Discimus ut serviamus:
We learn so that we may serve.
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Students Adapt to Distance Learning
Although most QC students are digital natives who grew up in a high-tech world, their transition to distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis has presented some challenges—and they are tackling them with impressive dedication.
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Students attend Nathalia Holtzman's Biology lab on Google Meet.
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Students have had to quickly adjust from in-person to fully online studies, and are navigating both simple and complex issues in doing so, for which they have turned to the college and each other for solutions. Those range from learning to use unfamiliar course software to the more layered context of trying to live, work, and study during a pandemic in which ordinary life is upended. These issues—faced by college students all over the country—are also shaped here by the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity for which CUNY students are well known.
Officers of the Student Association (SA) see many of the impacts. Alongside the college administration and faculty, student government continues to meet virtually and guide people having problems toward appropriate resources. In the view of Siddharth Malviya—a junior biology and psychology major, SA vice president, and deputy holder of the chair of the academic senate (its second highest office), “Everybody sees how a sense of community is the most important thing during a time like this. From a student’s experience, it’s imperative that we’re all bonded and here for each other.”
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Perhaps the simplest issues have been the technical. Many QC students had never taken online or fully online classes, and have had to learn how to use the course platforms. Malviya often troubleshoots in video chats with friends. “We all help each other out,” he says. “I was able to get adjusted rather quickly because of the professor’s explanation—and also because of the handy fact that for someone who happens to be born in my generation, technology comes a little bit quicker.”
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Graduate students employed as assistants to Jennifer Jarvis (assistant vice president of Student Affairs) also are at the front lines of distance learning. Involved with helping students obtain laptops, assisting financially and personally at-risk students, and dealing with other urgent matters while pursuing their own coursework, they see how the COVID-19 emergency affects both undergraduate and graduate students, and are working to help them secure what they need to continue their education.
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Even advanced students have had adjustments to make, according to Warner Fontaine ’18, a master’s candidate in urban affairs. His thesis-writing course has moved online to workshop students’ writing in small groups. “The pandemic has impacted us all differently, so we’re trying to each figure out when the timing will work best for us, which can change week by week.” Briana Galimi ’19 (right), a master’s candidate in counseling in the ECP program, says that she is experienced at online work, but finds the current amount of screen time taxing. She believes that holds for undergraduates as well, adding that “not everyone focuses well at home. People are just kind of adjusting, but they definitely do prefer being at school and able to go study elsewhere.”
Many students are experimenting with new ways to manage their time successfully. Used to the regular routine of scheduled classes, they now juggle synchronous and asynchronous classes, new syllabi, and new deadlines. Zaire Couloute—an undeclared junior, SEEK student, and SA programming chair
—
says that “It can be so easy to get lost between emails and what’s going on on Blackboard and Google Classroom and Zoom. Setting myself on a strict schedule as if I were still on campus has helped me keep track of everything.” Her strategy is to view uploaded lectures at the same time as her class was originally scheduled “so I don’t get confused about what my class is doing.”
Working Schedules
Schedules can be harder to rearrange when students are still working. This is not an uncommon problem, according to Joseph Cobourne—a junior political science and urban studies major, SEEK student, and SA president. Students tell him that the online workloads can feel strenuous on top of their jobs, but they remain dedicated. “A lot of students are essential workers,” he says. “A lot of them have families.” Indeed, that applies to Cobourne himself. “My dad owns his own taxi service, so I work under him. I am an essential worker. I have to go out in the morning and drive my car, and then I come back and set up to get to my work.” At home, he also has to be mindful of time when organizing his schoolwork. “I have a family of seven that I live with. Because we’re all forced to stay home, everybody is on the Internet and that slows down the system. When you’re trying to do your work, there are issues opening up the slides your professor just posted or even signing in to the webcam.”
As members of a large and diverse community, QC students are very much aware of the big picture, expressing many concerns about the ways that economics may affect the ability to succeed online. In Galimi’s view, “Our generation and the larger society thought that we were super highly technological, super ready for this. ‘In a few years everything’s going to be online.’ But this pandemic has shown us that we’re not ready.” Rather, it has made underlying social differences more visible. “People thought, ‘Oh, everyone has this and everyone has that,’” she says. “Being in my position, working with Jennifer Jarvis and at my practicum in Hempstead, I see that we’re not there yet. People don’t have these things—the WiFi, the laptops, and everything that everyone thinks that every American has.”
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Malviya finds himself directing students to Counseling and to the Knights Table Food Pantry. “It really has taken me aback to see so many students who are overwhelmed by all the negative things the coronavirus epidemic has done to them. They’re housing insecure, food insecure, financially insecure. If they already were, their problems are now worse,” he says. Couloute points to ways that students experience the “trauma of COVID” directly. Many share homes with health care workers or report that they, family, friends, or neighbors are ill. They worry about medical care. “Our main job as students is to learn. When things come in the way, it’s hard sometimes,” she says. “Some students are definitely not coming out of this unscathed.”
Optimistic Students
Yet, the students remain overwhelmingly optimistic. Their resilience may be their most important resource. As Fontaine sees it, “There’s this initial hurdle that we’re all experiencing right now in trying to transition. I think working from home and online classes will become part of our new normal—maybe not to the degree that we’re seeing now, but something that we will see more of.”
Others suggest that this may be a formative moment that could lead members of their generation to a new understanding. As Malviya says, “Hopefully, once it’s over, we will no longer take for granted the everyday things that we had available and the seemingly normal things we used to do.”
Similarly, Galimi reflects, “This is giving everyone an opportunity to rethink what really matters in life. When this first happened, everyone kind of wished, ‘Oh, I don’t want to go to work and school,’ with very negative attributions to schoolwork and other responsibilities. Now, when everyone’s forced to be home and
not
work and
not
go to school, I’ve seen a huge shift in motivation, the way that people view life—in a positive way.”
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Keeping Campus Clean and Disinfected
When the Queens College campus is eventually reopened for normal business, those who return can do so with the assurance that it has been and will continue to be properly sanitized to remove COVID-19 coronavirus pathogens.
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“The first case on campus was documented in the library,” says Zeco Krcic, AVP of Facilities Planning and Operations. “We followed CUNY COVID-19 guidelines and performed a routine deep cleaning and disinfection of the area, as we do following every identification of a positive case. The office of Bill Graffeo, director of Environmental Health and Safety, is acting as campus intake coordinator, relaying the information to the CUNY Coronavirus Task Force and ensuring follow-up on campus and among business units.”
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“We use a disinfectant that is rated to kill viruses,” explains Denese Gordon, director and chief superintendent of Buildings and Grounds. “We follow the manufacturer’s directions as to how to apply it and the kill-time that you have to wait for it to be effective. Our normal cleaning and disinfecting process is in line with the CDC and the EPA guidelines for how to disinfect.”
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CDC guidance on SARS-CoV-2—the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19—says, “Current evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may remain viable for hours to days on surfaces made from a variety of materials. Cleaning of visibly dirty surfaces followed by disinfection is a best practice measure for prevention of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses in households and community settings.”
With respect to the question of when campus will be considered safe for resumption of normal activities, Krcic says, “It’s important to note that the buildings have been cleaned and closed for over a month, and there’s also a time clock for how long viruses can last on surfaces, in general.
Some essential staff members visit campus daily and others come intermittently. We follow each visit with repeat cleaning procedures.
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“Based on what I’m hearing from the governor and medical experts,” he continues, “if you do what we do in cleaning surfaces over and over and do it daily, I’m not expecting that virus remains viable for any period of time. The fact that the campus has been largely empty is working in our favor as well.”
Gordon notes that in the event the campus reopens and someone who is asymptomatic but carrying the virus returns, the housekeeping staff’s normal cleaning practices should hold the virus at bay. “Our normal daily cleaning includes disinfection, which is what we’ve done for decades,” she says. “We disinfect frequently touched surfaces and places that are traveled frequently: the corridors, the elevators, the staircases. In people’s offices, we don’t typically do telephones or keyboards, but a person could do those themselves.”
When Campus Community Returns
Krcic emphasizes that people returning to campus will also have to be participants in preventing spread of the virus by observing good hygiene. “People are going to have to follow basic sanitary guidelines, such as frequently and thoroughly washing their hands. This is absolutely required. Custodians can’t do it themselves. These are best practices that apply to every flu season, in general.” We are the strongest when we work together.
“I think we’ve got to stress when we move forward that it’s not only the college. Everyone has a responsibility,” says Graffeo. “Stay home if you’re not feeling well and don’t come to work where you could possibly spread the virus if you have it. And also practice good hygiene to prevent virus from spreading.”
Krcic re-emphasizes the fact that when campus reopens, it will have been closed for months during which it has been continually cleaned. This is especially true when individuals make an essential visit to campus. “Given the circumstances, we’re doing our very best to take the necessary precautions,” he says.
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Click on image to download PDF
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Click on image to download PDF
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Staying at Home with Satchmo
That’s My Home
, an online exhibition curated by LAHM Research Collections Director Ricky Riccardi, enables jazz fans from all over the world to explore museum holdings at their own pace. Newly accessible materials range from vintage film clips and photographs to conversations and practice sessions Armstrong taped on his reel-to-reel recorder. Coming LAHM attractions will include virtual tours and livestreamed panel discussions conducted remotely.
Jeff Rosenstock, the college’s assistant vice president for governmental affairs and acting director of LAHM, noted that the virtual exhibit allows visitors to experience the legendary musician’s home while spending time in their own homes. “We hope that we can all draw inspiration from Armstrong’s love for his neighborhood, his community, and New York, his adopted city,” says Rosenstock.
A national landmark located in Corona, LAHM is a cultural time capsule, furnished as it was when the Armstrongs were in residence. Satchmo’s widow, Lucille, who passed away in 1983, left the property and her husband’s extensive archives to Queens College.
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Stipends Available for Unpaid Internships
Students can still apply for $2,400 stipend toward an unpaid internship of their choice, including remote work.
The Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez Internship Fund application deadline is Sunday, April 26. For complete details about the fund,
click here
. The letter of recommendation can be submitted separately from the student application and after the deadline.
For additional inquiries, please contact Lisa Louis-Marijanksi, associate director of Career Education and Internships, at
stipend@qc.cuny.edu
.
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Anti-Bullying Program Goes Online
Sonal Soni of Queens College’s Counseling Resource Center will provide support for students during the Gender Love and Sexuality Alliance (GLASA)-sponsored virtual presentation, “Break the Silence: We Will Not Be Bullied and Harassed,” for LGBTQ youth on Friday, April 24, at 1 pm. Students will meet via Zoom to tell stories, share feelings, and explore ways in which they can more effectively take control of their lives and identities. Poetry, song, art and all forms of creative expression are all welcome. The event is open to students from the CUNY Queens Consortium: QC, LaGuardia Community College, York College, Queensborough Community College, and the CUNY Law School.
To participate,
click here.
Meeting ID: 993 434 989; password: 084730.
One-tap mobile: +16468769923,,993434989#,,#,084730# US (New York)
Meeting ID: 993 434 989; password: 084730
Day of Silence—created in 1996 and held the second Friday of every April—seeks to shed light on what many LGBTQ youth experience daily. Initially intended to focus on this problem within the school system, this campaign subsequently expanded into workplaces, university campuses, and sporting events. Yearly, millions participate by staying silent for the duration of their day, representing the silencing of LGBTQ students. Many participants choose to wear tape over their mouths or Xs on their hands to further call attention to the movement.
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Celebrating Poetry Month
This week, QView shares two recent works by CUNY Distinguished Professor Kimiko Hahn.
To a No. 2 Yellow Pencil on April 17, 2020
To see you is to smell
your wood and lead shavings
that spill from the gray
metal pencil sharpener
nailed to the window sill
in Mrs. Rote's classroom--
all these decades ago. Today,
my mechanical one, empty,
with no shopping in sight,
I declare I hold you dear.
To a Nail on April 17, 2020
I can't find the hammer to hang a photo
of the Okuno side of the family, to illuminate the gloom
even or especially as we all consent to distance.
Any kind of picture--sepia or Kodachrome--
is close as I'll come so when I find that hammer--
please help me nail this isolation.
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More Thought for Food
As reported in
amNY,
local activists are hard at work addressing food insecurity in the Borough of Queens. If you need help or know someone who does, consider contacting one of the following organizations.
Crystal Wolfe has been collecting and distributing food and toiletries to families, seniors, people with disabilities, and the homeless. For more information about her services, or to support them, visit the website of the organization she founded,
Catering for the Homeless
.
La Jornada, based in the Bland Houses (133-36 Roosevelt Avenue, Building 4), operates Monday through Saturday, offering different services on different days. The organization posts updates
here
.
Hungry Monk
has expanded its work in response to the coronavirus. The group’s food pantry (68-59 60th Lane) is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, from 10 am to 1 pm, and enforces social distancing. Emergency pantry bags can be delivered once a week to residents of Bushwick, Maspeth, Middle Village, and Ridgewood who have recently been in the hospital or tested positive for COVID-19. To arrange a delivery, call 347-502-8713.
Woodbine
, which has teamed up with Hungry Monk, distributes fresh produce at 1882 Woodbine Street on Wednesdays and Fridays, opening at 10 am.
The
New York City Food Policy Center has added new Queens entries
to its list of food resources throughout the city, including options for students, seniors, and people with disabilities. The New York City Department of Education continues to offer three free meals a day, Monday through Friday, to children and adults throughout the city. No identification is required; food must be picked up to be eaten offsite. For details, including the location of a food hub in your neighborhood,
click here
.
For all kinds of resources that are useful to students—covering issues such as food, housing, mental health, and child care—please see
this flyer
from QC’s Center for Ethnic, Racial and Religious Understanding.
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Beaches may not be open and baseball teams may be benched, but QC will be holding
Summer Session:
about 600 courses, all presented entirely online. As usual, here’s a chance for students to continue earning the credits they need to keep on track for graduation. To learn more about learning more,
click here
. Starting next week, QView will report on some of the exciting classes that will be offered.
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Coronavirus Information at a Click
To simplify access to information about Coronavirus and its impact on our community, the Office of Communications and Marketing has expanded the Coronavirus site on the QC portal to include a new Resource and
FAQs page
, This page has a convenient drop-down list of General FAQs, Student/Families FAQs, and Faculty and Staff FAQs. Additional pages on the site include
Updates
and the
Coronavirus landing page
.
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In Memorian: Babette Solon Hollister
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The Queens College community mourned upon learning of the death of Economics emerita Babette Solon Hollister, who passed away from COVID-19 on April 14, at the age of 87.
A graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, New York University, and MIT, which awarded her a doctorate in Economics in 1958, Solon was a trailblazer in a male-dominated field. “In my day, there weren’t many career choices for a girl from the Bronx,” she liked to observe. At Queens College, where she taught for more than 40 years, she was an institution in her own right, known professionally by her maiden name.
“She had zero tolerance for talking, lateness, or inattention,” says Joan Nix, who took courses with Solon, came back to QC as her colleague, and eulogized her in a
brief note
. “If students talked, she was known to walk out of the classroom and return to her office. She never curved an exam.” To co-workers she was generous and solicitous, her kindness undiminished by deep personal loss: Her daughter, Kate, was killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, and Solon was part of the effort to win justice for the victims and their families.
In retirement, Solon volunteered as a tutor. She enjoyed mystery books, crossword puzzles, and classical music, and tuned into “Jeopardy” every night. She is survived by Bill Hollister—her husband of 25 years—and their family.
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Associate Provost for Innovation and Student Success
Eva Fernández
reports that at 8:30 am every weekday, Division 5 (Innovation & Student Success) gets together online for coffee, conversation, and updates. At 5-ish every day a team member shares a favorite song.
Here’s the growing playlist
. . . .
Dennis Liotta
’70, executive director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development and Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry at Emory University, co-hosted an American Chemical Society webinar, “COVID-19: A Groundwork for Therapeutic Agents and Vaccines,” on Wednesday, April 15 . . . .
Nancy Bruno
and
Gina Minielli
, graduates of QC’s MFA program in Social Practice, are featured in an episode in the
PBS documentary series, “Church in States”
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The
Q View
is produced by the
Office of Communications and Marketing.
Comments and suggestions for future news items
are welcome.
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