Prioritize Upper-Level Courses

Prioritize Upper-Level Courses

Started
June 4, 2020
Petition to
Alexander Cartwright and 1 other
Signatures: 339Next Goal: 500
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Why this petition matters

Started by . .

The University of Central Florida is not effectively listening to their student body at this time. The implications that came into light due to COVID-19, restricts operations on campus from returning back to normal.


UCF is faced with a choice: Which Fall 2020 courses will return in person? Which will be moved to remote instruction?

While it hasn’t been announced as a final decision, the University believes that courses for the First Time In College (FTIC) students should be prioritized. As many of us have taken and actively participated in these courses, it is clear that the necessity of these to be offered on-campus is very low. Especially since the majority of these FTIC courses are large, and usually range within 150-300+ students.
More importantly, the classes in the 3000-4000 level are usually (in non-COVID times) rarely offered online (as professors agree they are difficult to teach remotely). Upper-level classes are important, and should be held in-person. Not only are these courses considered more important and vital in future careers (as they are more specialized), they are the remainder of influence UCF professor, instructors, and lecturers will have on their students to prepare them for their future lives. Moreover, the classes are usually smaller, this would allow for social distance to be kept throughout in person lectures. Upper-level courses are known to be more difficult, as they often require a skill set built on undergraduate classes. They are usually more interactive, and time consuming as well. 

The University of Central Florida is actively choosing monetary benefits (i.e: on-campus housing, meal plans, etc) that are mainly derived from FTIC, over the well-being and success of their students.

The University has shown in the recent (June 4th) Town Hall Meeting that while our voices may be heard, they are not being actively taken into consideration moving forward. At the meeting, President Cartwright listed examples of classes that qualify as important for FTIC to take in person, including Ceramics! These decisions are being made purely for financial gain for a University that just received 20 million as COVID-19 relief. A lot of vague and imprecise answers were thrown at students who were asking valid questions about the upcoming semesters. 

Please sign this petition and relay it to others.  

Support now
Signatures: 339Next Goal: 500
Support now
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