As a student at the Center for New Media, I am very upset with KVCC cutting the hours of our part-time instructors so that most of them only have one class. I am worried about the future of the Center for New Media. This act is forcing the CNM to hire many new part-time instructors which will greatly change the atmosphere and environment at CNM.
My favorite teachers, who have taught me the most, are all part-time. Those part-time teachers make the CNM building a great place to learn. When the new part-time teachers get placed here, its going to change everything I love about the CNM. It will lose the close connection the students and teachers have with one another, that makes the CNM campus a thriving social and creative environment for its students. It will take a long time for them to get to know the curriculum, causing a drop in education levels and interest in the programs.
My fellow students and I have been working hard to try and build momentum back into the it school by starting back up the Creative Instincts group. We didn't even know we could have groups like this until it was presented to us by a couple of part-time instructors, Tom Hamann and Tom Mills. They are two leading forces in inspiring the group and helping us grow as artists and designers. However, everything we have been working for will be lost if this new policy happens.
The part-time instructors we have now do not work as if they are part-time. They put as much effort and devotion into the students as any full-time teacher here--they put in more. Currently, the instructors at the CNM all work together when teaching their classes. They set up the courses to collaboratively flow together. For example, if you’re taking print production and graphic design, the assignments and lessons flow together to make a better learning experience. New teachers will not be able to do this, resulting in a more confusing, repetitive learning environment. New instructors won't know how the other instructors work.
The Center for New Media is a closely connected culture of its own. I have become hesitant in signing up for classes for the fall semester because I don't want to take a class with one of the new instructors they hire. I like knowing who my teacher is before I take a class. At CNM, I can do that and it’s another fact that makes this place such a great learning environment. Every way I look at this situation I can never see anything good coming from it.
The part-time instructors at the CNM deserve to get benefits and the respect as high as any full- time instructor. All of them do just as much when it comes to helping and changing the students for the better. Honestly, it makes me embarrassed to say I go to KVCC now. What KVCC is doing makes me not have respect for them. It shows they have no respect for their students by not having respect for the part-time teachers that give us the best quality of learning. KVCC posts all these signs saying "Now I know.” Every time I see those, now all I can think is "Now I know KVCC does not respect their part-time teachers or the quality of learning given to their students."
I will take any action to stop this from happening. I don't care if I have to scream it all over the media, walk the streets with signs and banners in protest, start a petition by the CNM students to stop this from happening or all of the above. I strongly disagree with dropping the hours of our part-time instructors so KVCC does not have to give them benefits! I will not tolerate the best instructors I have ever had not getting the respect and positions they have earned and deserve!
Thank you for reading my concerns and opinion,
Alicia Baur
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