Higgins/Condescendence/Lede

The moment I stepped foot into the office of a Senior Lecturer in the Department of
Communication, the reoccurrence of being welcomed, acknowledged, and encouraged from
both colleagues and faculty at North Carolina State University ended. As about 444 days
passed since I started at NC State as a transfer student from New York, in search for a semipermanent change, it never crossed my mind that a professional on campus would have acted
belittling and facetious, while implying that my head was up in the clouds.
The first day of classes at NC State was something that I never have expected. I walked
curiously through the thick humid air, that occupied the atmosphere around all of us. As I
watched all the anxious students scurry to their classes I realized that I was surrounded by a
completely different culture than what I was used to. I saw cowboy boots, cowboy hats and
camouflage patterns being worn in various ways, as the word yall bounced of the walls, as
quick as the speed of light, like it was apart of their vocabulary, and in fact it was.
The office walls of the senior lecturer hung awards of his achievements and highlighted
his many years in the field, as a professor, and his work as the director of the internship
program. I felt intimidated yet excited to be able to communicate with this professional about my
journey at North Carolina State, but my expectations were set to high, and I left this meeting
with disappointment and confusion as to why I was disrespected by such a successful man.
Besides building a strong new education for myself, my main goals in applying to a
university hundreds of miles south from Long Island, was to remain optimistic about my new
scenery and meet new aspiring personalities. Home held a loving family, strong friendships,
great memories and many opportunities, so I know your thinking, why would anybody want to
leave?, but I figured living in a place that was extremely different in comparison to my
hometown, could only broaden my horizons and expand my knowledge.
My concern in this meeting was to express to him how I would like to focus my fall and
spring semesters on lecture hours, and my empty summer semester on COM496, the internship
course requirement. Since I have only been casually told that it was a local internship, I asked
him the possibilities on finding a course equivalency back in New York, so when I return home, I
could use that time to my advantage and intern at a place where I already had contact with.
Two days before this meeting, I had met with a coordinator to get my minor paper form
signed, and in that meeting, this promising professor ensured me that by taking this minor would
look great on my degree. He also told me the minor will fill my elective requirements with a
concentration, rather than miscellaneous classes that would not benefit me. I left his office with
confidence and a fresh warm homemade cookie.
As I shared with the dean that I had just declared a minor, I was surprised by his
inaccurate response. He told me that adding a minor would only put more on my plate as a
student and add more time for me here at State. Your just doing this to yourself, he said, but I
was not doing anything, nothing but benefiting myself.

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Higgins/Condescendence/Add1
Transferring from a two-year community college set me back from graduating in Spring
2016, to a predicted graduation in the fall of 2016, forcing me to take 18 credit semester for the
rest of my time here at State. Aware that I have no choice but to graduate a semester late, I told
him my graduation situation, with intentions to inform, not complain. But for some reason as I
sat there uncomfortably, with my legs crossed, he did nothing but look at me in a judgmental
way. Sarcastically questioning you think your graduating in three and a half years, he said,
which was wrong, it was two and a half yearsshows how much attention he was paying.
Surprisingly, the first time I have ever felt put down, was when I was sitting in his office
on that rainy Friday afternoon. Not even friends that I have made at this university when joking
around with the way I tawked, and pronounced dawg, and coffee, had made me feel this
bad about myself. Oh I can tell your from New York, he said, several different times, in such a
condescending way. Every time me being from New York came up, I was being stereotyped into
category of rule breakers.
I desperately kept on stressing that I could not complete 18 credit semesters, a part-time
job and put in 10 hours a week for an internship at the same time, to the best of my ability. But
still he was short and snarky with every response he gave me. He was also extremely unclear
with the questions he asked, his paraphrased questions forced me to repeat his questions using
my own words, to ensure I would answer him respectably. I just said that he said, making me
feel foolish.
As I ignored the unusual treatment I was receiving from a professional at such a highly
honorable university, I twiddled my fingers, holding back tears in hope for this awkward meeting
to come to an end. I was not sure what was worse, his words or his body language, but for the
remainder of the time, he continued to ask questions that were irrelevant to my initial internship
concern. He asked if I was taking one of his classes, which he followed with, you probably hate
me already, he said, which proved he knew he was not treating me as he should.
In getting to know how his meetings are ran, I began thinking how I had registered for his
class next spring semester. I know his miss-judged preconceptions of myself would carry on
beyond these office walls and into the classroom. I felt trapped because his class was a prerequisite and no other empty classes. I was stuck in a seat in his class, and the thought of that
just made me feel a feeling of discomfort.
He did answer my question somewhere through all that, but just as insignificant I made
in sharing his answer with you, was how insignificant he made his response to me. You can find
the equivalency at Adelphi, he said, which was a university I mentioned interest in, but just
because I approve it doesn't mean anything, I doubt anybody above me would even give it a
second, he said. In hopes of a clear direction on how I should handle things, I knew I would
have to walk out of his office with my own plan to get whatever necessary accomplished, no
matter how hard it was.
As I respectfully and regretfully shook his hand, I walked out of his office with my head
held high because I was not going to let this demeaning man put me down. One benefit of being
an out-of-state student, was to understand different perspectives, opinions, and values in life,
from an area I was not brought up in. Being able to be aware of contrasting points of view, could
only benefit me as a public relation professional. I dreamed of applying the knowledge I learned
from NC State in the real world, and what would be better than my first internship in the Big
Apple.

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Higgins/Condescendence/Add2
When sharing this encounter with friends, family and colleagues, and as their word
spread on to others, I got back shocked and embarrassed feedback. North Carolina State
University having a professional that discouraged their students like that, was not ok, a
restaurant manager said. They also shared their confusions on the idea as to why NC State
would not want to have a student travel to NYC, it would only look better for them as a school if
their students were exploring their possibilities, a man said. NC State could also have on their
record that a student went as far as an opportunity in NYC, said a client at work.
Like Nelson Mandela once said, there is no passion to be found playing small - in
settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living, which only reminds me to
keep persevering. Students that know of this unfortunate issue, now question transferring into
NC State, because like myself they do not want to be told to take an internship on campus, he
said, we all want to be able to have free range to become the best versions of ourselves.

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