In response to the needs and desires expressed by an intimate group of students and faculty at Pedagogy Day’s 2021 Planning Round Table, we incorporated their suggestion for a space where the voices, demands, and experiences of graduate students across training areas at CUNY could be archived and shared. In Fall 2021, we sent a survey to all GC CUNY students in the Psychology program and our Pedagogy Day doctoral student co-chairs used quotes from the survey to create a Collaborative Letter to Instructors and Faculty, which was read during Pedagogy Day 2021 (see below for full letter and click here for recording). The letter captured the array of conversations, wants, discomforts, questions, and challenges that instructors should be more aware of.

UPDATE: As a consequence of reading the letter at Pedagogy Day, Dr. Richard Bodnar (Executive Officer Psychology Program GC) made space in the agenda for the letter to be read at the October GC Psychology Executive Committee meeting for training area heads and CUNY Psychology Department Chairs. Afterwards, Dr. Bodnar asked Training Areas Heads to discuss the letter with faculty within individual training areas and make action plans for change. These meetings have just begun.

Dear Faculty and Instructors,

We, the students, address you today from different spaces, places, programs and training areas, embodying our lands and our loved ones. 

We the students are here with concerns. Concerns that we have already expressed to our colleagues, faculty members, advisors, and training area heads. Concerns that persist. 

As we maintain individual projects, take care of loved ones, juggle coursework, research, doctoral exams, teaching, clinical work, we, the students, feel that you often forget that we exist as whole beings. We are here to ask to be treated as such: whole souls deserving of adequate health, support, and care.

We believe that this support begins fundamentally with sufficient and equitable funding. We are frustrated that while some students receive funding through fellowships or support from their mentors, others of us are forced to seek outside jobs and additional responsibilities just to support ourselves. This does not leave sufficient time to focus on our academic responsibilities. 

We the students are here to tell you that voicing this concern has not been met with care. 

We the students feel overworked, underpaid, and limited in our time. The current status of funding makes many of us feel undervalued by you and by our programs. Some of us struggle as we resist internalizing this. 

We the students have often found graduate school to be a rigid, antiquated, and hostile environment. CUNY is home to an exceptionally diverse community, yet, we the students have been forced to endure: racism, sexism, queerphobia, transphobia, and ableism, from faculty members and other students alike. We have faced intellectual theft, and suffered from the consequences of tensions between faculty members and outdated curriculum or content that continues to adhere to mainstream values or problematic race-based norms.

We the students cannot sustain ourselves under such demanding conditions.

WE WANT TO SEE – A reduction in course workload

As students are whole beings who not only fulfill educational requirements, but who serve as caretakers and workers, reducing course workload would significantly decrease the amount of stress and demands that we face. This is incredibly important in a time when COVID-19 has taken a huge toll on everyone’s health and well-being. Instructors may implement a maximum number of assigned readings (# of pages) per class or reconsider the use of midterm exams.

WE WANT TO SEE – Consideration of the Expertise and Experience of Students

Many students do not feel that their experiences are valued, nor do they feel that they are being treated as assets to the program. Instructors can create systems that allow students to share their knowledge; evaluate the effectiveness and relevancy of curriculum and program presentations; and offer new ways of structuring courses. This would create a more collaborative environment where students’ interests and contributions are centered.

WE WANT TO SEE – Spaces for Students to Receive Support and Guidance

Many students are navigating graduate school without adequate guidance. Many are also without a sense of community within their program. Students would greatly appreciate structured mentorship from advisors and public postings of important information (e.g. appropriate points of contact, program milestones, resources), and spaces to connect with fellow graduate students.

WE WANT TO SEE – Internal Reviews for Faculty

Students have reported having several discriminatory or abusive interactions with faculty. They have also expressed concern that the curriculum is often not reflective of their lived experiences or interests. Internal reviews would create safer environments that prioritize students’ well-being and educational experiences.

We the students write this letter today, not simply to be acknowledged or heard. We want things to be different.  We the students are here to share that here, today, in this remote learning space, we are burnt out. 

We are hurting. 

We want things to be different.