A petition to restore the math labs’ hours is now in effect, with 600 out of 2,000 necessary signatures already accounted for.
The petition began roughly two and a half weeks ago, initiated by Brenda Ruiz, Stephanie Ortiz and Susan Aziz, all of whom are second-year students at DVC.
“Math used to be a really hard subject for me, but the more I started using the Math lab the better I got, I just realized one day ‘wow I’m actually kind of good at math’ thanks to the math lab,” Ruiz said.
Cut back from the spring schedule emerges the new schedule, of which is a resounding 44 hours shorter, and is now only open Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. – 8:20 p.m.
This poses a problem for students that only have free time on the weekends who are busy with school and work during the week.
Not only is the support coming from the students, but the petition is supported by some faculty as well. Ruiz said the head of the Math Department professor Despina Prapavessi, is in full support of the petition, in addition to Lilin Lee, the head chair of the math lab and professor Roger Carne who are both helping spread the word as well.
The three founders also have included some on-campus organizations to increase petition awareness, those being the Latino-Student Alliance (LSA) and the Academic Honors Society.
In terms of why the hours have downsized, there is some speculation — but the buzz seems to be centered around budget cuts, Ruiz said professor Tom Mowry told her. They seem to be a result of the spending on the new online math systems that run in tandem with the in-person classes. Those systems being mymathlab and ALEKS, which require students to pay for codes to gain access the online part of the class.
For only campaigning for 5 days, there seems to be a very good turnout of signatures. 600 signatures in five days speaks for itself, as students are obviously concerned about the hour reduction and accessibility of the math lab. Once the total number of signatures reaches 2,000, the petition will be submitted to the head chair of the math lab and then turned into the dean for further review.
Contact Brenda Ruiz at [email protected] for questions or petition table time and information.
