To the Members of the Fordham Administration,
We, the United Student Government at Rose Hill, want to begin by recognizing
the University’s generosity over the past year to accommodate the increasing
mental, physical, academic, and financial burdens caused by the COVID-19
pandemic. We want to thank all parties involved in the decision to offer two free
courses to each Fordham student during the summer of 2021. Along those lines,
the purpose of this statement is not to critique that generosity, but rather to
address an aspect that may have been overlooked in hopes of increasing
consistency across all academic disciplines.
Within the STEM departments at Fordham, many classes (e.g., BISC, CHEM, etc.)
contain a lecture and a laboratory component. While these components often
each have their own CRNs, professors, textbooks, assignments, credits, and letter
grades, they are still considered to be one singular course during the academic
year and it is recommended that they are taken together to maximize student
understanding of the content. For this reason, we are concerned that STEM
lectures and their corresponding labs will be separately counted during the
summer 2021 sessions.
If a student takes one science class over the summer, the lecture and laboratory
components will fill up their allotted two free courses. Additionally, if this student
registers for a second class alongside this aforementioned science course
(consisting of both laboratory and lecture), they will have to pay additional tuition
for their science class’ laboratory section. Considering that this is not a financial
option for some students, this limits their ability to take more than one course
required to satisfy their major or choose an unorthodox approach of taking the
lecture and laboratory components at separate times.
Although we realize that the two free courses will be applied to the most heavily
weighted classes a student has registered for, this, albeit generous restriction,
leaves STEM students at a disadvantage. Alongside an already challenging
course load, we feel that it imposes another unnecessary academic and financial
burden upon our Fordham STEM students while their peers are able to take two
major classes free of any charge over the summer.
For this reason, we implore the University to consider waiving all excess
charges for the summer 2021 laboratory components aside from the $75 lab
fee that is required for all laboratory elements during the academic year.
As always, USG is appreciative of the University’s continued support and
collaboration as we collectively work towards improving the student experience
at Fordham. We look forward to extended discussion as we near the summer
sessions.
Thank you for your consideration,
The United Student Government