I drove onto campus on a gorgeous, sunny afternoon juiced because I actually found a spot, and I avoided all the people who drive around aimlessly, acting like they’ve never seen a stop sign before.

After I paid for my $5 parking permit, which is a whole other issue on its own, I proceeded to walk to my lecture hall pretty excited about my class. I walked into class and noticed that the 120-seat room is holding well over 150 students.

I expect students to add on the first day, but when it’s this ridiculous, I get a bit worried. Classes have been impacted for many years here at Sacramento State. The way I always thought it worked was the cardinal rule of first come, first serve.

Arriving 15 minutes before class started, thinking I was cool and early to class, did not help at all in this situation. I was forced to sit on the ground with about 20 other students. When the professor asked who was trying to add the class, about 45 students raised their hands eagerly. This made me, along with the rest of the 20 students sitting on the floor quite, pissed. If we are registered in the class and our names are on the roll sheet, why should the students who are not even registered get a seat before any of us? This is where fairness is not practiced. I once had a professor who had all the students who were not registered give their seat up to the ones who were registered in the class. It’s only fair because those students are actually in the class and are not waiting and hoping to be added in. Some professors do have their own way of being fair when it comes to adding students in their class.

“I allow graduating seniors into my classes first,” said Robert Humphrey, professor of communications. “If I have an excess number of students, then I put their names in a hat and it’s drawn by lottery. I think that’s the fairest way.”

Tolerating a system is the only way I think is fair when it comes to students and their classes. Sitting on the floor for an hour and 15 minutes was not pleasant. We were fidgeting after about 13 minutes and couldn’t find a comfortable position anywhere on the hard, dirty floor. Quickly we became floor buddies and were keen on booting out those in our registered seats. We shook our heads in disbelief wondering what the hell we were going to do for the next hour and two minutes when our legs and asses were both asleep. Getting up was going to be a problem.

The thing that makes me more upset than anything is not the fact that those not added in the class were occupying the seats; it’s the fact that more than half of those students are probably going to drop out of the class in the next week or two anyway. So why disadvantage those who are actually going to stay in the class and are really trying to add the class in hopes of staying the entire semester?

Call me rude, crazy or complain that I should have been to class earlier if I wanted a seat, but the fact of the matter is, I shouldn’t have to inconvenience myself so someone who isn’t even enrolled in the class can get comfortable in a seat that doesn’t rightly belong to them. Priority should go to those who are registered in the class, and if there are extra seats, it should be first come, first serve. That’s my opinion, and if you don’t like it, get up out of my seat and find another class to add.

Rosa Pastran can be reached at [email protected]