Whether it be from dining room tables turned work desks or the comfort of one’s own bed, students in Anthropology 238 made sure to log into their twice-a-week Zoom session at 1:40 PM. It was another hour and 15 minutes spent trying to avoid the temptation other avenues of the internet bring, all whilst zeroing in on the voice emanating from one of the 20-something virtual boxes. The professor, who left Queens, NY for Pennsylvania during the pandemic, was in the middle of his lecture until he no longer was. He couldn’t be, not after a bear wandering into his backyard caught his attention. The professor let out a genuine…
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Getting “Locked out” of Graduation
Many students enrolled in the City University of New York (CUNY) have had the relatable experience of seeing the dreaded blue square next to a course title on CUNYFirst, the student class portal, just minutes before their registration slot, indicating that a class that they wished to sign up for has already been filled. As a result, registration dates and class capacity are easily two of the most stressful factors in ensuring a fulfilling semester to follow and in some cases, a timely graduation. For the past 30 years, CUNY has reported below-average four-year graduation rates. According to College Factual, only 56.1% of the Class of 2011’s freshmen in CUNY…
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How Can We Do Better? Creating a More Just and Inclusive Future
The Queens Memory project team recently launched a three-part panel series titled, “How Can We Do Better? Creating a More Just and Inclusive Future.” This series was meant to give the Queens College (QC) community a virtual platform to meaningfully discuss and raise awareness about issues regarding race, identity, civic participation, and student leadership which hopes to instill positive social reform. The panel was part of a national dialogue that was prompted by the death of George Floyd, a black man who was victim of police brutality and passed away earlier this year in May. With a recent surge in racial animosity across our nation, protests against the deaths…
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Disney’s New Mulan: How does it compare to the original film?
The live-action Disney film Mulan, originally supposed to be released April 2020, was instead pushed back to stream on Disney Plus beginning this past September due to the pandemic. The film was mainly just a rumor for many years before it was set for production with a lot of the original material from the film taken out. Director Niki Caro commented, “I mean, back to the realism question – we don’t tend to break into song when we go to war. Not that I’m saying anything against the animation. The songs are brilliant, and if I could squeeze them in there, I would have. But we do honor the music…
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QC Students talk in-person class experience during pandemic
The 2020 Fall semester is in full swing! Despite its historically unprecedented online instruction, Queens College faculty and staff are tirelessly working to ensure that students receive a quality education. With more students being infected by COVID-19 on college campuses across the nation, the fear of a local spike in cases still remains prevalent amongst members of the community. The majority of students are receiving synchronous, asynchronous, or a combination of both lecture types through diverse platforms such as CUNY Blackboard Collaborative Ultra, Zoom, Google Meets, Slack, Dropbox and others. But what happens to those students and professors who need access to science laboratories as per their major or minor…
