We here at the Spectator are many things: journalists, photographers, graphic designers, and editors.  But above all else, we are students.  As students of this university we want the highest quality of education that our steadily increasing tuition can buy.

With this in mind, what parameters determine the quality of a college degree?  Is it the sports team or the amount of alumni donating to the university? The answer is neither.  The Spectator staff would like to assert the idea that students are the yardstick with which the height of quality, higher education is measured.

If this is the case, then the quality of a student can only go as high as the quality of the professor administering the material.  In short, your college degree is only as good as the professors who prepare you for it.

Unless you have been under a rock for the past few months, you should be aware of the financial struggles that led to 31 faculty and staff layoffs.  As students who want the best education possible, this should outrage every one of us.  The university is essentially cheapening our degrees when they decide to cut professors as opposed to million dollar aesthetic renovations.

VSU has a beautiful campus. We get it.  However, future employers don’t care about how great the bathrooms look, or how well maintained the front lawn is.  Future employers want competent graduates molded by capable educators.  Your competency as a graduate is largely dependent upon how well your professors prepared you for the job market.

So with that being said, students need to realize just how integral professors are to their individual learning experience.  We are a product of their collective work, and it is up to us to decide the quality of that product.