122 Staff Laid-off, a ‘Top-Down’ Administration, and a Corporate Third Party: TNS is Fractured by Recent Decisions
“The kinds of decisions that have to be made when you are laying off staff or reducing your staff, those have to be handled at the highest level possible,” said President Dwight A. McBride in an interview with The New School Free Press.
By Kyah Luna 6 Nov, 2020
Bold white letters jump from a bright red background branding The New School University Center. Glass cuts into the sides of the imposing 13-story building, creating transparent tunnels of activity like a see-through ant farm. Looking through those windows before the pandemic, you’ll see students bustling between classes or gathering on the stairwell to study or catch up. Looking through those windows, you may presume The New School is a collaborative and communal space, distinguished from the competitive capitalists who typically occupy Fifth Avenue . . .
The New Normal For International Students: Studying Across Time Zones
A petition calls for action from The New School to provide asynchronous learning options such as class recordings to accommodate students studying in a different time zone.
By Kyah Luna and Lemon Ruan 16 Oct, 2020
Chiedza Kaseke, a Parsons student, studies six hours ahead of New York time in South Africa and has started drinking coffee again, with “lots of milk and three spoons of sugar,” to stay awake for classes that can go past two in the morning.
Kaseke is not alone in their experience at the New School, which has a 34% international student body according to The New School website. Since the Provost Office announced in June 2020 that the fall semester would be held remotely, students studying outside of New York City have been faced with the additional challenge of navigating time zone differences, sometimes as extreme as 12 hours . . .
The Podcast “The Secret Adventures of Black People” Tells the Everyday Lived Experiences of Black People Beyond The Pain
“As a Black person, our greatest currency on a large scale is to share our pain. That's how we get people's attention, historically, how we've been able to get America's attention, I don't want to do that . . . I want to lead with the everyday lives that we live,” podcast host, creator, and producer Nichole Hill said.
By Kyah Luna 22 Dec, 2020
Listening to the first season of Nichole Hill’s podcast The Secret Adventures of Black People is like overhearing a conversation on the subway. Words float in the air, ready to be caught by a passerby, but are largely ignored by the commuters. If the words are grasped, they are held up like a mirror. There is a sense of vulnerability recognizing the reflection in the mirror of others’ experiences. By listening to the podcast, the podcast echoes back.
The podcast, hosted, created, and produced by Hill, released its first eight-episode season in July. The episodes — most just over ten minutes long — spotlight intimate moments of everyday life as a Black person . . .
Fair Grading during a Pandemic: Students Speak Out about the Online Semester and Letter Grades
After a semester online, students share their views on the Fall 2020 letter grading system.
By Kyah Luna and Elia Griffin 21 Dec, 2020
Students faced unprecedented challenges this Fall 2020 semester. The coronavirus pandemic scattered students around the world to study in a virtual classroom, limiting access to on-campus resources. Students navigated the effects of a global pandemic on mental health, finances, and living situations while studying remotely.
Last Spring 2020 semester, the grading policy The New School instated was A, A minus, “I” (incomplete) or “Z” (for unofficial withdrawal). According to an email to The New School Free Press from spokesperson for The New School Merrie Snead, the policy was instituted because of the “potentially negative academic consequences” of the pandemic . . .
