Need inspiration for your letter to Chancellor Frank Brogan? Here’s what APSCUF’s summer intern wrote:
Aug. 12, 2016
Office of the Chancellor
Dixon University Center
2986 North Second St.
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Dear Chancellor Frank T. Brogan,
My name is Corrinne Rebuck, and I am getting ready to enter my senior year at Mansfield University this fall. I have an older sister who attended Bloomsburg University a few years ago, so my family is a proud supporter of the State System. After hearing the many benefits of choosing a State System school from my sister, I naturally gravitated toward these institutions.
As a graduate from a small high school, I was especially inexperienced in the college scene. From Day 1, my professors at Mansfield made me feel that I belonged there, and that nothing was out of my reach as a student.
Although my time at Mansfield has been exceptional in multiple ways, I cannot help but compare my experiences to that of my sister’s. My sister majored in psychology at Bloomsburg and spoke volumes of a neuropsychology course she had the opportunity of taking. Being a psychology major myself, I, too, wanted to add this class to my educational experience. I asked my adviser, and he said that although the course had been offered a few years ago, it had to be cut since Mansfield no longer had the proper faculty member to teach the course.
Unfortunately, this is not the only situation I have witnessed in my time at Mansfield where I began to question the quality of the institution, simply because there never seemed to be enough faculty members. I often witness my professors being stretched in multiple directions to make our educational experience the best it can be within their ability. Courses needed to graduate are often filled to their capacity since hiring more faculty members is unlikely under current circumstances. I see faculty work significantly harder to do more with less in an effort to give their students all that they can — often beyond the limits of what a single person should be doing.
Being only one student who witnesses one department’s struggles, I can guarantee I’m not alone in my observations. I ask that you seriously negotiate a fair contract for my faculty members, especially since students are the direct beneficiary of their position and are with them every day on campus.
I will always remember my professors and their ability to go above and beyond for me and their other students. Unfortunately, I will also remember their struggle to attain the fair contract they rightfully deserve.
Please keep the faculty members across the State System in mind as the negotiation process continues, so other students can give credit where credit is due and continue to be proud supporters of the State System.
Respectfully,
Corrinne Rebuck