Nanda: CampusGroups is in need of a refresh

Shivangi

Nanda Copy Editor

By now, most Case Western Reserve University students are used to the familiar CampusGroups icon on their lock screen, notifying them of an ID card gone astray, an upcoming movie showing in Strosacker auditorium or a biology textbook in need of a new home. If it wasn’t for Discover Week mayhem, I’m sure most of us wouldn’t have downloaded the app and considered its potential to help us connect with organizations, events and students on campus. However, following our initial excitement over the application’s ability to propel our college lives, we began to uncover imperfections in the system that led us to sideline its use. For those requiring a refresh, CampusGroups— launched in 2005 and used by 70% of the world’s top colleges—is a mobile platform that allows students to engage with their campus community through access to clubs, alumni and events. Created to encourage student engagement, this app offers various features, including a live feed, forums and group pages, tailored to making a space for students to network and seek out opportunities. However, despite developer Yorick Ser’s noble intentions, this app currently has certain, difficult to overlook, technological and design flaws that impede its ability to be a resource, rather than a burden, for students.

Among these issues are the poorly located features within the mobile app and an inscrutable user interface. For instance, with the QR code scanner being used as the primary method to sign into in-person events, it is inexplicably hidden within the “More” subsection. Navigating to this feature can be especially confusing for new users, and even once found the scanner does not load reliably. This frustrates both students and event coordinators in everyday use as it slows the registration process.

Another major hindrance is the layout of the “Events” section. Organized in a way that requires students to scroll through events listed in order of date, it is not uncommon for the page to get glitchy or crash. Especially during busy weeks, such as orientation or Greek Life rush, it can become tedious to find and register for activities on campus, causing some students to bypass the online registration process altogether. This leads to even more chaos on the event day. Additionally, the overly simple formatting can make it difficult to determine the intended audiences for events. Club and Greek Life meetings are often blended with campus-wide events, so separating them based on type would help students better iden- tify and register for events suited for them. A majority of the Greek Llife events posted on CampusGroups are open events, meaning anyone can attend, however this is not evident anywhere on the app.

A final design issue is in the details provided within the “Groups” section of the app. Used to find clubs on campus, this subsection lacks adequate information for each club. While there are options to access the club’s website and view the member roster, there is no direct access to an email or number to contact every club’s executive board directly. Only some clubs provide personal CWRU emails for their executive officers—it is not a requirement for all officers. Even the linked websites are often poorly edited templates with little content. For these reasons, when exploring clubs, we are left to rely on short descriptions in the details section of the group page, which often vary in length and quality.

While such shortcomings are vast, the app does succeed in offering a space for students to ask questions, sell items, find roommates and foster connections with other students. Furthermore, the CampusGroups feed is more reliable than online marketplaces such as Craigslist, giving students a sense of reassurance and comfort when reaching out. This, in turn, has created a small digital community, where students may shamelessly troll for used textbooks or iClickers. On a more serious note, this feed has offered students an affordable and safe way to access class resources and has even helped reunite some with lost IDs.

Evidently, for CampusGroups to continue to live up to its mission statement, it needs to make specific design changes to make features more accessible. Among these changes is a better club interface to provide descriptions and contact information. Also, the app should make regular updates to ensure that all new clubs are immediately added to the CampusGroups system. Lastly, finding a way to rework the method of searching and registering for events will encourage students to use this platform more often as a way to explore the campus and find things they are interested in. Overall, I think we can all agree that CampusGroups and platforms like it are a vital part of the community-building mission of college campuses around the world— especially CWRU. However, developers need to make it a more efficient platform that reflects the ideals of modern-day students and technology standards. Only then can it bolster its relevance and user base.

Men’s basketball win streak snapped by Emory, bounce back vs. Rochester

The Case Western Reserve University men’s basketball team, in the midst of a 12-game winning streak, entered this past weekend with high hopes as they hosted two conference opponents, Emory University and University of Rochester. Unfortunately, the Emory Eagles were willing to play spoiler on Friday and extinguished the Spartans, handing out an 80-70 defeat.

Emory’s team had a shaky start to the season, losing three of their first four games. They then went on to win eight of their next 10 games before heading to Cleveland for their first of two games against CWRU this conference season.

The game started out with plenty of back and forth and remained close until the Eagles went up 20-15 with a 3-pointer with 11:18 left in the first half. Thirdyear forward Cole Frilling nailed a jump shot to put CWRU within three, but the following CWRU timeout allowed Emory to regroup and capitalize on the quick break. Back-to-back 3-pointers blew their lead up to nine before second-year forward Hunter Drenth sank a jump shot. The Eagles retaliated and scored twice for every CWRU bucket. The pattern saw the deficit slip to 14 before graduate student guard Mitch Prendergast and Frilling hit back-to-back threes of their own. Prendergast split a pair of free throws with less than two minutes remaining, but Emory simply owned the last minute and a half before halftime, scoring nine straight points to end the first half with a 45-29 lead.

The Spartans entered the second half determined to win the uphill battle, but Emory began a 6-0 run seconds after Frilling drilled his second 3-point shot of the game. With a scoring flurry from

Prendergast, fourth-year forward Ryan Newton and second-year forward Daniel Florey, the 10-0 desperation run by CWRU halved the Emory lead.

The Spartans were holding their own, but time was not on their side. Six minutes passed and the lead hadn’t budged much, but a three by the Eagles swelled their lead back up to 14 and forced the Spartans into overdrive. A big-time 3-point play from Newton trimmed the deficit down to four with just over two minutes left, but Emory scored five points in the next 30 seconds and shut down CWRU for the remainder of the game for an 8070 road victory.

Emory’s ability to disperse the ball between different players proved to be their winning formula, whereas the Spartans focused their scoring potential on a few players. The Eagles had four players with at least 10 points and totaled 21 assists compared to CWRU’s three players with similar point totals and a total of 14 assists. However, the Spartans’ true downfall was the vast difference in scoring efficiency. The Eagles’ field goal percentage was 21.5% higher (CWRU shot at a meager 39.3% from the field) and their 3-point percentage was 19.9% higher. The Spartans’ only victories were in the turnover margin (with 25 points off turnovers) and in the free throw battle (13-for-17 compared to Emory’s 6-for-11 performance).

Frilling and Prendergast shouldered the load while Newton filled in nicely from the bench, but it was clear that the team as a whole had work to do before they hosted Rochester. Frilling finished with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks while Prendergast and Newton chipped in 18 and 10 points, respectively.

The University of Rochester Yellow- jackets arrived in Cleveland hoping to improve upon their solid 10-4 record after defeating Carnegie Mellon University 71-60 on Friday. However, disappointed with the snapped win streak, the Spartans were on a quest for vengeance in the Sunday game.

CWRU seized an early 17-5 lead thanks to shots from Prendergast, Frilling, Florey and graduate guard Griffin Kornaker. Just when it seemed as though they may run away with the game, the Yellowjackets erupted with 16 unanswered points to snatch the lead. Newton sank a 3-pointer to get the Spartans back within a point, but Rochester answered with a layup, a three and a free throw, extending the lead to 7. In the last six minutes of the half, the two teams traded blows, with players exchanging jump shots and free throws almost evenly until Rochester nailed a jump shot in the last second of the half to give Rochester a 3835 lead before the break.

Determined to prevent a losing streak in such an impressive season, the Spartans entered the second half fired up, with enough defensive prowess to silence the visitors. Graduate forward Brian Hines got things going with a pair of layups and fourth-year guard Robert Faller got a layup of his own before the Yellowjackets had an answer. Though CWRU was able to erase the halftime deficit with ease, Rochester held their own. With less than eight minutes remaining, the game was tied at 55. However, the Spartans found their groove and went on a 12-1 run to go up by 11 with just 3:27 left. The run featured big-time shots and steals from Prendergast, Drenth, Faller and Kornaker.

The late burst gave CWRU a chance to coast to the end, as they essentially matched Rochester shot for shot till the final whistle, securing their 13th win of the season with a final score of 74-61.

It was evident that CWRU had learned from Friday’s defeat and emulated the Eagles’ strategy to much avail: four Spartans starters scored points in the double digits while three more scored at least five points. The Yellowjacks only had one player in double digit points, possibly costing them the game as it had with the Spartans on Friday.

From a team stats standpoint, CWRU dominated in several categories. The Spartans shot 15.8% better from the field, an absurd 27.5% better from the 3-point line and 17.7% better at the free throw line. The team also outperformed Rochester in rebounds (39 to 27), assists (12 to 8), fastbreak points (10 to 2) and bench points (17 to 11) but were out of control with turnovers. The Spartans turned the ball over 23 times, leading to 26 points for the Yellowjackets. The visiting team only returned the favor 13 times for 22 Spartan points. Still, solid performances from all five starters and a few bench players guided CWRU to victory. Prendergast finished with 20 points while Faller (11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals), Hines (10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks), Frilling (10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Kornaker (6 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals) all did a bit of everything. Drenth scored 9 points off the bench on perfect shooting and recorded 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

The Spartans’ home conference games continue this weekend with a Friday matchup against the University of Chicago (6-9) and a Sunday bout with Washington University in St. Louis (141, 13 game win streak).