The New School is currently taking precautions to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 within the community. Although it’s reassuring to know the university is now conducting the remainder of the semester online, we as students still need better support for international students, a solution for lack of accessibility to the school’s facilities, an alternative for thesis shows and commencement, and most importantly, overall more student involvement in the decision-making process.
As the virus continues to spread inevitably in NYC, I have received numerous reports, either directly to me or to the CSSA, about Asian students being discriminated against in near-campus locations. From harsh sign language to verbal abuses, and even physical attacks, such incidents truly brought panic and fear to the community.
Although I and the other officials in CSSA would provide students coming to us with information on where to find emotional, physical or legal support within the university resources, comforting and instructing them to stay positive and not panicked, the process of hearing such stories truly put stress and anxiety on my shoulders.
I personally don’t yet have a real plan to evacuate the city. Many of my international student friends already fled NYC or are currently planning to leave, due to fear of the virus or their personal safety. However, for international students without a US green card, traveling outside of the US can be legally or academically challenging since they might face difficulties coming back to the US or have to practice remote-learning in a different time zone or a location with active-censorship practice.
International Student and Scholar Services needs to do a better job handling such issues, increasing time slots for zoom appointments, answering emails and questions more frequently, providing more information about legal status and possibly creating a school-paid VPN (virtual private network) for international students that are in censorship-active locations with denied access to Google products.
Moreover, it is truly unfortunate to see the class of 2020’s curriculum get interrupted by COVID-19 in such a cruel way. Other than the fact that commencement is happening virtually for Class of 2020, most graduating students are most concerned about their thesis show.
As I have spoken to my graduating friends in the past week, many of them felt like they have lost their purpose, since they have given 4 years of creative hard work and they are afraid that there may not be a proper showcase of such works in the end.
For certain majors, such as communication design or illustration, the university has to provide and officially organize a gallery-like digital alternative for the online publication of graduating students’ thesis work. Most of their work can be digitized, posted and shared via online platforms.
For other majors, such as fashion design or fine arts, where most of their work requires an in-person exhibition, an online portfolio with still images may not do the trick. In my opinion, the school can either schedule an open studio but with social-distancing practice in mind for such majors, and create a visual documentation video over each student’s work as a visual reference that can be used later in their portfolio; or plan for a physical thesis show, but with an extended due date and postpone the actual show date to summer.
Either way, this question needs to be carefully discussed and accepted by graduating class, since they are the ones being affected the most. Class of 2020 deserves the same graduation support as any other classes, and the school shouldn’t let them down.
I believe it is time for The New School community to hear out what the students have to say in decision makings, and stick together and really think for each other.
I wish to end this piece with a Chinese poem by Prince Nagaya:
山川异域，风月同天
Although hills’ n rills set us apart,
The Moon and the Wind share our kind hard.
No matter where you are on the globe right now, I wish you the best. In such difficult times, let’s all stay safe, healthy and positive.