The following letter was written and distributed by a group of students called The Reading Group to all professors on campus in order to start a conversation about classroom dynamics and pedagogical methods employed at NYU Abu Dhabi. We find this conversation to be especially important in the NYUAD context, where there is a large amount of difference in positionality, background, and privilege among the student body. This is the beginning of a conversation that we wish to see expanded by professors, by students and the community as a whole in the future. We have chosen to remain anonymous for now so that this conversation won’t center around us as individuals, and will instead proliferate in our community. We welcome your feedback, input, criticism and experiences as we continue to organize conversations and interventions where we would like to include more voices.
Reading Group Letter
Members of The Reading Group write out of deep concern for the workings and future of NYUAD.
Feb 12, 2017
The following letter was written and distributed by a group of students called The Reading Group to all professors on campus in order to start a conversation about classroom dynamics and pedagogical methods employed at NYU Abu Dhabi. We find this conversation to be especially important in the NYUAD context, where there is a large amount of difference in positionality, background, and privilege among the student body. This is the beginning of a conversation that we wish to see expanded by professors, by students and the community as a whole in the future. We have chosen to remain anonymous for now so that this conversation won’t center around us as individuals, and will instead proliferate in our community. We welcome your feedback, input, criticism and experiences as we continue to organize conversations and interventions where we would like to include more voices.
Dear professors,
We members of The Reading Group write out of deep concern for the workings and future of this educational institution. We also write from a place of concern for our well-being as students. We believe that the classroom must be upheld as a conducive, comfortable space that understands and encompasses different forms of engagement and expression as well as the ranks and positionalities that produce these.
We have extensively discussed our class experiences, both corrosive and productive, and find that this is a wide concern among students. Our aim is to extend this conversation to professors in order that we cooperatively work towards viable structural solutions and mutual self-actualization. With this letter, we will propose both what we would like to see implemented and what we would like to be removed.
We suggest that, in beginning the process of amending their practices, professors refer to Lynn Weber Cannon’s ground rules posited in Fostering Positive Race, Class, and Gender Dynamics in the Classroom. We acknowledge that this essay emphasizes the privileged members of the classroom, therefore proposing that it be adapted to bring attention to those who, because of internalized hierarchies, struggle to (or choose not to) take up space.
This entails acknowledging the existence of white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, classism, citizenship privilege, anglo-centric educational privilege, ableism, Eurocentrism and other forms of structural oppression. We recognize the classroom as a locus of these global power structures through its socio-spatial politics.
For this purpose, you can also:
- Explicitly address these issues in the first session of your class, as well as revisiting them throughout the term.
- Create and encourage alternative spaces of contribution that do not require overexertion during class sessions, like one-on-one meetings, e-mails, smaller student groups within the class, etc.
- Foster a non-competitive environment, encouraging peer to peer collaboration by having the option of working in groups and activating speeds and slownesses of expression as constructive spaces of growth and allowing students to express themselves in different ways. Encourage listening as an active practice among those who have a dominant voice.
- Encourage students to critically address your pedagogy throughout the semester. It is best to do this through anonymous mid-semester teaching evaluations that ask how comfortable students feel in class, what voices are triggering or missing, how acknowledged they feel, etc.
Acknowledging these oppressive structures also entails recognizing the lack of representation of non-white, non-Euro-American, LGBTQI and other non-hegemonic content in instructed material. We therefore propose that you:
- Encourage student contributions to the syllabus and to your personal intellectual and emotional growth.
- Self-educate about other groups, including non-hegemonic intellectual lineages.
We are appreciative of the multiple efforts put forth by you in your pedagogy, as well as hopeful of your capacity to expand it to be more representative and comfortable for students. We hope for this process to be one of mutual growth and un/learning, rather than of devaluing intentions and efforts.
xoxo
The Reading Group
Please contact us at thereadingroup@gmail.com for questions, comments, criticisms, expansions and the like. For example: How can we foster these conversations between students and professors constructively? Do you have any ideas for forums/events/spaces where we could engage with these problems as a community? What’s our role as community members in creating supportive and engaged classroom dynamics? How can we bring these conversations up in the classroom? How have you felt disadvantaged or empowered by professor’s pedagogies?
We will respect your anonymity and confidentiality if you so desire.
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