The Political Science Club at Bronx Community College sponsored a forum on Pathways on Wed., Nov. 7 to examine the impact Pathways will have on students. One hundred students attended the event, which featured reports from a student, two department chairs and the BCC dean of student success, followed by a question and answer session.
The student and faculty department chairs had two primary messages: 1) the loss of compensatory hours in English and labs in the Sciences will have potentially devastating consequences on students’ educations and 2) the administration has demanded an impossible timetable for the implementation. The Dean arrived late and reported on the administration’s position, that Pathways would make transfer easier and that it was good for students.
The anger that students expressed during the Q&A was, at times, quite intense. Roughly 20-25 students spoke at the mic, and nearly all of them wanted to know how the administration could justify Pathways’ changes when they clearly will have a negative impact on student learning. Most of this anger was directed at the dean. Many were also very angry to learn about Chancellor Goldstein’s remark that CUNY would retain more students because it would be more difficult to transfer science credits to other institutions.
When the attendees were asked how many students they thought were aware of Pathways, the answer was basically “none.” The feeling was that there has been no effort on the part of the administration to inform students about Pathways. The Political Science club will discuss the possibility of holding another session this semester or next semester.
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