I am writing to express my concerns about the Environmental Science program at UC Riverside. As a student in this program, I have experienced a number of issues that have prevented me from completing my degree in a timely manner.

The University of California Riverside is being negligent towards their students, especially those in the environmental sciences program. I, Nayana, have contacted the dean of my department, the head advisor and chair, and they do not solve anything for me. There is a clear lack of communication between everyone in the department. I have the emails of them demonstrating utter confusion within the Environmental Science department.

At this point, we are playing a game of back and forth and I am getting absolutely nowhere. One faculty claimed they are losing employees in the department, and with all this nonsense I completely understand why. Since there are not enough employees to teach us, we as students no longer have classes to take. One class required science majors only had about 35 seats open with 90+ people on the waitlist. This core prerequisite of ENSC 100 is only offered once a year required for at least 4 majors and we cannot take said class. My two classes that I need to graduate are typically offered multiple times a year, and now the soonest availability may not be until next year, and even then, there is no guarantee that these two classes will be offered. When I went in person and mentioned this issue to the CNAS academic advising in Pierce Hall, I was gaslighted and told that these classes are offered and that I do not know how to properly check for them. They claimed that it was a computer error and continued to make odd excuses until I logged into my account and showed them myself. I spent 3 hours trying to build a schedule but could not successfully do so, because the classes are not there anymore. I showed them proof of this issue and they finally admitted there were no classes for me or any other students to take.

I WANT to work and make contributions towards society. I love my major and what we study. I want to learn, but this school is preventing me from doing so. Because of this situation, I am scared of pursuing advanced degrees, which has always been my intention in my college career. I am writing this petition because why should I, or any other student, have to wait years on end just for the mere possibility to take a class that they should be entitled to. When I paid the acceptance fee to go to this school, I expected to have all my classes organized and offered in a timely manner. UCR is keeping this issue under hush and they are not informing Environmental Science students of this issue. They also are not offering other options or resources for the issues they have caused. This is doing for me, but creating more obstacles in my life. I was in fact told, “not to rush to graduate, because that's rushing into adulthood” and that I would be “likely to be jobless after graduation”. If this is the case, then what exactly is the purpose of me or any other student being here if all this school can do is set us up for failure? I am demanding that the classes I need be offered. I need to take ENSC 102 and ENSC 110 to graduate this fall. I will not wait until the year 2024 to take these classes. 

Thank you

Nayana Chambers