Zachary Kuruvilla

A poster reading “You are here…and we’re so glad you are” is put up as students arrive for the 2020 Fall Semester Source: Sarah Lawrence College Instagram Page

Upon starting the fall semester this August, first-year Sarah Lawrence students received a crash course introduction to their new school in the form of an online course titled “Belonging at SLC.”

Like this year's online curriculum, the course, which is new to the College , was designed to educate students on various aspects of the college experience such as how to “own” your education, as well as introducing students to the school’s Title IX resources, student engagement and leadership, and diversity and equity training.

But shortly after the six week course ended, first-year students shared mixed opinions on its efficacy and necessity.

While the course can be praised for its approach to familiarize new students to everything that Sarah Lawrence has to offer in terms of education and inclusion and introduce one another, it is also receiving criticism from students for: repeating information, creating awkward conversations on personal topics and not doing enough to allow students to get to know eachother better.

“The first session was nice because it taught me how to register for classes, but after that it was a big waste of time,” says Grace Shanklin ‘24. “The topics we talked about were very surface level topics, it felt like I was in a high school class and it was very awkward because no one ever wanted to talk or share their feelings.”

Jania Sanders, ‘24, said, “I liked how they made sure we got to talk to other people in breakout rooms and basically talk about ourselves and our identities and things that people don’t normally talk about or find uncomfortable. However it was exactly that; most of the time, some of the questions would be uncomfortable for some so they would choose not to answer”.

“It felt really uncomfortable for some reason, especially the day they were asking us about identities,” says Vanya Lawson, ‘24. “From what I can remember I think the first or second class was just telling us stuff we were already told in orientation”

Students complained about feeling pressured to share personal stories with strangers, not understanding whether it was an educational course or introductory course, and questioned whether the leaders could have run it more smoothly

“It felt like it was trying to be a group therapy session while simultaneously being educational,” said Allie Zapson ‘24. “I think it would’ve been better off if it were one or the other.” .

Others felt that the course’s requirement of sharing personal stories with virtual strangers created an awkward atmosphere.

“Had they done more interaction of getting to know the people in our class to build a community rather than having us share extremely personal things with each other, it would have been a great success” said Cooper Clements ’24.

More effort to integrate participants early on would have endowed quarantined first-year students with “a feeling of community rather than isolation” added Clements.

Sarah Adams ‘23, a peer mentor and co-facilitator for the course, said she and other mentors aimed to create a positive experience for first years.

“I really enjoyed the course and getting to know all of my mentees,” Adams said. “I really liked the Belonging course and hope that we continue to do it. I know that Fatiah Touray, (Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), the other facilitators, and peer mentors all worked really hard trying to make sure that it was a good experience.”

“There was way too much information to cover in just one session,” added Adams. She and her co-facilitators wanted to use the beginning of the class to check in with students, which often put them behind schedule and made it difficult to completely cover the intended topic list.

Adams empathized with students who felt uncomfortable opening up to strangers but said that nobody was obligated to share.

“As a facilitator, I was completely fine sharing personal stories and experiences, but I absolutely understand that it can be difficult to feel comfortable being so vulnerable with people you have never seen and don’t know very well,” Adams said. “I hope we communicated well enough that if you don't want to share a personal story or experience, you are under no obligation to do so.”

Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fatiah Touray explained some of the concerns she had while developing the course and addressing feedback and criticism.

”One of the concerns I had was making sure that the facilitators were comfortable discussing all topics whether it was the nuances of stress management or discussions about racism,” Touray said. “I wanted my colleagues to be equipped and comfortable enough to have those conversations.”

When asked about dealing with awkward conversations in the online setting, she said: “The program, when I conceptualized it, was supposed to be in-person. It’s different in person when you’re looking at someone and connecting with someone in a group and those personal connections can open up a little bit faster.”

On the topic of criticism, she said, “With some of the criticism, students made suggestions about time and it being in-person. All of those criticisms we actually take as constructive criticism and ways to improve it so I was actually really happy”.

Lastly, when asked about hopes she has for the future of the course, she said, “One hope I have is that diversity, equity, and inclusion in particular and having some of those conversations becomes seamless, something that is not taboo, something that everyone can see themselves having a part in that conversation and just having the ability to connect with people and have those difficult conversations, that is my hope.”

With the “Belonging at SLC” course now over, leaders feel the feedback from students has given them the tools necessary to make adjustments to the course for years to come.

“After getting a lot of feedback from first years and other peer mentors, I think that we can build an even better course for next year”, says Sarah Adams ’23.