College life can be hectic and enjoyable at the same time. For most students, it is a relief when a professor cancels a class.

Baruch College professors are no different in cancelling classes. They have employed different forms of communication to inform the students of canceling a class.

Some professors conduct an online class instead of in-person one because they could not travel to campus or send out the material to be prepared for the next class. Whatever the way they utilize, the effect on students is always a loss of learning.

The reason why students are in a lose-lose situation is that they lose touch with the previous material and cannot follow the fresh material in the next lecture. This is a very crucial situation which a lot of students consider as one less lecture to be attended.

This practice of canceling classes by the professor must be discouraged because the students are paying high tuition fees and there is no substitute for that money in the case of a canceled class. The professor must restrict themselves to certain cases if they want to cancel a class.

In the first case, if there is a personal or other form of emergency, then yes, the professor must cancel the class as emergencies are truly unavoidable for any individual.

In the second case, if there is inclement weather like a snowstorm, squall or rainstorm, these are conditions that affect everyone. Also, these weather events might affect public transportation and other infrastructure for commuting.

The third case is if there is an unforeseen circumstance on campus and the college officials have to close the campus, like during the COVID-19 pandemic. Naturally, all scheduled classes will be canceled due to a reason like this.

These three circumstances are out of the professor’s hands, but other issues like running late and canceling a class as a result are unacceptable. Moreover, the change in modality is truly a bad idea, be it a synchronous or asynchronous online class.

Instead, the professor can conduct a poll to find a day when all or a majority of students are available and ask the college to provide them a room to conduct the class. This ensures that the students are not at a loss and the professor will also be able to make up for the class.