenever an incident occurs. Post a sign that the lot is being recorded. Suddenly, no more vandalism, no more illegal parking, and a HUGE INCREASE IN SAFETY to vulnerable students. No additional paid personnel are needed, as the footage can just be reviewed by the police when necessary.

And is this nominal cost outrageous for a university who pulls in millions of dollars on tuition, has hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank? Maybe. But lets focus on the funds that are raised by the parking pass sales: at $400 a pass, and lets take the very low estimate of 250 passes sold, thats $100 grand a year. Regardless of this being the rip-off it is, that's a whole lot of money that could go towards a fairly inexpensive security measure.

But wait! The UVa police still denies there being an upturn in vandalism to necessitate more security measures. Then, are they to say that in every semester pass there has been half a dozen cars spraypainted, several smashed windows and a stolen car? If this is not their statement, then they are lying outright.

I challenge the UVa police to step up their game in moderate security measures and do what is necessary to keep us and our possessions reasonably secure, as is necessitated by the enormous fees they levy for our studies, living, and parking. I challenge the Student Council to put pressure on the entities who need to be pressured, the Chief of Secuirty at the University and the President. If they care not of our safety, shame.