Student representative needs to change a policy this year!

October 26, 2009 2:07 PM

Change the University program's final project limitations! Help! Video production course info and TL;DR details inside.

(Note: the TL;DR question is in bold at the bottom of this post. Thank you!)

Our class of 11 people have elected me to a Student Advisory Committee that meets with the University program chairpeople if issues arise. Specifically, our Video Production course took a drastic turn this year involving the final year Senior Independent Project (SIP).

The SIP for the previous 4-5 years was a free-for-all project—the class members could follow through with any video-related piece they desired. A few dramas were attempted, along with more serious pieces, but different circumstances among the students led to poor quality or incomplete finals. (For instance, actors dropping out, directors/writers/actors taking on too much and burning out, lack of funding to pay for professionals, or lack of motivation or initial concept.)

Our class, now in our final year, is subject to new limitations on our final project. Namely, we are now forced to do a "documentary". In this case, we cannot produce an "information" piece (i.e. think corporate video, "behind-the-scenes", "making of", etc.) We are being told to produce a character-driven, story oriented, emotional, TV-broadcast-quality final. ("Intervention", "Jon and Kate +8", other A&E/TLC drivel).

But they didn't tell us. At least, that's how we feel.

On our first class of the new year, we were basically given the news that we were "going to do a documentary as our final project", instead of the "free final" we had been expecting from the beginning of the 3-year program. (Personally, I was blindsided by this bait-and-switch, having specifically entered the Video major with the idea that a final project was under complete creative control of the student.) Our instructor made it clear that the SIP could only be a documentary of the talking-head, interview-style, other-attributes-mentioned-above kind. However, she also suggested that if we wanted to, we could have full control over a separate, personal project without limitation. Only the documentary would be considered a final project. Of course, this leaves us with no option but to create two pieces, in addition to our option course work and normal full-time course load projects.

The class was nonplussed. Now we are 3 months into the program, and I have been approached that the class shares this concern and they would like me to address the chairs of the program this week. Out of the 11 in class, 3 people are indifferent or unaffected by the change. The other 8 feel that they would like creative over the final project and to have the documentary-only idea waived, as the change was implemented in the middle of our program without any input on our part.

Upon questioning, a few have very specific ideas as to where a personal project would go (some had worked on a plan over the summer, and have cited concerns that they only joined the program for the final project opportunity.) Two classmates have cited extreme debt and choosing this U over other PSI's due only to the final project's freedom, and now feel completely ripped off in both areas. One classmate has committed to the documentary idea only because of the limitation, and would have changed her plan (but is obviously stuck, now). A few do not have solid ideas either way. As well, a few are concerned about their own direction or story ideas and would be content to assist on projects under a classmate's direction.

On a personal and professional level, I feel that the change violates our rights as students. I have been sunk creatively and am struggling with the decision to continue on in this program. Therefore I am taking the challenge of trying to change the University program's requirements for this year's class.

My question to MeFites: How would you recommend approaching a meeting with up to 2 chairpeople, solo, to effectively change their minds to suit the needs of my classmates? What strategies should I utilize to sway them? How can I avoid coming across too passionately about this issue and perhaps ruining my classmate's chances?

Thank you for your patience, everyone who's made it this far. :)

posted by Khazk to education (4 comments total)

My first thought is that it would be beneficial to address the problem that the administrators were trying to fix in the first place - namely, students' over-ambitious or under-planned projects petering out by the end of the term. You could propose that students who wish to do a creative/personal project submit a detailed plan for instructor approval beforehand. Include things like storyboards, scripts, shooting schedule, actor/staff lists, locations, props, costumes, etc. (I'm guessing here, I have no experience with video work). Anyone who doesn't have an approved, fleshed-out plan going in could then default to the assigned documentary project.

(Ignore me if all of this is already part of your program requirements; I'm coming from a Fine Arts background and this type of plan was often required in my open studios. I don't think anybody ever stuck to it by the letter, but having gone through the mental planning process was a dry run of sorts for working out issues.)

For what it's worth, I think your explanation here strikes a good tone - it feels very considered but not overly emotional or invested.
posted by Fifi Firefox at 3:17 PM on October 26

Who to talk to:

• Have you tried to talk to the professor and your department chair about this? If not, talk to them first before going to the advisory committee. You've got to exhaust your internal resources before going to an external authority. Be sure to talk to the professor first, if you haven't discussed this with them already.
• Do you or someone in your group have a good relationship with another professor in your department? It can be useful to talk this over with an uninvolved third party who understands your U's power dynamics and politics, and how and who to approach. However, know that a) they probably can't/won't/shouldn't intervene on your behalf and b) that everything you say to them could be passed directly to the professor or chair; there's no guarantee of confidentiality (so don't say anything you wouldn't say in front of everyone involved.)
• Does your U have an ombudsman? They can be your best resource. They exist to deal with these types of problems.

How to talk to them:

• Familiarize yourself with the student handbook / regulations / bylaws / etc. Understand what exactly 'your rights as students' are.
• Objectively, you need to lay out the problem with this change and, more importantly, how to fix it. From what you stated the primary problem is that some students don't effectively manage their project. What can you do to assure the powers that be that you can address this problem? For example, you could propose a process where the student would write proposal with a rough production schedule and regular meetings with the professor with demonstrable progress?
• Don't whine.
• Understand that you should have been fighting this as soon as the change was announced and that your silence may have been construed as acceptance.
• Be prepared to demonstrate that you can deliver on the projects despite the shortened class time.
• Understand that they aren't trying to screw you intentionally; they're trying to improve their program. Approach them as a partner, not an adversary.
• Document every meeting, who attends, and what is said. Be meticulous.

posted by theclaw at 3:38 PM on October 26

You may want to do some research on schools like yours that enact a Grandfather Clause. This is a common policy in academic institutions: students who started under an academic plan can finish under that plan even if requirements change while they're enrolled. Here's an example [PDF] of what the grandfather clause at Drexel's MSE program looks like.

I can't tell if you go to a film school or to a liberal arts school or a big public university; I also can't tell what kind of program you are in (BA, BFA, MA, MFA, PhD...?) so searching for policies at similar institutions/departments is difficult for me, but you should be able to find this information in the student handbook or course catalog for schools and departments like yours. You may also want to check to see if your university allows this in other departments, which would strengthen your case.

You may be more successful trying to get them to grandfather your class in under the old policy rather than trying to change the new policy back outright. If this is how they want to do it from now on, you may have trouble convincing them of scrapping these plans entirely. Discussing the possibility of allowing your class and possibly the classes below you that applied and enrolled under the old program to operate under the old rules, rather than switching back to them entirely, might be an easier "sell" to the administration. Bringing examples of grandfather clauses in place at other institutions like yours to the discussion demonstrates that what you are asking for is not out of the ordinary but is well within normal practices in academia.
posted by k8lin at 3:53 PM on October 26

Great. Thank you all very much for your input, and each answer was extremely helpful.
posted by Khazk at 7:33 PM on October 26