A letter to the editor: Where are our academic planners?

I am extremely disappointed with the university's decision to stop providing academic planners to students this year.

When I received an email over the summer notifying me that the student handbook would now be available only in an online format, I didn't realize that planners would not be distributed as a result.

This decision is a hindrance to my academic success, and I hope my fellow students will stand with me in opposing it.

I applaud the university's efforts to go green, but such environmentally conscious initiatives should not be undertaken at the expense of what has become an academic and organizational necessity for myself and so many other students.

For the past three years, my academic life has revolved around my planner and its easy-to-use format--nothing offered in stores works quite as well.

It has become a fixture in my college career, a small but much-appreciated reminder of the university's commitment to my academic success.

If the university thinks that it can save money or appease environmental regulators by nixing planners, they have grossly overlooked the wide range of benefits that the notebooks have provided to countless students over the years.

I sincerely hope that the University of Richmond will reconsider its decision and provide even rudimentary assignment books--we don't need anything fancy or glossy--to the students who want and need them.

And I hope that my fellow students will not remain quiet about this decision.

If you feel your academic career will suffer as a result, please make your voices heard to your professors and the deans.