NOVA students stage a walkout
Dozens of students staged a walkout at Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale campus Nov. 12 to protest NOVA’s plan to convert the Humanities Building into HR and administrative offices.
“This removes classrooms, reduces course availability, and hurts students and faculty,” states an online petition posted by Krisdalys Dishmey, one of the student organizers. “We demand that the college keep the Humanities Building dedicated to learning.”
As students gathered in front of the Humanities Building, chanting, “Save our building,” a political science major told the group, “the administration is making this decision without input from students or faculty.”
Students are concerned that a master plan for the Annandale campus calls for replacing professors’ offices in the building with cubicles. That means students would no longer be able to have private meetings with their professors and advisors.
“Students are very angry,” said Leenah, an art major. “We’ve only heard about this second hand. We haven’t been given notice. There’s a lack of transparency.”
Leenah cited NOVA’s decision last winter to shut down the sculpture and ceramics studio at the Annandale campus, which could portend future cuts are in the works for humanities and arts programs.
Related story: NVCC to shut down the ceramics program in Annandale
While NOVA held several town halls on the master plan, students said they were discouraged from attending. “They need to talk to us,” said Athene Bujard, a biology major.
Students suspect NOVA’s goal is to cut costs by moving more courses online. That’s not acceptable, especially for students with learning disabilities who function better in a classroom, they say. “We’re paying to be here. We want to pursue our dreams,” said a student with ADHD who said he has trouble focusing in online courses.
“It’s especially important for humanities classes to be in person,” said Leo Mahoney. “We learned during Covid that having a class discussion is so much more difficult online.”
After the students marched to the administration building to continue their protest, NOVA President Anne Kress showed up. “We are not changing anything in arts or humanities,” Kress told the students. “The ceramics lab is closing due to safety concerns.”
“We have no desire to displace classrooms, so students won’t be forced online,” Kress said. “The schedule of classes is based on student demand.” She said implementation of the master plan is a multiyear process that will save the college $2.5 million a year to keep NOVA affordable.
Kress said, “Your voices will be heard through conversations convened by the Annandale campus provost.”
11 responses to “NOVA students stage a walkout”
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lol a walk out? This is a community college
yeah, it’s a community college, but it’s the most active one socially speaking out of all the nova campuses (im a student there)
Must be a MAGA uneducated commentor only a community college get a life dude
A NOVA grad is calling someone uneducated? That’s rich!
Community colleges are important an Associate Degree are important and in some cases economical to many in the times we are living in. Upon successful completion of an Associate Degree the credits are transferable to a Bachelors Program. I’m a person with a B.A. & a M.A. who took 2 undergraduate classes to meet a Teacher Certification requirement for the state & I took a 3rd class because of interest and those classes also led to salary advancement. Do not put Community Colleges down because they provide life long learning opportunities and now their are Community Colleges that have dual enrollment with high school students who are ready to accept a challenge. When those students finish they gave a high school & college degree and are ready to enter their Junior/3rd year of college around the age of 18. Also within the Federal Government 18 Credits in particular area if specialization lead people to career advances and salary increases, so respect Community Colleges because they contribute to higher learning.
Why should students have influence over infrastructure of a school…..where administration stays an entire career and students come and go every 2 years?
The same reason American voters should have some influence on gross alterations to public buildings by an elected officials who is gone after four years.
Because students won’t come if their needs are ignored. My eldest is a NOVA student, at our encouragement, because it’s stupid for anyone to pay 4-year college costs for the first 2 years of college. Like one of the students in the article, they have ADHD (and in their case, autism) and they also struggle significantly with online classes. Only a few weeks into this semester, NOVA shifted one of their classes to online, after they specifically signed up for the one class that was offered in person.
NOVA presents their college as a good opportunity for students who might struggle going straight to a 4-year college. Recent moves like moving classes online and taking away the ability of students to meet with professors in person makes that a lie.
Because the students are their customers, though the fact that their money is ALL that matters to some is pathetic.
WWinVA is right; participating in civil demonstrations is a perfectly legitimate means of expression, and as adults (young or otherwise) in a supposedly free society, they have a right to voice their dissatisfaction this way.
No matter how long they are or aren’t in any particular school, students are not lesser beings. Leave your arrogance somewhere else.
What happens in those two years is vital to securing a strong foundation for the future of a student. NVCC has an especially high number of students with learning disabilities, financial strain, and difficult life circumstances. It’s an option for disadvantaged individuals to get an education when their grades can’t get them into a University, or they can’t afford it. Making kids with learning disabilities resort to online classes (where they often struggle far more), or moving important classes to other campuses without providing accessible transportation options is extremely detrimental to those students.
It’s not just about securing a good two years for myself, but making sure future students get the opportunities they deserve. Many of the students protesting will have graduated NVCC by the time these changes started impacting them, but we aren’t just protesting for ourselves. Future students of NVCC don’t really have a way to be in the know or protest these changes. They’re all kids.
First of all, “Students suspect NOVA’s goal is to cut costs by moving more courses online.” Students suspect wrong. In fact, NOVA has been begging students to come back to campus since Covid ended. The number of Zoom classes has been reduced drastically, which I would argue is a detriment to nontraditional students who can’t make it to campus. *P.S. Awesome fact checking here. Perhaps check the class schedule and see if NOVA has an open seat in a journalism class.
Secondly, how many students actually go to faculty office hours? Seriously, come on. If you need to talk to your professor, who cares if it’s in a cubicle? You’re probably just begging for extra credit. It’s not a prostate exam for god’s sake.
NOVA is a business, like it or not. Funding is being cut at all levels of government and renting, renovating, and maintaining space is a money pit. I applaud the administration for consolidating. If underused space needs to be reallocated for the greater good, so be it.