During the Student Government Association’s (SGA) weekly Senate meeting on Wednesday, April 1, Chair of the Academic Oversight Committee, Cass Melo, confirmed that the University of Massachusetts’ contract with iClicker will end this spring.
The university will be officially licensed with Top Hat as a no-cost replacement for iClicker starting in the fall.
“The university administration has agreed to cover the cost so that it will now be free for students,” Melo said.
iClicker, which was used in classrooms for tracking attendance and polling, was criticized by students for its cost and required use in certain classes.
Farshid Hajir, the university’s senior vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, emphasized the work of Melo and other SGA members in the university’s decision to switch from iClicker to a free alternative.
In her presentation, Melo also announced that the SGA is seeking Senate volunteers for the subcommittee on Gen-Ed reforms.
“That is going to have a huge impact on what UMass education means,” Hajir said.
The cancellation of the Four-Skilled Arabic Language program was also a topic during the meeting.
Senator Alexis Martos read a statement from the Massachusetts Society of Professors (MSP), the faculty and librarian union at UMass, fighting for the continuation of the program.
“It is a treasure to have these critical languages offered at our flagship public institution,” Martos said. “We need to work together to keep them here.”
According to the statement, Professor Nahla Khalil, who has taught Arabic classes for nearly 15 years, had her contract terminated after the program’s cancellation.
MSP also expressed concern for their member Azima Majeed, a Persian language professor at UMass and a refugee from Afghanistan. MSD said that if Majeed’s contract ends, she might be deported.
The statement also outlined courses of action students can take to support the program.
“The direct action that students can take to support Azima and Khalil are to take Persian and Arabic classes and write to the dean to preserve and expand these language classes,” Martos said.
After Martos read the statement, Hajir took the microphone to cite low enrollment as the reason for the Five Colleges’ “difficult decision” to cancel the program.
“Over the time that the program existed, enrollment started small and got a little bit bigger, and over last six or seven years [it’s] gotten much smaller,” Hajir said.
Hajir added that it is still possible to study Arabic at UMass through a tenure-stream faculty member who offers Arabic at all levels.
Speaker Ishaan Dwivedi also discussed last week’s Faculty Senate meeting and noted that the university is concerned about declining enrollment in PhD programs at UMass. According to Dwivedi, PhD programs at UMass are down about 20%, although he added that falling enrollment in PhD programs is a nationwide trend.
Dwivedi said that this decline may result in fewer teaching assistants for undergraduate classes.
Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford will give a presentation during next week’s SGA meeting and field questions from Senators. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Peter Stanley encouraged Senators to submit anonymous questions to ask Bamford during the meeting.
The next SGA meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Cape Cod Lounge of the Student Union.
George Coulouras can be reached at [email protected].
