As I was settling in to write a post about blind representation in the media, I found this fully-written, but never before posted piece. It’s on a difficult professor I had my junior year. She refused to be accommodating, in addition to being a bit of an a-hole to the rest of the class… kay, hope you enjoy.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
My first semester of junior year (that was September 2017) had a frantic start:<\/p>\n
I was never told that there was a creative writing prerequisite for the concentration of the same name by my advisor, so it was a scramble to find an open class so that I would be on track. <\/span>I was also attempting to stay on top of the math department because of an incomplete I had taken the previous semester. <\/span>And, to add a bitter icing to an already unsavory cake, I had a professor who seemed to not want to deal with me (the blind student), or even the rest of her class.<\/p>\n I often tried to speak to her after class, to find out about the quality of readings (if the PDF images were clear, for example, which meant a greater chance of my screen reader being able to understand it). <\/span>Knowing that would determine whether or not I should go immediately to the Accessibility office. <\/span>But she gave me the equivalent of a verbal shrug, and basically told me to figure it out on my own. In class, she refused to answer the questions of my classmates. <\/span>Her reasoning was that she wasn’t here to do the homework for us. <\/span>We should be reading the text. <\/span>But sometimes it was a question of clarification. <\/span>Or a simple yes\/no, but she instead took the time to make that schpiel.<\/p>\n There was one instance where I emailed her about an issue I was having with an assignment. <\/span>I explained about the inaccessibility of some of the online materials she wished us to use. <\/span>I asked to schedule a meeting so that we could discuss alternatives when they weren’t accessible.<\/p>\n In response, she forwarded my email to a person who, I would later discover, was the head of her department. <\/span>She told him of the student who wanted to discuss alternate readings for when things “simply weren’t accessible”. <\/span>But how, she wondered, would that be possible if there were required readings? Should the Accessibility office not have examined this course to see if I could take it? Aren’t they supposed to tell students what they c\/cannot take?<\/p>\n My response was to clarify the job of the Accessibility office: they don’t choose which classes I can take, but make accessible whichever ones I choose for myself. <\/span>I <\/span>also explained that I didn’t want different readings, but different formats\/versions. <\/span>And I asked if we could simply have a meeting. <\/span>I also asked in person, to which she responded that I attend her office hours.<\/p>\n “But I have class,” I explained.<\/p>\n “Well, you can call.” She said, meaning during her office hours but… <\/span>see above.<\/p>\n The next time we had class (it was web-enhanced, so there were days where we worked on line), I called the assistant administrator of the department before we were to meet. <\/span>I explained my issue and she also stated that I should try for the office hours. <\/span>Even after, again, informing her that I had class she basically told me that she didn’t know what to tell me. <\/span>My professor was notoriously strict. <\/span>It’s one thing to be strict, quite another to be unyielding.<\/p>\n So that day, I approached my professor and asked again for a meeting.<\/p>\n “Come to office hours.” She told me. <\/span>And I repeated my refrain.<\/p>\n “Everyone has class,” she told me. <\/span>“But you can also call.”<\/p>\n “Yes,” I like to think of myself as a very mild-mannered individual (well, outwardly, I have a temper in my head), but in this instance I barely controlled myself as I continued: “But its during your office hours. <\/span>So I can’t make it. <\/span>Or call.”<\/p>\n “Oh, well, I don’t know what to tell you.”<\/p>\n “Can we have a meeting before the next class? Maybe five, ten minutes before?”<\/p>\n “Well, I can’t promise anything. <\/span>I don’t know what time I’ll leave the office, so I don’t know when I’ll get down here.”<\/p>\n “Can we talk now?” (There were five minutes left of class.)<\/p>\n “I have a meeting I have to get to.”<\/p>\n So I paused, turned, and walked away. <\/span>In the moment I could not make sense of it. <\/span>If these office hours were so important, how did you have a meeting at that time. <\/span>Later, I realized that it was likely a meeting with a student during the hours. <\/span>I also thought in the above conversation, the way I had initiated was by asking if she’d received my last email. <\/span>She told me probably not because she didn’t check her Hunter mail often. <\/span>But she’d replied promptly to the first email.<\/p>\n After trudging to my next class, I went home and immediately withdrew. <\/span>I’d had strict professors, but this woman was… <\/span>something completely other.<\/p>\n I didn’t think of the consequences of my actions: that dropping to nine credits would put my housing in jeopardy as I would now be part-time, or that my credit count could affect my financial aid. <\/span>I was still dealing with an unresponsive math department, and the workload of my other classes.<\/p>\n Luckily, my financial aid was okay, and as this my first (and only) issue at the dorm, and I had a good explanation for my actions (though rash), I was not penalized.<\/p>\n I later spoke to my accessibility counselor who admonished me for not coming to them with my problem. <\/span>But they had been unresponsive with regard to my math issue, and I had brought it up in casual conversation to someone who responded with: “Wow, that’s crazy. <\/span>Keep trying.) (Or something to the effect.) Perhaps I still should have tried, but I did not (and still don’ment) have much faith in the office at the time.<\/p>\n However, my counselor did inform me that while I had written proof of my professor’s behavior, I could have had a bigger case (should it have come to that) had I exhausted all avenues of contact. <\/span>Or maybe she would have been more receptive to these changes coming from their office. <\/span>Maybe it would have been easier to understand. <\/span>But in the moment, my only thought was: I don’t even need this course. <\/span>It was just an elective. <\/span>Perhaps I would have fought m\/pushed harder if it was a requirement. <\/span>Or just tried again with a different professor later.<\/p>\n I realized that it was the department chair my professor had emailed when I searched for his contact information. <\/span>The only number I’d found was for the assistant. <\/span>But I noticed that the chair’s available contact matched with the one my professor had emailed. <\/span>To this day, he has never responded. <\/span>Though I still do plan on sending him, and perhaps the Dean of Students an email. <\/span>Yes, the ordeal is over with, but maybe it will help some disgruntled student after me.<\/p>\n 1\/7\/2019:<\/p>\n I never did write that letter. This was the beginning of my academic decline. My motivation started waning, with continued lack of success with regard to math… but that’s a chat for another post. In the meantime, you can read me putting a positive spin on the math stuff here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Till next time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I was settling in to write a post about blind representation in the media, I found this fully-written, but never before posted piece. It’s on a difficult professor I had my junior year. 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