MFA Student Statement:
It is now May, and the last five months have been confusing, disheartening and painful.
The communication with NU has been chaotic and spotty. More often than not, the Provost's Office refers students with questions to NU offices, asking us to seek them out for answers. At this point, it is becoming continually clear that the Mills Administration seems to have very little input regarding the future of the students that they admitted. Let me remind you that we are still Mills students. We are your responsibility, and it is you who needs to provide us with answers. It is you who should be advocating for us in order to fulfill your promise to us. I spent most of my semester away from my studies to focus on navigating these changes. An example of this is having to rewrite and re envision the second year of my degree. When I signed on as a student in the MFA Creative Writing program, I was promised, and one might say sold, a 36 credit two-year degree. As you know, the degree title and degree requirements have changed. The move from 36 to 60 credits is quite a jump. To facilitate the completion of our program at Mills at NU, Mills advisors and faculty have spent endless hours mapping out our coursework so that we can complete our degrees on time. We have spent countless hours at all hours of the day and night doing this. NU has yet to approve any of our maps. To spell it out for you: NU has not approved any of our maps. It is May. Not a single MFA student IN MAY has an approved degree map. This means that NU still has yet to accept and approve the 18 credits most of us completed this year, 18 being half of 36: a full year of all of us working toward our degree. This is disrespectful of our effort, money, time and most importantly, the relationships and community we have built. We are doing everything on our end to move forward, yet still, no answers. Another example of the chaos and poor communication is navigating the NU portal. The onslaught of countless help tickets and phone numbers, whose offices are in Boston and on a different time zone, is draining and again, disrespectful. This situation is so incredibly difficult to navigate. Why are you doing this to us? The bottom line is that we need answers. We must have our maps no later than May 15 along with our full financial aid packages for the upcoming year. I came to Mills for the Mills experience. The professors and students have been amazing. This whole process has been deeply troubling and unkind. We demand answers and the proper attention we deserve so that we can move forward and face what lies ahead with clarity and transparency.