Podcast Season 6, Episode 2 Transcript
Babette Faehmel: 00:04
Welcome to Many Voices Won't Call. My name is Babette Femel, history professor here
at the college, and the faculty host of this podcast. I'm joined today by two student
co-hosts.
Patrick Truax: 00:16
Hello, my name is Patrick. I'm one of the student co-hosts. I'm a communications major,
and this is my first year here.
Warren Baynes: 00:22
And Warren. Hi, my name is Warren. I am the other co-host, and this is my first year
and my major in history.
Babette Faehmel: 00:30
And it's your second episode.
Warren Baynes: 00:32
Oh yeah.
Babette Faehmel: 00:33
All right.
Babette Faehmel: 00:33
Today's episode is about college, about this college, our college, what it offers
students, what it's good at, what it could be better at, and how students in general
are experiencing their education and their stay here.
Patrick Truax: 00:46
To talk about these issues, we invited a diverse group of other students. Could you
all please introduce yourselves, tell the listeners who you are and what your plans
are for after college?
Rodney Dukes: 00:57
You want me to start? Yeah, I'll start with you. My name is Rodney Dukes. This is
my second semester, I'm getting my um KSAC, which is my credential for alcohol substance
abuse. Um, I'm getting my certification while simultaneously getting my degree. Which
is a good thing because a lot of colleges don't let you, like create your own thing,
they kind of let you do that. Um I want to say basically I work full-time in human
service. I already have been in the field for 20 years, so this is kind of just an
extension because my experience out here is that we need more minority males in leadership
roles in human service, and unfortunately, those doors are just not where they need
to be right now. So hopefully, with the experience, with the credential and with the
degree, I can start to knock down those barriers per say.
Lonny Davenport: 01:52
Definitely. Uh good afternoon, everyone. My name is Lonnie Davenport. Uh I'm a graduate
as well as a current student.
Angel Parker: 02:03
Uh my name is Angela Parker. This is my second year here, but my first year in my
current major of performance music. I spent my first year here as a nursing major
before I decided to go with passion over practicality.
Angel Parker: 02:16
Right now, my main goal for the future is to use my degree to become an elementary
school music teacher.
Babette Faehmel: 02:22
Oh wow.
Jenna Barker: 02:25
Hi, my name is Jenna Barker. I'm a communications major. I'm also working at Empire,
SUNY Empire Service Corps as academic advisement. I am in my second year. I'm about
to graduate in May. My plans for after college are various things. Education-wise,
I am going to be a lawyer with um international law. And passion-wise, I want to be
a public figure, an artist. I make music and I'm into acting, modeling, and everything
of that sort.
Babette Faehmel: 03:07
That's a lot.
Jenna Barker: 03:08
Multifaceted.
Neha Khani: 03:11
Hi, I'm Neha Kanai. Um this is my third year, and I'm a part-time student. Um I realized
early on that I couldn't deal with the workload. So I split the work up three classes
a semester and then taking two or one during the summer. So still get my classes and
credits so basically full-time at school, just as part of the market. I'm a paralegal
student as well. And after, hopefully, I will be going into government as like a secretary
doing paperwork for things like debt certificates, marriage certificates, stuff that
needs to be filed away. Yeah.
Babette Faehmel: 04:15
Okay. And we should probably also mention that three of you are members of the Student
Government Association.
Rodney Dukes: 04:21
Yes.
Jenna Barker: 04:22
Yes. Yes.
Babette Faehmel: 04:23
And what do you have like so you're all senators?
Jenna Barker: 04:26
Um, yes, I am a senator and I am the chair of student programming.
Babette Faehmel: 04:30
And you, Rodney? Yeah, senator. Senator, senator. Well.
Neha Khani: 04:34
Um, I'm also a senator. I'm also the chair of the International Affairs.
Babette Faehmel: 04:39
Oh, cool. Okay, that's good to know.
Warren Baynes: 04:43
Um, just to start off, it's nice to have you guys here
Warren Baynes: 04:45
What made you guys want to go to the college, SUNY Schenectady?
Babette Faehmel: 04:49
And what did you expect it to be like?
Neha Khani: 04:54
I guess I'll have to answer that one first. Um, I originally wanted to go to Union
college,it’s really right now from where I live. Um, but when I started looking at
colleges and my senior year of high school, I realized that I could never budget or
fund for that education. Um, it would probably put my family in bankruptcy.
Patrick Truax: 05:24
Yeah.
Neha Khani: 05:26
And I would have debt for the rest of my life. Um, so with the knowledge I had from.
Especially from my last year counselor, amazing God sent woman. Um because I was passed
around from counselor to counselor during my high school years. So I never had a stable
anything. Um I uh decided to go to suny for, well because it's a s community college.
And the federal aid really helps out. My family is lower income. Everybody struggling
especially in this day and age, and I think that it gave me an opportunity to come
here and get a higher education. It was either go to the work force or get a higher
education. And I don't think I was ready for the workforce yet. So that's where, that’s
why I’m here
Babette Faehmel: 06:34
How about your dinner?
Jenna Barker: 06:36
Um, originally SUNY Schenectady was on my never go-to list. Um, I went to Schenectady
High School and I basically came to SUNY Schenectady literally my whole high school
journey because I was in programs like LPP and sponsor scholars. So we did trips here
a lot, and it was just too local for me when I first graduated from high school, and
still now, um, I wanted to go to college in California. So I did that, and I was I
didn't have the right support, and I kind of rushed into it. And my first year of
college, my first semester, I completely failed. and I was like, oh my gosh, like
this is, this is on my record, it's over for me, I'm like, I'm not gonna be able to
do this. And then um I applied to SUNY Schenectady, came back home, and they kind
of just welcomed me with open arms and like a hug. You know, even though my first
semester here was online technically, when I did come in person, it honestly felt
like I was just thrown into a pillow.. Like it's okay, we got you. I was put into
ASAP, Trio., I got the job with academic advisement and Empire Service Corps, and
I turned my academic probation to straight A student and on the dean's list. So yeah,
I'm really grateful to be here, and I just. Things can turn around and things can
be unexpected, and I think SUNY's Schenectady is one of those hidden gems.
Babette Faehmel: 08:34
Oh nice. Okay, that's great to hear. How about you, Angel?
Angel Parker: 08:40
Um I came from a very small hometown, like out in the country. Uh there was like nobody
around, everyone knew each other. It was like this tiny little like, tight-knit community,
and I realized that I hated that. I hated being completely separated from everybody,
so I wanted to go somewhere where there were more people, where I could find more
communities. Um, my family also struggled quite a bit with money, and I struggled
quite a bit through high school with mental health issues, anxiety, depression. So
I found Sunny Schenectady; and I saw how much it valued community, it valued welcoming
everybody, it valued constantly supporting those who need it through what they're
going through. And I just realized that was perfect for me. So, you know, if I ever
have a friend who doesn't know where they're, where they're gonna go, what they want
to do, I tell them, try coming here. I'm just like: Give it a try. Even if it’s not
what you stick with, give it a try, because it's great here.
Babette Faehmel: 09:44
Oh wow, okay, that's really nice to hear. Well, Rodney, how about you?
Rodney Dukes: 09:49
I'm alright, I'm right. So um, way back in the day, I went to school in New Hampshire
and I did very good. It was um a two-year school, and I had I want to say 48 or 51
credits, and then I had to come home abruptly. So when I came home, you know, life
started lifing and I had to go to work right away. But that was one of the things
that I felt that I didn't accomplish, like I didn't get the degree. So make a long
story longer, school ends up closing down. I'm not going through all that hassle of
trying to find all the information, all the records, and things like that. So fast
forward to maybe like as you know, I start getting more comfortable in the workforce
and making my way through human service, it always sat on my mind to I gotta get that
and at some point that's one of the things that I can get done. So I work working
for an organization and realizing the structure and the hierarchy, and as I said earlier,
as far as minority males in leadership roles in human service, the only ones I really
see are the ones that either created their non, their own nonprofit or they've been
in that position for 25 years. So it's like, all right, let's throw you this bone.
So, you know, that gets a little frustrating, and then I applied for a position that
I was overly qualified for. So the um the organization didn't even have the respect
to, I won't go down there for the interview, and they don't even show up. So it's
like you don't even respect me enough. And this is an organization that I've worked
for for over nine years, so you don't even have the respect to let me know that you're
not even gonna make this. So I'm like, I see what I see what, I see what it is. So
basically a window opened up where um it was like, you know, you can go back to school,
and it was like now or never, and I was working in the evenings for my first semester,
so I'm like, if I don't go, I will never go. So let me just go. I had a job um pending
for Rensselaer Accounting Mental Health Department, and then when I interviewed, I told them, Listen,
I'm in school, I'm doing very well, and if we can't work around my schedule, I can't
work here. And they was like, right, whatever you need to do, you can flex your hours.
So that kind of basically in a nutshell, I came back to school to take that job off
to show them that you know I'm eminently qualified, and you're gonna see what I do
with this degree or certification.
Babette Faehmel: 12:28
Perfect. Okay, so um well, it sounds like this place is really welcoming for students
and their needs and really kind of hugs you, and as Jenna said, like it's almost like
being, like falling into a blanket. Um, are there any other like positive experiences
that where you would say, okay, that really stood out to me. That's really what Schenectady
excels at.
Rodney Dukes: 12:54
Um I would say from my experience the um, the professors are. They're very understanding
and they work with you. It's almost like it's almost impossible to do bad or fail
down here if you apply yourself, if that makes sense. So, like they make sure, and
if you're on point and you're authentic and genuine and you stay in communication
with them, they will help you out. And um, if you're in need, hey, I need an extension,
hey I got this going on, hey, I can't make this, can you help me out with this? Even
if they do have those rules that say you can’t hand this in late,
Patrick Truax 13:31
They're very lenient.
Rodney Dukes 13:31
They're very lenient, like, come on, I need a little break, come on, you see what's
going on. So, like me and Jenna, we took the same uh psychology class together, and
in the beginning, she was rough. To know her, she had to be like that because throughout
the year she had a lot of boo-boos come through her class. But as like I started out,
I first my funk. I mean I uh I funked my first test, I got a D. I was like, whoa,
I gotta lock in. It's not like the old days where I could just retain the information.
No, I really gotta study. So as the time would go on, I would stay in contact. Hey,
what can we do with this? Hey, what can we do with that? She turned out to be probably
my best professor. And then, yes, and then I ended up because of the last um extra
credit assignment, I went from a D and grinded it all the way out to a B plus. So,
like I said again, it's if, you lock in and you communicate and you're authentic and
genuine and you're not playing around with them, they are very in your corner.
Babette Faehmel: 14:31
Wow, I love that you that you emphasize the communication aspects, because that I
find as a professor the most frustrating when students just disappear and you know
you could have gotten them through that. It would have been totally possible. Angel.
Angel Parker: 14:44
I've also found that even if you do fail, like you know, you stumble, you you miss
a class, you don't pass it, they're still so supportive, and they still do everything
they can to help you. Like um, my first year when I was a nursing major, I failed
my first college composition class. Um, research essays are my bane. Uh they are my
kryptonite. I hate them so much. But when I failed that, um, you know, I talked to
my academic advisor. She got me into the next semester college comp. She also gave
me a workshop for that class to help me build up those skills, and I passed that class
with an A plus.
Babette Faehmel: 15:26
Wow.
Angel Parker: 15:27
So I just love how supportive they all are. And even if you fail at something, like
if you have struggles, they will still do everything they can to build you back up.
Babette Faehmel: 15:37
Yeah.
Neha Khani: 15:38
And I totally agree with that., My first semester was really bad. Like was really
bad. Um, so I came straight out of high school and I was like, you know, I'm gonna
do full-time, two years, I'm gonna get in out, and I'm going to either transfer to
U-Albany or go to union. Union was still in my mind but, that went out the picture
. Um I didn't understand the workload. I took IV courses, AP courses back in high
school, but they were nothing compared to college courses, as much as the high school
tries to prepare you for college courses. Yeah. Um it's not the same level, it's not
the same degree, and I found myself really having to manage myself, really having
to make time out of the day to study and get work done, but that didn't happen my
first semester because I thought, you know, I could do this last minute, I could do
this last minute. I was a very hard procrastinator. I still have to this day to somehow
get it done now. Um so I failed. I withdrew from a lot of classes, and um I realized
um I couldn't keep doing this or I was going to fail and stop using it. And um so
what ended up happening was my advisor uh, you can do part time, three classes in
the semester, and then one of them. So it spreads out the work instead of all once
all five classes at one time during the semester. And it had work for me ever since,
and now I get straight A’s and have been on the deans list multiple times. I’m now
a senator and I had this horrible first semester. So when you talk to your teachers
and actually like put in the work and really get to learn yourself after you fail,
you just have to pivot.
Babette Faehmel: 18:15
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Jenna Barker: 18:17
Just to piggyback on that, um, it's funny that you mentioned summer classes. I recently
had my first summer class experience this past summer. At the start of it, I talked
to my advisor, and she was like, Yeah, you're gonna take these two summer classes.
Actually, I think it was three. And I was like, Yeah, like it's this is just like,
you know, every other semester, it's just summer, like I can do this, you know, it's
not full-time, it's part-time, I can still do what I gotta do, and I have less stress
on me. And from coming from being on academic probation to getting straight A's is
kind of like a high. You don't want to fall, it's kind of traumatic too. You don't
want to fall short, and then you don't wanna not be consistent with those A's. So
I went into summer with high expectations that I'm gonna fly through this with fine
colors, and then I can, you know, not stress about my credits during like fall semester
and spring semester, like it’ll knock off something. I completely butchered summer.
Babette Faehmel: 19:32
Oh no
Jenna Barker:19:33
And I think I only passed one class with A. And I had to actually withdraw from one
of my English classes because it was just too much for me, and I was working, I was
it was just too much going on. Yeah, and I was like, I'm gonna be back to square one.
Like, I don't know what's gonna go on, like I don't even know if I'm gonna still
get financial aid because you know when you withdraw from classes. It was just very
scary, and I came back at the end of the summer. Well, I was here all summer because
I was working in academic advisement, and my advisor, we completely pivoted and we
rerouted, and she basically reassured me and said, Hey, this is a no for right now,
but it's not uh a no forever. Like you're still gonna get this class done. You can
take it after like the summer that you graduate, or you take it during the winter,
and it honestly made me just feel so much better. I didn't feel hopeless. I still
feel like I can push to the end and get my degree without you know having that F
on my portfolio. Like when I retake the class, it's gonna cancel it out. And it's
also a lot of pressure because I'm trying to transfer. So that pressure of keeping
that A during summer was really, yeah, you know, I don't want schools to look at me
and look at oh, I got an F. So she really reassured me, and without her, I really
feel like I would have probably quit.
Babette Faehmel: 21:08
I love that both of you they didn't take the grades and take that as a like a comment
on you yourself personally, and that you just like, try again. Absolutely awesome.
Um, so Lonny, how about you?
Lonny Davenport: 21:20
My experience has been on both ends of the spectrum, right? I've had horrible experiences
similar to what a lot of us here have stated, and of course, the greatest experience
was walking across the stage and being able to reflect on the journey. My first semester
also was um challenging. Um ended up almost dropping out, or not dropping out, but
medically withdrawing. I had some issues going on, and um everyone's known by now
. If you know me, you know Ray Ellen Doyle is absolutely my favorite professor, hands
down. Um, and you're second, you're a close second. I never had you, but we've this
is my third time doing the podcast. You are generally you are one of my favorite people.
Anytime I go to any institution, I have these teachers and these professors that I
keep steered in my mind. You are one of them, you know, being getting this opportunity
to do podcasts, just our conversations, just a friendship. That's something that you
don't get in a lot of institutions. Um, and it's very personable. It's not like I'm
just another number here. Um, but Ray Ellen Doyle, when I came to her and said I could
withdraw you know, I need to medically withdraw, she could have said, okay, yes, leave.
You know what I mean? But she encouraged me to keep going. And the way she did that
was she kept my classes open through the summer classes. So when other kids when
the classes closed for the spring semester in May, she kept my class open or or my
grades open until June to get it, you know, get all the assignments turned in. And
that was a break that I needed at that time. I just needed a break. She didn't do
anything extraordinary, or I wasn't like this special student, but she just gave me
the break that I was looking for, and from that point forward, I was um, you know,
excited to come to school. I built relationships with you, with Mora, with um uh other
professors here um and faculty. Christina, I was on the Senate last semester, so that
was awesome for me to be able to have that experience. Um, and just being able to
go back and look at the journey, right? Just to walk across the stage and look at
where I came from to where I'm at. Now I'm working on my second degree in my last
semester, and um I'm just excited about the future more than I was before.
Babette Faehmel: 24:18
So fun fun fact, because you were a tiny, tiny, tiny bit late, um, we actually had
agreed to not say any professors' names. But totally okay. We can't. It's gonna be
the Ray Ellen Doyle exception. We're just gonna leave it there. And you're by the
way, also the only person who's allowed to call her Ray Ellen Doyle. Oh me?
Lonny Davenport: 24:38
Who me? Okay yeah.
Babette Faehmel: 24:40
All right, so back to Angel. Um, but I think um you you had not talked about like
your most, I don't know, like inspiring um experiences, or like the more positive
ones.
Angel Parker: 24:54
Um, I mean, I haven't had one that's particularly stuck out to me. It's more of just
general support from most of the people that I've had here. Granted, you're always
gonna have a few bad apples, you're always gonna have a few professors that are, you
know, a bit of a like jab in the butt. You're always gonna have those. But for the
most part, everybody that I've met here has been wonderful people who only want to
see me and everybody else succeed. And honestly, like I would consider a good amount
of professors here to just be my friends. Yeah. They genuinely look out for me, and
it's such a contrast from what you experience in high school. It is such a contrast
because high school teachers, at least in my experience, a lot of them didn't really
see students as individuals, they didn't really worry for students as individuals.
Here, it feels like they're really trying to look at you as a person, like you specifically,
and go, okay, what do we do to make sure you succeed? What can I do to help you specifically
get where you need to go? And there was that with so many professors here, and it's
just so wonderful. I love it.
Babette Faehmel: 26:14
Cool, It's great to hear. Absolutely right. Rodney?
Rodney Dukes: 26:18
Um, I would say um, because I'm in a, I'm in a band. Um so and you know, we do relatively
good, and like the our last show we were at the uh State Fair in um Syracuse. Yeah,
and then a couple weeks before that we're at the MVP arena, so we do some we do pretty
good out here, and uh we play at Rivers four times a year. And when during one of
our breaks the last time we were there, I look up, and sure enough, one of my professors
was there, and she said she was coming.
Babette Faehmel: 26:52
That's so cool.
Rodney Dukes: 26:54
So to kind of piggyback off what you said you're not just seeing as
Babette Faehmel: 26:58
A student
Rodney Dukes: 27:00
She's like, Yeah, I'm gonna actually make one of your shows, and I look up, and I'm
coming off, and I don't even recognize them at first. It's like, hey, I'm like, and
then it took me a second. I'm like, Oh, how you doing? I appreciate you coming. So
that was huge.
Babette Faehmel: 27:10
Wow.
Rodney Dukes: 27:11
I can't even get family to come to some shows sometimes, but you know, you look up
and you see your professors, instructors or professors in the crowd.
Babette Faehmel: 27:20
What's your band's name?
Rodney Dukes: 27:22
Uh Legacy Music Group.
Babette Faehmel: 27:24
Okay, all right, good to know. Uh I mean, Warren and Patrick as uh students here and
co hosts, how how do you feel so far?
Warren Baynes: 27:32
Um, kind of what everyone else said, they're like very welcoming here, and they make
you they make you like not feel like everything is going to be bad if something bad
does happen. Nothing bad has happened to me so far, but just overall, whenever I ask
them any questions, they answer them and they're very, very transparent with everything.
And everything is out on the table for you to interpret, and they just really help
with that, honestly.
Rodney Dukes: 27:58
Cool.
Patrick Truax: 27:59
Yeah, I would say honestly, it's just a very consistently welcoming experience. You
know, they're very understanding with things. Uh they don't expect you to sit there
and know how to do everything, especially if you first start and out at college and
stuff, so they're very, like I said, understanding with that stuff. So far, I've just
had a good personal experience so far. I've only been here, obviously, start of this
semester. But so far, nothing particularly bad has happened, nothing particularly
good, but that's better than nothing. Just wait.
Warren Baynes: 28:28
So we talked about your guys' good experiences, but did you guys have any frustrating
experiences here at SUNY's Schenectady? And what made them frustrating?
Lonny Davenport: 28:45
I can speak to a lot of frustrations, but I'll give you like one particular situation.
I'm big on communication, right? That's my area of degree, that's where I got my degree
in communications. Um so there was this particular summer where much like um, it was
just going bad, There's no communication with the professor. I'm emailing this individual.
And that was something that I continued to see was the lack of communication sometimes
with like online professors. And that was like one of the worst situations because
if I’m, if I take a, I'm the type of person where if I take a quiz and I get, you
know, I don't get a hundred or if I'm not satisfied with my grade, I want to know
what I got wrong. So I can fix it. And there was just this was the first time where
I had to go to my dean, first time where I had to make complaints, um, just very frustrating.
I know there's a certain amount of time, I will let the time pass before they respond,
they wouldn't respond. And I just, I just like I overreacted as far as was like, all
right, I'm just about to drop this class or not talk to this guy. But once I got the
dean involved, it resolved itself. Obviously, you know, this is your boss, you gotta,
you know, talk to, you know, do what your boss tells you to do. But at the same time,
there I saw this pattern, I became more aware of not just my experience, but other
experiences. And once I started tutoring and started becoming more engaged with other
students, I realized that there was a that I was not alone in my situation. And when
it happened a few more times, I kind of you know started to voice my opinion. That's
kind of what got me on the SGA was trying to figure something out and do that.
Babette Faehmel: 30:57
So it's the uh communication for online classes, especially.
Lonny Davenport: 31:01
Yes, because and I and then I I you have to have uh some understanding as well. You
know, online professors, they're not here, they might be in a different location,
they might have you know four other schools that they're dealing with, and you know,
maybe two classes per so there's a lot of students, so you have to have that understanding.
But I mean you sign up for the job, right? That's just how I feel. I give you that
leeway, I give you the understanding, I understand that, but I just feel like that
was super frustrating to me as far as my education because I came back as an older
student. I'm not, you know, a lot of times when I'm doing orientation or Institute
Week and I'm talking to the older crowd, um, there seems to be a level of urgency
that maybe you don't quite see with the younger generation just because we're not
18, 19, 20, like some of us are in our 40s, our 50s, late 30s, we're trying to actually
get stuff done. So it there's a level of urgency, and I felt that level of urgency
coming up when I couldn't communicate, like this is my grades, this is my class. I
wish I would have had that urgency when I was here first, you know, in early 2000s.
Maybe I would have, you know, done a little bit better, but I'm here for a reason.
But that was one of the biggest frustrations, you know, and I'm glad that maybe that
was one of the biggest frustrations because I've seen other students where the frustration
wasn't necessarily with the school, it maybe was housing or food insecurity or stuff
like that. And so, you know, I'm just grateful that that was my only frustration.
Babette Faehmel: 32:46
Yeah, but still like feeling very isolated in online classes, that's a big issue.
Jenna Barker: 32:51
Just to piggyback off the online classes, sure. Um, it's just really, I guess the
system is just very distasteful for online classes here. Um, maybe it has to do with
the professors um as well, but I think because there's a lack of connection, we can't
really have that same bond or understanding with professors online that we have in
person. Like everyone who's shared about their experiences with professors, it's amazing.
You know, the office hours, everything, it's amazing. But when you go online, it's
kind of different. And there's a lack of empathy and caring when it comes to online
classes, which makes me not even look at them. If I only look at them if I need it
and it's my only option. Yeah, you know, and then also some classes I feel like just
shouldn't be offered online. Right now I'm taking ASL and I'm getting through it because
my professor comes in when she can. Um, but that was that's probably the only time
she'll ever be able to come in. And for such a uh not complex but to each its own,
you need a one-on-one or in-person type of learning experience in order to understand
certain concepts, certain signs, how things should be perceived, facial expressions,
you can't teach that through a screen. So I think as a whole, students cathy should
probably just analyze what they offer online and say, hey, maybe we can, even though
this professor is amazing at her job, you know, if she can't be here and she cannot
be here for the students 100% and what we need her to do or them to do, I think that
we should just go with another option and strictly just put this on in person.
Babette Faehmel: 34:57
Um I'm intrigued by like when you're saying there's no empathy in the online class.
Like, I mean, it's like do you have any uh ideas or visions of how like you would
want empathy expressed in online classes? I mean, is it about deadlines and things
like that or tones and welcome videos or something?
Jenna Barker: 35:19
Definitely deadlines. Um, like I said before over the summer, I completely butchered
my uh class, and I am a communications major. I love to communicate, so I'm emailing
every day. Hey, this is a lot is going on. I don't think I'll be able to take this
on. This is too much for me, or is there a way we can meet? And there's like, because
it's not the oh, I can just pop into your office or you have a list of office hours,
it's like I get 48 hours response, and then oh, it's late, and then I can't make it
up. And it's just lack of communication, and I just yeah, that's where the lack of
empathy comes from. Because we're not communicating, you cannot understand me, or
you cannot even give me grace, you know, as a student, because in community college,
it's not just everybody's and not speaking to myself because I am a younger student,
but not everyone is, you know, leaving high school and they're 18, 19, and this is
the only thing they have going on. Everybody, some people are in different phases
of life. You cannot all expect us to be moving on the same flow. We have stuff going
on, you know. We might have some bad days, we might need a rain check. And having
that grace or just giving grace is so important when it comes to a learning experience
because without that, yeah, how can how can we understand each other?
Babette Faehmel: 36:41
Yeah, yeah, you know? And you already mentioned the workload and stuff. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Neha Khani: 36:47
Um, I just want to say that um uh I'm actually all for online classes. They work so
well for me. The reason why they work so well for me is because I like to manage my
own time. I don't like to be on anybody else's time. I like to manage my own time
and I think for me, it gives me a lot of flexibility that I don't necessarily like
getting up sometimes and like coming to the campus to go in person and to talk to
a teacher when I can just email you I think I've been really fortunate with a lot
of um, especially paralegal teachers that I've had that I've had for two or four classes
already. And they've been amazing people God sent really, and particularly one teacher
is what you want to say names. She was actually one of the teachers that gave me my
recommendation for SGA. So yes. Um but there was, definitely I do have bad experiences,
extremely bad experiences, in person and out-of-person.
Babette Faehmel: 38:11
Yeah.
Neha Khani: 38:11
So I can speak on both. So out of person, like from my online. Um, it actually happened
last semester. It was so terrible. Um not gonna say name. I want to shout out to the
tutors, uh, like the tutors. I want to shout out the tutors because I love them. I
love y'all. You guys God sent on this campus when the teachers are not here. You guys
are genuinely God sent. So last semester I had this one course, and it was Pre-law
of course. And so the teacher himself, uh, he was also an attorney, and I'm guessing
he was doing this part-time. And he was so bad at communication. So one of the big
things for me is that if you're going to be an online teacher, you've got to have
communication. You have to have some leeway, and you have to be on top of your game.
And for me, honestly, he was not like that. He actually didn't even set up the Brightspace
classroom and emailed all our assignments, and then when we did the assignments, he
would be like, Oh, can you do review question 1 through 30 for a chapter, for just
one chapter? I'm like, these are intricate law questions. I cannot do 30 questions.
Email you it, and you think that's alright. And um it got so bad to the point I had
to go to the dean, I had to have paper trials, nothing really got resolved until this
year when I found out um they weren't teaching, the school kicked him out and he got
fired. So I had extremely negative experiences online, but I've also had extremely
bad experiences where like I said my first semester, my English professor. I didn't
really like how they taught. I didn't understand their course material really well,
and I guess they were just really disorganized from my point of view. Like and I had
other classes that I needed to do and it took a lot of time out, and uh I actually
ended up taking that uh English class with another teacher, and he was a godsend.
He's left now, and he's at like another school because I didn't want to pay him more.
But um he was a godsend. I loved him. He was an amazing English teacher. He was so
lenient and so understanding, and he was also another person that uh was like if you
ever need a recommendation, just contact me.
Babette Faehmel: 41:43
Uh-huh.
Neha Khani: 41:44
Because me and him have had such a good communication with each other. So for me,
I've had in and out of person experiences with professors. I had good and bad. And
I think it's really what works for you. I don't think online classes are all that
bad. I'm not gonna sit up there and be like it online classes are terrible, because
for me it's not terrible. I like my structure. I like going where I have to go, even
when I have to leave. As long as you structure yourself around like the material that
you have to do and the study times that you have to do, you will be fine. I think
for me it's just like because I know myself so well, I know what works for me and
what doesn't work for me.
Babette Faehmel: 42:34
Yeah, yeah. Anyways also about online classes?
Angel Parker: 42:39
Actually, for me I only took a few online classes um in my nursing semester. I don't
have any for performance music so far. Um I actually had a few more problems with
in-person classes during my year of nursing compared to online classes. I had one
professor in particular in my second semester who, it was really, it was really disappointing
for me because I had taken the class at a high school level in my senior year of high
school, so I was super excited to take it at a college level. And the experience I
had with this particular professor just dampened the experience for me. There was
one instance where when I had missed one of her classes, next time I came in, she
made a comment about me going off partying when in fact I had emailed her and said
that I had been sent to the emergency room for mastitis. So that along with a lot
of other things, she did, frankly a lot of insensitivity, a lot of emotional, you
know, unintelligence in that regard, put me off of that class a lot, and you know,
I had the impression of, you know, if his is what a this is what a community college
teacher is like imagine what a nursing school professor would be like. Imagine how
much worse they could be. So and then also um I had a lot of issues back then with
you know communication. I'm a very prideful person, you know. I don't like to admit
that I could be struggling with something until I'm, you know on the floor. So I had
a lot of issues with that back then, but that was my attempt to really start trying
to communicate, to try to be like, hey, I have to miss class because of this, and
I have an extra day to work on it, or can you go over it with me in class like afterwards?
And you know, her not exactly understanding that being like, you know, you have to
be in this class every single day or else you're gonna fail. It was like not a great
experience. But honestly, that was really just one bad apple in, you know, a tree
of good ones.
Babette Faehmel: 45:00
Rodney, I believe you mentioned in our meeting before that you too felt sometimes
that you were not feeling engaged enough in class with your field, your topics.
Rodney Dukes: 45:14
Um I would say just basically to get more out of it or get more out of the teachings
or to get more out of the teaching per se. I wouldn't really call it a feeling because
I like to stay away from using the word. So just my observations, um, a lot of the
professors' instructors, they stand up there, PowerPoint, verbatim. And then if you
you know you do your homework, you got about maybe 15 to 20 to 30 minutes, you know,
and then your brain is like a sponge, and you're only gonna be able to take so much.
So if you're sitting there watching, click, click, and then there's a talking, and
then they give back and click. So how much information are your students retaining?
How engaged they how in um how are you know engaged they are? So, and then usually
sometimes they'll wait to the last 10 or 15 minutes to break us up into groups. So
by that time, by that time you lost us, you lost, you know, instead of being like,
hey, all right, let's make this a little bit more interactive, or let's break up into
groups now, let's talk about it, then let's go back into the lesson. When we um when
we come back, ask us, you know, give us a little homework assignment and then come
back and have us talk about that homework assignment in the beginning of the class.
So over the weekend, I want you to pick one thing that you observe and speak on it.
Then we come back, engage us. Hey, what did you think about that? Hey, when you visited
that that place. So now you've captured everybody's attention, right? You get into
your lesson, we'll be more engaged, then maybe at the end of class you break us back
up into groups and talk about whatever the topic is. Just little suggestions like
that to make it more interactive, to make the you know, us more engaged instead of
people doodling or playing on their phone or sitting over there nodding off, because
I mean who wants to sit up here and watch something PowerPoint verbatim?
Babette Faehmel: 47:18
Yeah. So um, yeah, honestly, um, that's how I taught when I started teaching because
that's how I was taught, right? And then you kind of perpetuate that thing. Um, but
but I mean I think it's really important in that case then to like listen to students
and to just get get feedback and and read the feedback um that you guys are always
giving, I hope, at the end of a class. Angel?
Angel Parker: 47:44
Um just another thing I wanted to bring up, um, that Jenna wanted to bring up as well.
Um the the parking lot is quite a bit of an issue here. Um I don't know a lot about
it personally. I I walked to campus and was like right down the street, but um the
amount of times um last year that I remember, you know, school having to be closed
down because the parking lot's flooded. I feel like it happened every other week.
There'd be a day where they send out an email saying parking lots are flooded, so
classes are closed for today. So the amount of times that that happened and how much
that would delay, you know, when you were in class time, how much that would push
things back and make everything more rushed, yeah. Because like, you know, the structure
of a school, even stuff like the parking lot, the stuff that isn't necessarily in
the school itself, you really need to put a lot of thought into that because it can
seriously affect how people perform in school, how they get from the school, how they
how much help they can get. You know, if you can't drive to school because the parking
lot's flooded, you can't park there. Are you supposed to stay on top of your classes?
Babette Faehmel: 48:53
Sure. But on the on the other hand, we also, I mean, it's that the location in that
case is kind of precarious. And we don't uh control the elements.
Lonny Davenport: 49:03
And I think those issues are being addressed, right? So that so that's why, you know,
right now there is a section of the parking lot that's cut off. That's because they're
doing construction under the library. So it's very inconvenience. Yes, it was it's
it's inconvenience right now, but that's sometimes you have to be inconvenienced to
fix the problem, right? But it's a problem for the it's it's it's a short inconvenience
for a long-term solution. And a lot of the issues that were um brought up that wanted
to be discussed, a lot of those are being dealt with as well. Um so just to summarize
this up, this the school is in, because this is my last semester here, and so from
when I got here to the end of this semester, the school isn't in a better place, right?
It 100% will be in a better place as far as the parking lot issue that's being taken
care of, the food on campus. I don't know if you got the email, but we just got um
Vashi's kitchen from 8 to 2 now, actually gonna have breakfast and stuff on campus.
Right, and then they they also have the bakery, they also um have the the butcher
shop where you can kind of grab meat or whatever. So those things are being addressed.
These are things that we kind of discussed on the SGA last semester and previous semesters.
So I feel like those aren't really issues, we're just waiting for them to be completed.
They're in the in that phase right now of completion. October, it should be be done.
Warren Baynes: 50:39
Um I see what you're saying about the issues being addressed, but sometimes I think
that back to what the guests were saying, is even if it's not a professor, sometimes
communicating that is very essential. Like um, they don't know that stuff is being
fixed. I don't even know that either. So, as far as I'm concerned, this problem is
just here, and I have not been informed that this is being fixed or anything like
that. It can actually kind of feel a little frustrating, especially with things like
the parking lot and you know, just uh maybe a couple things that even maybe the noise
that was just in the library a few weeks ago that everyone knew. It's like they're
not telling us these things at all. Like genuinely, they're not. And if they do, I
think that sometimes more people are less likely to like dislike this place when stuff
like that happens. Which sometimes they're not communicating that, and we would love
to, if they do, please.
Lonny Davenport:51:28
Right I, I, I’m sorry
Babette Faehmel: 51:32
No, it's okay. Back to communication. You want to have clear communication of what's
going on. On the other hand, we sometimes have like an like uh too much communication,
like with like 10 emails per day, having like intricate details about what's happening
in the college, and then that that too is is like uh uh raised as an issue. I think
um, I mean, we are a work in progress, right? It's like the the little engine that
is trying to do everything. Um, we are also uh working as a college with like severe
budgetary constraints, and people are really trying to do the best like when they
can. But sometimes that sometimes these inconveniences just are something, unfortunately,
that we have to get through together in order to keep what we have, like a strong
foundation. But yeah, that I I can imagine that the parking lot issue is quite frustrating.
I don't park there because I have a bicycle.
Lonny Davenport: 52:28
But I mean it's it's it's to me, I look at it as a microcosm of life, okay, right?
Like we all have to make adjustments. There's not gonna be perfection, you know, we're
not gonna go through perfection. I think one of the things that make makes SCCC so
unique is it's um is the the faculty and the staff and how we are human beings instead
of numbers. I've visited several other campuses where I'm just a number, or you know,
they're had they have 200 class, you know, they have 200 other students in their class
and they go to see their professor and the professor doesn't really know who they
are and whatnot. Um that's the uniqueness of Schenectady County Community College
is the ability to form relationships with faculty and staff and have true, genuine
friendships, right? Very rarely are you gonna be able to do that at any other institution.
Um and I think that's that is what attracts all of us as I'm sitting here listening
to some of our grievances and not only you know our our grievances and our you know
what we um you know kind of glorify about the college is that relationship building
between faculty and staff, student and professor. I think that's one of the most important
things that Schenectady County Community College has to offer, right? On top of the
great education that we do get, right? But to say that I'm not gonna say any institution
is perfect, but what I will say again is when I leave in December, and I don't know
how much longer you you you know everybody else here has, but it will be in a better
place than what it was when I came here.. And I've seen the uh progress. And also
keep in mind, this is our we have a new president.
Babette Faehmel: 54:22
Yep, right?
Lonny Davenport: 54:23
We have new ideas, we have a new outlook on our future, this the instant the the future
of the institution and not only the students, right? Um I've been talking with the
new president. We have some great, I'm not gonna spill the beans, but we have some
great opportunities for the community and for students that she is trying to implement
here in this college. So I think when I when I you know visit other colleges, other
campuses, and I look at the projection of this college, I think we are at an upward
climb versus some of the other colleges that are just stagnant. You know what I mean?
Um so this is a great place to be. This is a great time to be as Schenectady County
Community College.
Babette Faehmel: 55:12
Okay, in spite of the parking lot, right? Right. And the the lack of a of a like a
real like student cafeteria, but we are as as I hear you, we are working on that too.
Angel Parker: 55:26
And then instead you get an email saying, you know, there will be noise in the learning
comment. It's like, no, really. I couldn't tell.
Lonny Davenport: 55:33
Yeah, you know, and that's not and to to to on the school's behalf. So over the summer
the construction started two weeks late. Yeah. So we weren't even so this was supposed
to be done sooner. It got in being in the construction field, anytime somebody gives
you a date to start something, you can either it's never gonna be early. We're never
gonna start the project early, but if it's on the 10th, you can expect to start it
on the 16th or something like that, realistically, because they're coming from other
jobs or whatever. So I, you know, I we just have to have an understanding, right?
And then the one thing we I I would encourage everyone here to do is take away the
positives, right? Take away the positives, take away what it is that drew you here,
um, the relationships, and understand that SCCC really does, I believe Jenna said
it's kind of like a blanket, right? When you are covered. I say it's like they're
holding your hands through college. Because when you go on to the next phase, you
go to other colleges, they're not gonna, they're not gonna know who you are. They're
not gonna care who you are. Right. They're not they might care. I mean, they they
they they care, right? Let me not say that, right? But you're you're you're not gonna
have that one-on-one relationship with your professors at another institution that
you have here, because if you have a professor that has five classes and all the classes
has over a hundred students, they just don't have that opportunity, right? And a lot
of students that go away and then come back for tutoring, like a lot of students leave,
they graduate, they come back, they're alumni, so they get to use the facilities still,
they get to use, you know, the the learning center and some of the resources that
we still have, and we get to talk to them and they're like, I don't know, I I know
what my professor's name is or looks like, but they're yearning for that connection,
right? They're yearning for even with the students, right? Some of the students is
just come and go, right? And you have to understand um that everyone doesn't come
from this culture of what the institution has to offer. So just appreciate what this
has right now. I mean, what what we offer.
Babette Faehmel: 57:55
And I think everybody in the room is really fully appreciative of that, right? But
I mean, as as people like as SGA, as students, um, as student and student tutor, you
also hear from students who are kind of getting lost here as well, and who are in
danger of falling through the cracks. Um,
Babette Faehmel: 58:13
What would you say is like so what are some of the guidelines for people to keep in
mind to get through, like aside from we already mentioned communication and believing
in yourself, even if if there's like one bad grade or maybe two bad grades or a field
class or something like that, what would you say to those students to like how they
can take the bet the most out of their schenecty county community college experience?
Lonny Davenport: 58:40
So, one of the things that I've always stated, right, when I was doing orientations,
these past couple orientations, when I'm sitting with students one-on-one, like yes,
Schenectady, I tell them Schenectady County Community College, they will hold your
hand, they will walk you through, the professors help you. It's not a bad thing, it's
actually a great thing. But it seems to be this issue of accountability, right? We
chose to be here, we were not forced to be here, right? So we need to be accountable
for the choices that we make. As a tutor, I cannot tell you how many times people
come to me. It happened last week, um, where a student will come to me and be like,
I need help with this report, okay. We'll ask a couple questions, when is it due?
And it's always, oh, it was due yesterday. It's like, okay, it was due Wednesday,
today it's Thursday. You want me to put a rush on something that's late? I can't do
that. You know what I mean? I can help you with it, yes, turn it in. But the you know,
when I talk to students that are struggling, a lot of the times it's time management,
right? It's it's choices. Right. Sometimes it's not it, they are over, they have too
many classes. Like the most classes I have with six. I dropped one and took it another
because six was just too much. But I'm hearing students now have seven classes, and
not only are they students, but they are returning students. They haven't been to
college or a school setting in 20 years, and now they have seven classes, and so they
are they're they are doing uh well for someone in that situation, but there are students
that just, you know, we we're gonna have LNAP coming up in a couple months, right?
Babette Faehmel: 01:00:25
Mm-hmm long night against procrastination.
Lonny Davenport: 01:00:27
Long night against procrastination, right? That night is going to be students, I can
guarantee it, that are gonna come to me with a report that's due, gonna come to any
other tutor with the report, a project, an assignment that was due this week. And
LNAP is in November. Right, right. So I I try to tell students that this is the time
in your life where you need to prioritize what's important, what's not important,
right? And those priorities are gonna change sometimes day to day, week to week. Um
time management, that's super, super important. Right. Um, and the big thing like
we talked about is communication, right? Yeah, I've had professors like Rodney said,
the due date is here, right? It's due on the fifth. Professor, I need a little, okay.
Well, you know, if you have it by the eighth, you know, you know, and then you have
some professors that it's due on Friday, but it's not late until Sunday, right? You
have to take advantage of that. You have some professors that do things like, okay,
well, I'll get you get one grace, you get one uh grace period, like grace assignment
for one semester. So you can say, you know, it's not gonna be done even by Sunday.
Okay, can I use my one grace assignment? Okay, it'll be due next Sunday, right? Right.
Um take advantage of what those professors have to offer.
Babette Faehmel: 01:01:56
Um so reach out to your professor, communicate with your professor, don't think that
your professor is out to get you, see them as a potential ally. Clear communication,
good time management. Right. Do you want to add on to that? Yeah, please.
Rodney Dukes: 01:02:08
If you're in the classroom, like I still sit in the front of the room. Yes. Like I
still, we still have a dialogue. Like um, one of my professors, she's real, she cusses
throughout the whole class. She gives us the ability, and I mean, we be dropping the
F-bomb in there and everything because she's so real, because she knows that this
is life, and you know, and and so things like that. Like, we're very we engaged and
everything. I had a class tonight. One of my guys that you know that I know from back
in the day, he's in there, all he does is talk, but it's cool because you're not like
we really get a dialogue going about stuff. So, and that shows that you are engaged,
that shows that you care and you're really authentic and you are genuine. So, if something
happens, even further with that. So, I turned in an assignment and um it got flagged
for AI and I wrote that thing. But she knew because the way I speak, my verbiage,
my vernacular, she knew I wrote that. So then she was like, Yeah, Rod, I know you
wrote this. You speak like that in class all the time. So I don't have to ever think,
you know, because me and AI, we kind of sound alike for certain things. It's like
seriously, like so. She was like, Yeah, I know you wrote this thing. Don't even worry
about it.
Angel Parker: 01:03:24
I had the same issue, because nowadays, if you use, you know, if you use an Oxford
comma. The MDA is a shit. If you say, like, if you have something in the rule of thirds,
they immediately will be like, that's AI. It's it's so common. And it's like, I was
taught basic grammar in elementary school. Exactly. And I feel like like another small
issue, like it's not a big issue with the college, but I feel like um the effort that
a lot of the school makes to try to include AI, but also discourage it in assignments,
it feels a little disingenuous. I feel like I feel like from my perspective at least,
it should kind of be like an all or nothing kind of thing, like either you support
AI and it's okay to use it for assignments, or do not even touch AI. Because I feel
like with most with most things, you shouldn't really trust AI to be able to, you
shouldn't trust it to be able to assist you with your work, you shouldn't trust it
to do your work especially. Um it is just not, it's not as smart as people think it
is. It's really not, you know. I tried asking AI once as a little test. I tried asking
how many cigarettes should I smoke while pregnant? It told me to smoke three a day.
So I don't think that's something you should be using.
Angel Parker: 01:04:50
For your schoolwork.
Babette Faehmel: 01:04:52
Well, your your schoolwork, the point of the schoolwork is to do the work. Um but
um speaking of AI, um what would you expect the from the college in regards to AI?
Because um I'm one of those kind of like in-between professors. I do think there's
great value in, and there can be real value in AI, but it needs to be used the right
way. But I also like what I care the most about is that my students become thinkers
and creators, and AI is a constant temptation, and also it's very persuasive, and
it just like kind of can like easily lead you to think that well, you yourself don't
have anything more to add to like what is already there, which is which is uh wrong
because we are creative people and thinkers. Ron, did you want to jump in?
Warren Baynes: 01:05:50
Yeah, uh regarding AI just in general. Um, I think that we probably do do need to
have some kind of training for AI in general. It's here, and we probably shouldn't
try to fight it. Like we don't want this thing. If anything, I would love for people
to know how to use it and what to ask it rather than just not using it because I think
it's really, really, really important that people understand how to use technology,
especially right now. It it it'd be really weird if back in the day when computers
came out, people were not teaching people how to use computers. Yes. It's almost going
to be the same thing almost with anything. We should be teaching people how to use
this more than saying, no, we don't want this. And I agree that we definitely should
not be using AI to learn because it'll never teach you. I mean, no, well, you can
use it to learn, but it'll never actually teach you. It's a very, very great tool
to help you understand something, but it'll never fully teach you something that your
teacher assigned to you. And that's really it.
Neha Khani: 01:06:46
I like to add on to that. Um I'm gonna be honest.
Neha Khani: 01:06:51
Uh when it comes to using AI, um I don't use it for assignments, but I use it to help
me break down and understand certain like materials that are like really tough to
digest on my own. Yeah. And it's such a great tool for breaking certain assignments
up and being like, okay, like certain questions I ask it, like, this is what word
is really weird. Like, what is what is it trying to really tell me?
Babette Faehmel: 01:07:24
Yeah, exactly.
Neha Khani: 01:07:25
So you have to be very careful with what you talk to AI. Like, me personally, I don't
use it as sources like Wikipedia. I find those sources myself, but I use it strictly
as a tool because it is a tool, and it's like you have to know what to say to it.
Specifically, specific question that you want to be answered, and you can't just use
it for assignment because that's just not how it was meant to be used. It was meant
to be used as a tool and as something to help you kind of extradite your thinking
process, not um help you fast-forward your learning.
Babette Faehmel: 01:08:11
Yeah, exactly, exactly. I love that.
Lonny Davenport: 01:08:14
So, this is the conversation that's being had all over academia in every institution,
now in government. AI is the wild, wild west, and people are trying to now give it
some type of law, right? Um, I know that there were uh quite a few professors who
went to some seminars about how to use AI. And right now, I think the issue that I'm
having with it is that it's up to the professor's discretion. So you may have one
professor that doesn't want you to use AI, and then you have another professor that
wants you to use it the right way, right? So to me, I think that should be governed
institutionally, right? I don't think it should be up to one professor or another.
Um, I think that should be an institutional rule.
Babette Faehmel: 01:09:10
Actually, um, it has to be like discipline-specific. Yes. And and not and not, I mean,
there should there needs to be a a right to refuse to use AI for for the professor
too.. And that depending on their pedagogy and depending on what they are teaching,
right? But clarity, I think, is the main thing. Because if we if we had like an institution
institution-wide policy on how to use AI, that would actually also kill a lot of like
academic freedom and creativity for the instructor.
Babette Faehmel: 01:09:39
Okay. Right.
Babette Faehmel: 01:09:40
So I would I would say I would truly agree, we are the Wild West. Right. And the Wild
West is gonna get settled at some point, and then we will have more, we also know
better where this is going and what AI can do. I had a as as you were talking, how
do how about how or how you use AI. I had a student last semester in an online class,
and um she she later shared or she shared um her use of AI with me, and basically
she put my assignments into the AI and said, my professor has a way of phrasing her
assignments in a way that makes my brain want to explode. Please break this down for
me. I'm neurodiverse, yada yada yada. And then AI, I think she used Gemini, Gemini
said sad, well, said wrote, um, yeah, that's a lot of academic fluff. And then broke
down the assignment. And of course, at first I was like, academic fluff, but it's,
I mean, it was correct because we do not always realize how our wordiness, we love
our words, we're academics, we're professors, I'm a historian, how that comes across
to students. And for that reason, I think this is a really like it's really useful
tool, and I love that you use it that way, and I also love that you are open about
it. Um Angel, want to jump in?
Angel Parker: 01:10:58
Uh yeah. Um see the thing with AI that I just worry about so much is the fact that
it just if I feel like a lot of times it can undermine human effort, right?
Neha Khani: 01:11:09
Right.
Angel Parker: 01:11:09
Like, I feel like if people are going to use AI to like teach them how to understand
their assignments, like, what's the point of tutors? You know, that kind of thing.
Babette Faehmel: 01:11:19
Yeah, it's like you don't always have that time.
Angel Parker: 01:11:23
You don't always have the time, yeah, like, but I just it's not only just the effort,
but also I have seen so many instances of people using AI so much to the point that
they struggle to think on their own. I can't tell you how many videos I've seen on
TikTok of people going, AI is down, so I don't know how to write an email. And then
it's it genuinely scares me.
Babette Faehmel: 01:11:47
Yes, it does.
Angel Parker: 01:11:48
It it worries me so much. It feels just like such a slippery slope that I just worry
that if we start allowing it in, like, if we allow it too much, we're eventually just
gonna go down a slope of just everything being everything involving AI. And I just
I worry for how that's going to affect how we develop as adults. You see kids nowadays,
they they they use AI for absolutely everything. Like a lot of them are at such a
low reading level for their age because you know they grew up in the age of technology.
Everything is AI, everything is digitized. It it worries me. Right, right.
Neha Khani: 01:12:34
I'm gonna say something right now. Um I do use AI, but also I realise it’s a tool
I don’t fully support it I know about um that recent news about the company Hug. The
hugging face, the hugging face. That was crazy. Um and because I I'm a pre-law student
like majority of the time I am reading the textbook I am doing it I am going through
courses and courses of material. So like sometimes I do use it to breakdown certain
assignments but let me just say this, I would never use it as a source or material
I make up all my assignments and I'm being ethical about it you have to be ethical
about it. It hurts me. I like I still think about the environmental impact I still
think about the sources that it was coming from, the sources it’s grabbing from. Those
are like books I love books. It hurts my heart knowing certain companies are destroying
because destroying books because of plagiarism laws and stuff like that, and cutting
up books, and it's either your all or nothing for AI. There's no middle ground to
it, and I feel like it's it's becoming such a polarizing topic. Like how the internet
was back then. And I feel like the internet though was more there was a lot more positive
about it than negatives. But then later on, there was a lot of negatives about the
uh internet.
Babette Faehmel: 01:14:28
Um hopefully we can avoid that kind of like spiral downwards. Um so because you mentioned
AI, um it this is getting us into like really a topic that needs more time and deserves
more time. And coincidentally, it's on our list of like soon to be produced um episodes.
So I would actually like you like back if I if possible. Um, because there's just
so much more to talk about about like how does it affect cognition, how does it affect
the student-teacher relationships, how should we address like its its ever presence,
right? So let's put that um on the back burner for now.
Babette Faehmel: 01:15:10
Um we're also coming coming up on our like, well, it's supposed to be a one-hour cap.
We are already over time. Um so as a as a last, kind of like the last round here.
Um, so as a school, I mean, we want to empower students to be lifelong learners and
be successful and have a fantastic um life to being creative afterwards. Um, for us
to like live up to our full potential or to our to our mission statements, if you
had like a magic wand, would that be like what what would be like one thing that you
think we should be doing next?
Rodney Dukes: 01:15:48
Um I would say definitely at some point bringing back sports. Oh definitely, like
it just it it drives up um admissions. It also for some students that is their I want
to say discipline or form of consequence as well. So it'll make you stay on point.
You have to get these grades in order, and then it also gives them something to look
forward to. All right, if I get busy and hoop and I average this, then I might get
a free ride to go to this, you know what I mean, and finish out this next two years.
So, and it doesn't have to be a blitz at once. So you can start one year, let's start
with bowling, then see how that goes. Then the year after, let's get hoop back here,
and then the year after let's get this one. So it could be a slow implementation or
a slow grind back into it, but I think just it it just brings up it and like, and
then and this is where our committees from the SGA can get involved. We can have,
you know, and bring back the alumni and have this thing and have that. So I just think
there's so much importance to sports, how you know it, you know, we got a bunch of
a bunch of bowlers around here. Let's let's seriously. Someone get busy of bowling.
Let like let's get you know one program going or whatever back at a time, you know,
or start with an intramural thing or something along, or a club sport, and then see
how that could translate. All right, we get enough of this club sport, let's get that
back in the collegiate level.
Babette Faehmel: 01:17:18
So yeah, I hear the skiing club was a real success at uh club carnival.
Rodney Dukes: 01:17:27
Like 38 or something like that people sign up for ski club. So you so you see that
there is people that all around that are interested in um some sports.
Babette Faehmel: 01:17:36
Okay, okay. Angel?
Angel Parker: 01:17:38
Yeah, I think I'd agree with uh I'd agree with him. Sports are a big thing. Like,
even for people like me who aren't really big on sports, like I don't think I'd ever
join an official team or anything called like intramurals or sports clubs. Like that
would be great, like, especially since you mentioned bowling. I've been bowling since
I was three.
Babette Faehmel: 01:17:56
So school spirit and campus culture.
Rodney Dukes: 01:17:59
It drives up student participation as well,
Angel Parker: 01:17:59
Yea Yea and you know lot of us with our majors are you know gonna be kind of cooped
up inside, like in front of a laptop or on a desk most days, it'd be really good to
give us more activities to do to get us out, get us get us moving.
Babette Faehmel: 01:18:17
Right, and get us connected.
Angel Parker: 01:18:19
Yeah, instead of like, you know, having to exercise on your own or find communities
outside. It'd be really convenient and like easy if we, you know, had more quote sports
all the way right here to get us, not only connected with the college, but you know,
just get us better in shape, get us healthier, get us happier.
Babette Faehmel: 01:18:38
Right. And Lonnie, didn't you try to get an exercise club started last semester?
Lonny Davenport: 01:18:43
We we actually got it, um, but there were some, and I'll leave this with the two SGA
members. There, you can look into it. There was the Health and Wellness Club, right?
So we get free admissions at the YMCA, and we have that big field down there. Um,
we were trying to get a health and wellness club together. It was approved. There
were some amendments that need to be made. Um, I never got emailed a list of the amendments.
This was at the end of the year. By the time, you know, it was it was approved the
last meeting, and then there was a graduation, right? So it was approved at the last
meeting. There were some amendments I was waiting for, never got the amendments. So
if you two want to go to your advisor, this is the first time on here. If you two
want to go to your advisor, and you can also look in last year's um uh notes for last
year if she has them. The last meeting it was approved. There was just some amendments
that needed to be made. And if you have any questions about that, you can feel free
to reach out to me. I'll leave my information. But that was approved. It was just
it was approved so late. So many things was going on throughout the course of the
semester. Um, one of the things I was trying to do was meet. I know you guys meet
every other week. Most other colleges meet anywhere from once a week to twice a week.
When you go to when you go to the SGA um seminar coming up, you'll see that some of
these colleges, they'll meet once a week at least, or sometimes twice a week if it's
needed. So that was one of the things that I was kind of pushing for, but everybody
scheduled didn't align, so we had to do it what was best for the group. Um so that
was, you know, had it for me. I just like to, you know, a little bit more frequency
for me. That was best.
Neha Khani: 01:20:51
To be honest with you, I I do want to bring it up in like the next meeting with them.
We should be meeting more frequently, not just like twice a week.
Lonny Davenport: 01:20:54
Right. But absolutely. But the the the club was approved. So if you can mention that
and reach out to me or to anyone else, and I I we had um there was an advisor already
chosen. There was uh uh, you know, there was some issues with a few students and whether
they were qualified to be president, non-president, those were a few of the issues.
But um, if you can get that started back up, I would I would highly appreciate it.
Babette Faehmel: 01:21:27
All right, well that that's a plan. Um so Neha, um another Neha, another idea of like
next steps to take if you had a magic wand.
Neha Khani: 01:21:37
If I had a magic wand, Reaching out as students more I guess. Um I think we have such
a high turn over rate because a lot of students are definitely a two-year college,
then I'm transferring, um and then they realize they're kind of stuck here for a minute.
And um I think because we're also gonna have like a lot of programs for younger students
coming in, we see a lot of younger students on campus. We should tap into that more.
Like the younger crowd and older. Yeah, and like being in the middle of that, and
like not just having the library as a space, but having other like third sections,
and that's what's happening right now with like construction undergoing and um Elston,
uh, the main uh, but not just there, but other sections I want to have like third
party spaces for students to hang out, yeah, right, hang out and do stuff for us.
Rodney Dukes: 01:22:53
But that's coming. Like we talked about that when that is coming and the pool table.
We're getting a pool table in there. More furniture.
Lonny Davenport: 01:23:01
More more furniture is supposed to be coming.
Rodney Dukes: 01:23:04
A couple of more games as well. So those will bring because every pool, whether you're
19 or 99, yeah, You can get that work. Yeah, pool is a universal thing, right? So
like things like that are coming.
Warren Baynes: 01:23:17
Right. It just takes time, like we said earlier.
Neha Khani: 01:23:23
We are discussing it now. We want for this SGA, we want a lot more active students
on campus.
Warren Baynes: 01:23:29
Which is actually right.
Neha Khani: 01:23:31
And so we are implementing that now.
Babette Faehmel: 01:23:33
Perfect, perfect.
Warren Baynes: 01:23:34
Anything you would like to? Um, okay, so speaking of getting more students active,
what would you like to actually see from your peers, not the faculty so much, in terms
of what you want the college to even look like, just overall? Like when you think
of the students, how would you want them to engage more with the school or with the
their community? Because I think that's a very important thing that students should
be doing.
Rodney Dukes: 01:24:00
I totally agree.
Neha Khani: 01:24:02
Um more participation, I guess. Yeah, right. More participation in the school, in
the environment, because um, I know a lot of us are introverted, and especially in
this day and age, it's all social media, it's all like online discourse, it's all
you in your room, and like just going to college, and even speaking from a person
that is doing online college, I'm still on campus. I'm still on the campus, I'm still
talking to people, I'm still participating. Um of course not educate. Join clubs and
on an online student, join college, talk to the tutors. The tutors are a meaning to
you guys, thank you, thank you. Um AI can never replace y'all.
Babette Faehmel: 01:24:54
And never will.
Neha Khani: 01:24:56
Never will. And um and honestly, just talk to people. I know it's gonna be hard, and
I'm like there might be some bad apples, and some people are mean, and some people
are fake or whatever, but just keep trying and keep putting yourself out there because
you will a group, you will find your niche, you will find people that you will connect
with on this campus or even out of the campus, and just do yourself in general. And
just be yourself live, participate.
Babette Faehmel: 01:25:34
Right. That's actually that's actually the perfect like last words. Okay. Wait, two
minutes to get it. Okay, if you have two minutes, go for it.
Rodney Dukes: 01:25:46
No, wait. Um, I would say like somebody who's into heavily into music, and somebody
who does music events and diversity is huge. Yeah. So and we have this big music program
and around. So why not utilize that? Let's do a block party, let's do something out
there, let's get, all right, if you're a positive hip-hop artist, we have those rounds
if you can sing. Because singing is you can be 1868. There's no, you know, there's
no age gap for singing. So let's do things like that, carnivals, festivals where our
students are, hey, right, let's do our own version of dancing with the stars or the
voice, if that makes sense. Are people out for that stuff? I agree with you.
Warren Baynes: 01:26:26
I agree with you, and sorry to cut you off. Go ahead. One thing that um students actually
can do is do things like sign up for TRIO, which actually would help students and
encourages you to come to the school and participate in things so that way you are
always participating and you always don't have a bad experience and you're not doing
everything by yourself. Things like like to have programs like that that can definitely
be of help for students who are struggling here uh academically or just socially.
TRIO is a great place to start for you guys, and I encourage students who are maybe
if you're not even struggling with these things to go and try TRIO.
Babette Faehmel: 01:27:06
All right, but now we really have to stop. So, okay, thank you once again. So Lonnie,
Angel, Rodney, Neha, Jenna, um, did I forget anybody? And Warren and Patrick, of course.
So, Many Voices, One Call is made possible thanks to the contributions of the SUNY
Schenectady Foundation. We're especially grateful for the School of Music and in particular
Sten Isachsen for their continuing support with the technical details. The recording
and editing of the podcast was possible thanks to music students Costanza Major and
Max LaFarr; Heather Meany, Karen Tansky, and Jessica McHugh Green deserve credit for
promoting the podcast. Thanks also goes to the Vice President of Academic Affairs,
the College President, Dr. Nicole Reaves, the Student Government Association, and
the Student Activities Advisor. Stay tuned for more episodes where you get your podcast.