Friday, January 17, 2025
Students and faculty at Nassau Community College are voicing their frustration over the lack of course offerings and departmental cuts.
Faculty packed the college’s multipurpose room to hear colleagues and students voice their concerns at the annual winter luncheon on Dec. 17.
The event was hosted by the Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers, a local union affiliated with New York State United Teachers. Frustrations over course cuts and departmental reductions were highlighted.
According to NCCFT president Faren Siminoff, the campus is not meeting its mission, which is to offer a “robust offering of courses” scheduled throughout the day for students.
Administrators have doubled since last year, she said, but the college has eliminated 21 departments, cut funding to student services and clubs, all while limiting its schedule of classes.
Department mergers, he said, were carefully planned in alignment with union agreements to improve efficiency. In addition, Kornbluth stated that the theater and dance department will not be eliminated, and will continue to offer majors and seasonal productions, ensuring its ongoing presence on campus.
“Our priority remains preserving and enhancing the affordable, high-quality education that Nassau Community College is known for,” Kornbluth said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to be a place where students thrive, whether they are entering the workforce or transferring to a four-year institution.”
Siminoff claims that students have found it difficult to find courses that fit their busy schedule, especially for those who work. The college, she said, would reportedly cancel a course offering early, sometimes a week or two after registration opens, even though students register weeks later.
Joining students and staff were County Legislators Thomas McKevitt and Siela Bynoe, who spoke of the importance that community colleges provide for middle-class students. Bynoe was elected to state senate in November.
McKevitt said he wished people could see the college’s potential as a place where students, who might not be able to afford tuition for private institutions, can succeed and be tomorrow’s leaders.
“The reality is that the private institutions have priced the middle class out of higher education,” McKevitt said, “which is why Nassau Community College is more important than it has ever been before.”
Richard Ginsburg, chairman of the theater and dance department at NCC, claimed administration planned to “deactivate” the program. He instructed and guided students for over 40 years throughout the department’s 61 years, adding that the arts are essential to education, and the state owes it to itself to sustain and encourage such programs.
“We had survived and grew through a deadly pandemic,” Ginsburg said, “but we will not survive through this administration, as next fall, the theater department will go from historically nine, full-time teaching faculty to zero.”
Simran Gil, an international student and president of the Filipino Cultural Society, said at the beginning of this semester, her club allegedly received “zero dollars in funding” despite submitting all their paperwork on time.
Gil said her club addressed this issue to the Faculty Student Association and Student Government Association and eventually received $250, which Gil said was “far too little” to support the club’s activities, which was half of what they received in 2021, she added.
Bynoe, a NCC graduate, worked full-time while attending courses at night. She described her experience as a foundation that led her to a master’s in public administration at Long Island University and wants the college to be sustainable for current students and generations to come.
“We want to make sure that their children and their children’s children have an opportunity to have an affordable, quality education,” Bynoe said.
