On September 19 during the Fall 2024 semester, WMUR published an article titled “Southern New Hampshire University cuts dozens of positions,” where they detail the layoffs that occurred within SNHU. According to the article, 52 employees were terminated, including 35 employees that are located in New Hampshire. The article also specifies that no on-campus positions were affected.
However, this was not the case.
One of the layoffs included adjunct computer science professor Dastan Banae, who was teaching multiple classes at the time, including two sections of CS-360 Mobile Application Development. In one of those sections is a student named Nick Antolos, a junior who just transferred to SNHU. “My initial reaction was a mixture of confusion, concern, and disappointment,” says Nick. “I was confused as to why they would terminate a great instructor, especially after the semester had already started. I was concerned about how the class would proceed going forward, and any scheduling conflicts it would create for my peers.”
Since the program had lost an instructor, multiple classes were lost, including one period where the Dean of SETA, Kyle Viator, along with Assistant Dean, Mayumi Kostar, and Associate Dean, Jennifer Gorczyca met with students to discuss their options for choosing different sections. Many students chose to move to a Monday-Thursday 3:30-4:45 period.
After class could resume, students voiced their concerns for the new section. “Even though I was enrolled in the section that was unaffected by Dastan’s termination, the reason I initially attended and have remained at SNHU has been the small course size,” says junior Matt Egan. “However, my section has now exceeded the student cap and it has greatly affected our meeting times.”
Matt also shared about how due to the larger class size, the instructor has trouble meeting with all of the groups and giving them the help they need. “Rather than learning about mobile architecture and programming, I feel as though I am showing up to class ‘just because.’ This has brought the pace of the course to a crawl, while the expectations surrounding our projects are continuously ramping up.”
Dastan, the former professor, says “I think it’s unfair to all of you, the students, above everything else. I’d like to see my experience used as a platform for change that puts students first. And I think what happened is a great opportunity for that.”
