By Elissa Sanci, Kaitlin Mahar & Steven Mahoney
Undergraduate and graduate students of the University of New Haven staged a peaceful protest today, Wednesday Nov. 12 in the Maxcy Quad at 3:45 p.m. as an attempt to save the 4+1 Education Program, which involves students spending four years in the undergraduate program, followed by one year in the graduate program.
A proposal to phase-out the Graduate Education Program at UNH was announced Friday Nov. 7 as a result of the University’s Charging Forward initiative. Members of the program have since petitioned the proposal in attempts to keep the graduate program alive. As of today, the petition has 2,027 signatures.
“The program has been unbelievable,” said Stacey Frizzell, the organizer of both the petition and the peaceful protest. “I believe the administration is oblivious to all the good this program actually does.”
Chris Warschauer, a first-trimester graduate student agrees. “I came here from Colorado,” said Warshauer. “This is one of the best programs out there.”
The protesters gathered, posters in hand, in front of Maxcy Hall, chanting phrases such as “Four plus one is not done” and “Practice what you preach, let us teach.” After about fifteen minutes, President Steven Kaplan and the University Provost, Daniel J. May, exited the building to address the protestors.
“This is something that has been evolving for at least five years,” Kaplan said in his impromptu speech to the protestors in regards to the phase-out. “We’re trying to focus more on great areas of growth; it’s been 18 years, and it’s never thrived.”
Kaplan said he was sympathetic to the students, being an educator himself. “I hope you can understand by the tone of my voice, we’re not businessmen. We’re not trying to be mean. We’re not trying to make a profit,” he explained.
Kaplan provided an explanation to the students, saying that the University had nine students come into the program this year, and that education enrollments across the board in the country have plummeted.
“The bigger issue here, and I’m with you on this, is that our entire nation has a challenge,” he said, regarding the decline in education programs in the U.S.
“I’m just confused,” student James Crowell said after Kaplan went back inside Maxcy Hall to attend a meeting. “A week before they sent out this email, they were advertising this program to incoming students.”
“We’re grad students fighting for the future, not for ourselves,” said graduate student David Janovsky, a protestor in the crowd. “How can we teach tomorrow if we can’t learn today?”
The Board of Governors plans to meet again Friday, Nov. 14 to discuss the future of the program.
