Dispatches

By Ruta Patel

Editor’s Note: The follow article originally ran in the May 2006 NYIT Chronicle.

NYIT stands for New York Institute of Technology, however if you were to ask students, you would hear that it stands for “Next Year I Transfer”. Year after year, students joke about this phrase, but it seems to be a valid statement. Nearly 30% of students transfer out of NYIT after freshman year. Is this a large number? Why do these students choose to go to a different institution? Is this acceptable for NYIT?

To find the retention rate at NYIT Dr. Carol DeVictoria, Director of Institutional Research and Assessment was contacted. Dr. DeVictoria was able to supply the percentages of full time freshman retained each year. These percentages were then compared to both the New York state and national retention percentiles, they measure up as follows:

NYIT New York State National Average
Fall ‘99- Fall ’00 66% 77.5% 74.1%
Fall ‘00- Fall ’01 68% N/A N/A
Fall ‘01- Fall ‘02 73% 78.3% 74.1%
Fall ‘02- Fall ‘03 71% 80.9% 73.6%
Fall ‘03- Fall ‘04 71% N/A N/A
Note: Information obtained from HigherEdInfo.org

NYIT consistently fell below average, which seems to indicate that there may be a problem. If these numbers don’t increase, NYIT will continue to gain a negative reputation with its current students, as well as other schools.

After questioning students currently enrolled, many answered that they feel that the quality of their NYIT education is not worth the price they pay. They pay nearly $30,000 a year, but when they need help, they generally do not receive it – at least not right away. Students feel that they get the brush many times and that they have to go around in circles to find a simple answer. There are two general thought processes when it comes to the professors. The first is that even though some professors are knowledgeable in their field, they do not possess the skills to pass the information on. The other is that the professor knows very little about the subject, and relies too heavily on the textbook to provide information. Rarely do you hear a student compliment a professor.

Students run into problems with advisement, competent professors, and inadequate resources. Ashley Goldsmith, a Business major, stated that “[her] program was not what she expected; the professors were not very helpful. [She said] one professor went as far as to tell her to find a tutor.” Tutors are generally for students who need additional help; they’re not there to do the professors job. If a student reaches out his/her professor, the professor should not turn his/her back on the student. NYIT promotes their small classrooms and intimate settings; however what good are small classes if professors aren’t willing to help.

Some of the academic problems addressed by students can be easily addressed. NYIT already has in place a system to assist in determining which professors are doing their job or not. Each semester students fill out an evaluation form, which gets sent to the Office of Research and Development in Old Westbury. All schools are to return the collected course evaluations to the office no later than two weeks after the end of the semester. Once all of the forms are in, they are shipped to a vendor who scans the forms and
produces reports. That step can take about three weeks. When the reports are done the
vendor sends the reports back to NYIT for each faculty member and student comments are attached to each report and they are then distributed to each school. It is then up
to NYIT to notify professors that they can pick up both their comments
and evaluations. Some students feel that the evaluations have no effect on whether the professor returns or not, especially when a professor returns and their teaching methods and behavior is the same as the previous semester.

Students also feel that it is sometimes hard to find help in general around NYIT. A major concern is academic advisement; students are finding it hard to talk to someone that not only can help them plan their college path, but help them with related information such as graduate programs, where to go for jobs, how to prepare for the field, and other career related information. A Behavioral Science major, Penelope Sovaras, explained that when she asked her advisor about finding an internship, [the advisor] told Penelope that she would know more than [the advisor] does. How is it possible that an advisor wouldn’t know something about the field in which they work? It is no wonder that NYIT loses nearly one third of their freshman population. As far as advisement is concerned, maybe an evaluation should be set up for students to fill out to make sure they are doing their job and keeping up to date.

Currently, NYIT has several programs in place to help increase retention rates. Mid – semester evaluations have been re-instituted to help students who are having academic trouble. There are steps being taken to help students understand what is happening around campus including number of enrollment service events and providing financial aid packages to students earlier. Furthermore, academic departments should have been given a list of students who have not yet registered for the fall. It is the hope of the institution that the advisors will reach out to students. The most important program might be a college-wide Strategic Planning process that’s underway, with a report expected by May 15th that will help to outline the goals and vision for NYIT through 2030. Although NYIT has all of these programs, the retention rate has not significantly changed. When asked how long these programs have been in place there was no response to the request from the Chronicle for comment. Maybe the programs should be made stronger, because if they’re not “Next Year I Transfer” will not be something used in jokes, it will define NYIT.

If you’re here because you’re trying to find the SGA President Milan Michail’s response to the No Contest story, I’m sorry to tell you that she has refused to comment, citing the way the article was handled and the last minute nature of the request for an interview.

A certain Icelandic songstress is up to her mischief again. Known for her wild and sometimes surreal music videos, Björk came out of the craftworks with a new music video, shot in 3D, for her upcoming single, “Wanderlust.” The video has been long slaved over by the people at Encyclopedia Pictura.

Out of the blue, Björk announced screenings for the new video on her website. The screenings took place in two New York locations. On March 13^th, she invited fans her partner’s studio space in Long Island City, Queens. The studio showcased an exhibit of costumes and puppets featured in the music video, which was being shown in a curtained off space. (3D glasses were provided).

On March 14^th, she invited fans to join Encyclopedia Pictura’s screening of the video at the Museum of Natural History’s Kaufmann Theater; this was followed by a 3D slideshow documenting the making of the video. Afterwards, fans (and present directors) were encouraged to participate in a Question and Answer forum, (which included many drawn out technical questions).

Those lucky enough to be there graced with Björk’s presence. She thanked everyone who worked on the video and everyone in attendance, (which included volunteers on the team). She then sat down for the encore screening.

Björk’s music video will make its internet premiere on March 31^st, but only in 2D; details about the 3D release have yet to be determined. For a 30-second preview of the video, check the following link.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uw2rvU7R1Jc

—Adam Distler 

As one contestant of Project Runway, Ricky Lizalde described of the current season, it was like a “rollercoaster.” The season was full of its characteristic ups and downs, like most reality television shows. What set this show and its season apart was the actual element of reality. As always, there was the eccentric selection of competing designers.

The aforementioned Ricky was resident crybaby; ironically, the only time he didn’t was during his elimination from the competition. Voted off midway, Elisa Jimenez was pinned as the “weirdo” of the season. She most notoriously and literally made her mark with spit, as references with a “spiritual essence.” Kathleen Vaughn, known as Sweet P, was the lived up to her name as the show’s sweetheart, along with the darling Jillian Lewis. And then there was the dynamic duo of Chris: Chris March dropped jaws as a cackling couture/costume creator, while Christian was “fierce,” (of course, self-proclaimed).



The most heart-wrenching point of the show was when Jack Mackenroth withdrew from the competition due to MRSA staff infection. The once eliminated Chris was brought in as his replacement; because of this, he made it to the near end. In this week’s episode, he lost to Rami Kashou for the third spot in New York’s Fashion Week at Bryant Park. Rami showcased his runway collection along with Jillian and Christian, who was voted as the fan favorite.

Next week, there will be a recap of season four’s concluding episode of the final three at fashion week when it airs. Be sure to stay tuned…

—Adam Distler



We all remember the old bear which was, well, a bit more reminiscent of this guy than this guy. Certainly will work better at sports events, but I’m a bit worried about whoever’s in the monkey bear suit during the summer.

—Bill Peters

Just a reminder, we have a flickr feed here.

Wikileaks, a portal for anonymous publication of secret or suppressed documents was shut down yesterday by order of a San Francisco court judge. Apart from the First Amendment issues of such an order, the block is ineffective, taking down the wikileaks.org web address but not it’s IP address (the title of this blog post), allowing easy access with a bit more digging.

The block is due to a court injunction filed by lawyers representing Bank Julius Baer in order to stop the spread of internal documents showing what appears to be offshore tax evasion and money laundering by the bank on behalf of it’s clients. The judge, a Bush appointee, signed the order as drafted by the lawyers representing the bank with no amendments, and without a representative of Wikileaks present.

Presuming no misfortune delays the paper from coming out today, an update on a story contained within it follows.

Update: It was delayed and should be here tomorrow. While rain nor snow nor dark of night does not stop the Post Office, they aren’t delivering the paper.

This current issue of the Chronicle has a cover story about the election that I wrote, and though it went to press Friday it is already out of date. Huckabee continues to be a thorn (stinger?) in McCain’s side, but McCain’s victories tonight are beginning to push back against the popular former governor of Arkansas (not to be confused with the other popular former governor of Arkansas who is a running mate — by which we mean the mate of a running candidate).

Obama’s victories in the days since the story was committed to the printer have been seven, counting the US Virgin Islands with their 8 Democratic delegates. His margins have been impressive and so has his ability to steal support from categories that Mrs. Clinton had ruled a week ago Tuesday. He drew a crowd of 19,000 to a college stadium in Milwaukee (Wisconsin’s primary is next Tuesday) and Mrs. Clinton has been forced to basically cede the remaining contests this month in favor of heavy campaigning in Texas and Ohio — hoping to build up a firewall to stem the flow of states and delegates to Obama.

That said, political analysts far wiser than me are drawing the likeness of Hilary’s strategy to the strategy of a certain former mayor of New York who is no longer in the race as a result of his strategy collapsing quite horrifically, and predictably. People like voting for winners, and if Obama continues his steamrolling for the rest of February he may prove impossible to stop.

—Bill Peters

So give yourself an extra 20 minutes to get to class or a sherpa for the stairs.

Next month, in the March paper, the NYIT Chronicle will be starting it’s first Sex column. This column is to help students understand the importance of safe sex, good sex, and responsible sex. The column aims to bring to light interesting facts and helpful hints to keep you up to date with all the sex you can handle. We are interested in what you are interested in knowing. If you have any questions or comments, please contact chronicle@nyit.edu. We will research any topic you want to know. If the sex answer is out there, we’ll find it.

—Nina I. Humphrey