PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS AGHAST AT SEGMENTS TITLED ‘LATE TO LECTURE’ AND ‘CAN’T WORK A COMPUTER’
The University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) debuted a new program, the Professor-Student Simulator, as a mainstay to the scheduled 101 Week events. The program was developed over the summer and was designed to foster mutual understanding between students and professors.
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the event,” said Leight Waurk, a third-year Communications student, “but when they simulated a professor not responding to a late night request for an extension, I was really blown away.”
The new program features several actors simulating scenarios such as professors losing a student’s exam and a student hosting a live-stream at the back of the lecture hall.
Although hopes remain that the program will foster tighter connections throughout the university body, some controversy has arisen as a result of the depiction of particular issues faced by professors.
“Okay” said Professor Oldmen, who has been teaching philosophy at the university since the departure of the previous head of the department, Professor Aris Totle, “I understand that the actors are meant to help us, I do, but sometimes it really is that easy to lose an exam! All of it looks like junk paper anyways, have you seen the handwriting on it?”
In light of complaints, UOSU put out a statement saying, “We see you and we hear you. Our program was, and continues to be, and wants to be, and needs to be, and should be, and could be, and would be – an experience to bond us all together at the U of O. We have given additional scripts to actors to better depict the struggles professors face dealing with students.”
With the new script changes yet to be seen, students on the ground provided the first glance into the new direction of the program.
An anonymous sixth-year student claimed that the program had “actually failed in capturing how bad it was between students and professors” and that “I’ve had a professor try to throw a student’s work out the window, which is just impossible to perform.”
The program is still undergoing modifications, with UOSU teasing new experiences to come by the end of 101 Week, such as seeing your professor on Hinge or marking one of your papers clearly written by ChatGPT.
