That makes perfect sense, thanks. There are a few reasons why I posted it to HN:

* I had to pick my battles when I was there and this wasn't one of them. I've emailed this to friends who are current students; hopefully something will come of that.

* I wanted to confirm that this wasn't just a UT CS thing. As I expected, there are a bunch of responses attesting to similar experiences at other places in the comments below.

* I was also curious to see the discussion on what people think would be a good way to run the labs (or at all.)

For anyone who wants to take the lead in trying to get things to change at their univs, I hope this post will serve as a confirmation that you're not alone and you should be able to find many other students to join you in pushing for change.