The Public Relations and Corporate Communications administration at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies have made some major changes regarding the modality of courses. This petition is to let the administration know that we are not pleased with the modality of courses and the goal of the petition is for them to add more on-ground courses. If you agree with this cause, please sign the petition. And if you feel called, write the reason why you are signing. 

Additional Information:

The decision to move to a largely online schedule has injected a measure of chaos into an already busy year for many of us, academically and professionally. This change came without warning. It came without asking students for their opinions on the matter. 

The PR/CC program gave students the choice to take this program either virtually or in person. Many of us wanted the in-person experience from the beginning, so we chose to attend the in-person master’s program. And we expected – with the exception of the COVID issues – that we would have the vast majority of our classes in person.

Many of us in the program moved to D.C. specifically to attend Georgetown not only for the quality of the academic program but also for the ability to network with professionals in our field. With classes moving online, we are left with the question, if such enriching opportunities this program promised to provide cannot be realized, then why invest so much money in staying in D.C.?

For international students, their visa only allows them to take up to one online class. If they do more than one, they are breaking their visa requirements and will have to leave the United States. With capstone being online, they have a very limited amount of options for them to remain in the country. On top of that, most of the in-person classes are core classes that would have already been taken by the time a student would enroll in the capstone course. For military students, this change is causing stress. In their school agreement with the military, the majority of their classes must be in person. By making this major change, they are now unsure about how the military will react.

Having the capstone online for fall ‘22 is a step in the wrong direction for PR/CC. Students shouldn’t have to pay for an on-ground experience and be promised a learning experience when in reality, they will just be doing modules online.

I have already reached out to Dr. O’Grady regarding this matter, but I need the voices of students to make sure our concerns are heard.