Students With Power
By Emily Rotella
Baruch College governance, decision-making, and action are often caught in a tangled mess of red tape and bureaucracy. The steps necessary to actually get changes made, especially in terms of curriculum and academics, are many: approvals are needed at the Zicklin level, the Baruch level, the CUNY level, and the state-legislature level – and potentially more in between depending on the situation. With all of the levels and people involved, it might seem like the most important decisions about curriculum and academics – the things that define our educational experience at Baruch – can seem far away from us, the students, who are most affected by such decisions. But before you throw up your hands in frustration and give up control to the higher powers of the college system – WAIT!
You as students have both voice and power to influence how your MBA education is shaped, in the form of the Baruch Graduate Committees. These committees are where everything starts, and get this – almost all of them have requirements for Graduate Student Representatives to be members AND these representatives usually have voting power. Maybe the sweetest part of this deal, and as the student rep for the Zicklin Graduate Curriculum Committee I can attest to this fact personally, is that the faculty and staff members of the committees value the opinion of the graduate student representatives. They actually care about what we have to say.
Want a list of committees with their descriptions? Have issues with academics you want brought up to a committee? If you are interested in voicing your opinion and voting on your future at Baruch, send me an email: emily.rotella@baruchmail.cuny.edu.
Peace,
Emily
The Graduate Baruchian 