Currently, CAHC 570 "Consultation and Management in Developmental School Counseling Programs", a required course for program completion on the school counseling track is to be held at the satellite NIU campus located in Naperville IL. There is only one section of this course, and it is currently only offered in the spring semester. For many of us in the School Counseling track, this is a course that will be required to be taken in this upcoming spring semester of 2020.

However, registering for this class has been at the center of much dissatisfaction within our cohort due to sheer distance that is being demanded that we travel to attend lecture. Many of us deliberately reside on or within a feasible distance from the main Dekalb campus so as to minimize the travel required. We as a collective feel as though this decision to intentionally place a required class over an hour away from campus is a step in the wrong direction for the program due to accessibility concerns. When attempting to address our concerns of location with multiple faculty members, the unanimous response that we received was that "this is how it has always been".

As a program that holds equity and social justice as a central value, we view the placement of an unfair socioeconomic requirement of owning a vehicle or relying on the charity of others to even be allowed the opportunity of attendance as an antithesis to what we as counselors are training towards. Furthermore, we believe that the program's maintenance of the status quo and expectation for the student body to simply comply without professional discourse is unacceptable. Because the instructor who has traditionally taught the course, Dr. Fischer, has retired, making changes to the structure of the course has become possible. We believe that this would be the perfect opportunity for the department to make the right, equitable decision to relocate the class to the main campus where all are able to attend.