The student advising demand at the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication at the University of Houston exceeds current capacity of its resources. As of the Fall 2013 semester, there are only three advisors to meet the needs of 2,100 students—much too great a number to manage for ongoing enrollment deadlines. As students, we seek to exemplify the richness and excellence of character promoted by a “Tier One University”; however, such an advising oversight hinders our ability to do so faithfully. Under the current advising system, students must arrive at the School earlier than 6 a.m. in order to receive guaranteed mandatory advising. Many students arrive early every day, only to be told they must wake up earlier. Even if a morning walk-in appointment is secured, students may wait up to four hours to be seen by an advisor. On Fridays at 8 a.m., afternoon appointments made for the few weekly appointments online are filled in less than two minutes. This places an unreasonable amount of responsibility and uncertainty on the student. These issues place an undue burden on our current advisors, who work tirelessly to provide assistance, but are limited by this lack of personnel support. As signatories of this petition, we seek resolution of this pressing issue, and ask for the addition of more advisors at the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication. This addition, even if temporary, would more reasonably accommodate its students and current advisors.

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