Dear NWACC President Jorgenson & S.V.P & Provost, Dr. Steven Gates,
We are second year nursing students in the class of 2014 within NWACC’s nursing program. We are writing to tell you of the many wrong-doings perpetrated on the students that are occurring within the nursing program. Throughout this two-year program, nursing instructor’s Judy Reeves and Dana Russell have singled out varies students to bully, harass, and sabotage their efforts to learn and to make progress within this program.
We, as a class, are not being taught. Rather, instructors are simply reading power-point presentations to us. We students can read these at home, as we do, and we don’t need them to read them to us. Lecture time, only 4 hours a week, should be used to teach the students, which never happens. Every single student in our class learns by studying on our own. We learn nothing from our instructors. Most of these 4-hours “lecture” classes are spent by Dr. Pendleton, the Director of Nursing, lecturing our class on how we are not studying right at home, but we are. The one good instructor, who actually taught us with the large majority of our class passing, was removed from lecturing our class to eliminate us from achieving success.
In order for our class to ultimately provide our future patients with the quality of care they will need and deserve, NWACC needs to revamp its program to make student success top priority, which you are in the position to do. As it stands at this time, NWACC’s nursing program is designed to fail its students and to deny student success, which we students are paying your institution to provide to us. Your nursing program failed 63% of our class for the Fall 2013 semester. Then, we students watched on our computers as your administration changed everybody’s grades to reflect only a 20% fail rate. We have screen shots of our grades changing by the minute after the final exam was taken.
In reading NWACC’s latest Nursing Student Handbook, there is not a single policy to protect students in any situation, but especially to protect their grades and how they are calculated. Further, there is no time frame in which a student’s submitted work and subsequent grades are to be returned to them.
We nursing students of the class of 2014 respectfully ask of you, President Jorgenson & Steven Gates, S.V.P and Provost to NWACC, to address these immense problems faced by your hard-working, paying nursing students who are unjustly being put through the wringer.
NWACC's nursing program is not accredited, which is not public knowledge, so we students are going through an un-accredited program. This is knowledge we should know prior to enrolling in the program.
Sincerely,
Concerned NWACC Nursing Class of 2014
It is understandable to want to bring to light all complaints and grievances. However, signing "NWACC Nursing Class of 2014" included many who had no idea this was going on and would have opted not to be included. Many just want to focus on graduating and staying under the radar, and that is their choice. What others do is their own choice, but we should all be mindful of harm or unwanted attention we may end up drawing to others in our own endeavors.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely understandable to chose that path, however, your speaking to the fear they perpetuate in their students and holding your academic success over your head to make you fall in line to their will and keep quiet. This is an atrocity! Our future success within the program should be dictated by how hard we work and the "grade" we rightfully earn, whether we pass shouldn't be determined by how well we are liked by the higher ups in power! If you were on the other side of the "passing" fence ask yourself what you would be doing in your own endeavors then? You never know how high or low their radar will go come next semester. Good luck in that path.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to add to this conversation by stating that this discrimination is not acceptable in a "democratic" institution and in a "democratic" society such as the United States of America. It should not be that students pass the program by how well the instructors like, or dislike, a student. These teachers and administrators should be supporting every student's growth in education. It is not fair that you, unhappy student, pass the program while some of your classmate do not. All of you students in the class of 2014 need to stand together on this issue and not be divided.
ReplyDeleteCurious to know if these students received a response back from Jorgenson and Gates.
ReplyDeleteGuardian Angel- As it stands no sir/ma'am not yet.
ReplyDelete"kimber kitty" shouldn't assume that "unhappy student" passed, because she has no idea. What I was speaking toward is the fact that the writer of the email did not take into account anyone else's thoughts on what he/she wrote and included. Aside from fighting for rights, aside from fighting against corruption at nwacc, that writer and yourself posting that comment took a selfish standpoint in not thinking of anyone but themselves. I know for a fact that supporters of this line of seeking justice - in going to the news - that all the supporters were not brought to light on the email, were not asked what they thought of the email before it was posted, were not consulted whatsoever. THAT'S my complaint. It's hard to support someone or support a cause when one person takes it all into their own hands to decide the best plan of action. That is tyranny in itself, something we are fighting against. I'm not saying this is not a good cause. I'm not saying it doesn't need to be done. I'm just asking you to be considerate of your fellow supporters as well as the ones who may not want to take part, and who are being dragged along anyway. And just because it is a worthy cause does not give you the right to decide whether or not others should be included by saying "Class of 2014."
ReplyDeleteYour complaints have merit. What would you suggest have taken place then? As it stands there are three tracks of Nursing students that are in the class of 2014 and not limited to just one certain class in particular. It did not say ALL of the class members are on board and included with the letter just simply limited to the class(es) of nurses that are due to graduate in 2014. The sit around and do nothing method is not one to get results
ReplyDeleteAs a former student who felt like I was being led through a labyrinth of confusing exercises, pointless teaching methods (the powerpoint exercises); I'm relieved to know that I'm not crazy. I felt some of the things that these nursing students state in their letter. Too bad that this experience soured me on the nursing profession. They lost a compassionate, intelligent, hard-working man who could have been beneficial to many patients and fellow healthcare workers.
ReplyDelete