During my time at UMBC, I have gotten to know many students who base their schedule on how the professors teaching the classes were rated on RateMyProfessor. I am now becoming one of them after too many unpleasant experiences with professors who were not the right fit for me.

When I searched the site for the professors teaching the classes I am currently taking, the comments and ratings for each professor varied greatly depending on the individual’s experience. Some of them were not listed on the website because students had not added them yet.

I was shocked to see numerous reviews that rated my environmental science professor “poor” as well as many that rated him as “good” or “awesome.”

Some were strongly in his favor: “I don’t know why [he] doesn’t have a better rating,” remarked one student, who gave the professor five points out of five. “I loved his class and think he is an awesome professor.” However, other reviews disagreed vehemently, with one warning students who enroll in the professor’s class to “ensure [you’re] well versed in the subject beforehand … you can improve your grade and trust me, you’ll need to. I escaped with a C.”

The more I perused the reviews, the more I found that both the positive and negative reviews made points that I would have found helpful when debating whether or not to take the class.

This is often the case with RateMyProfessor: regardless of the stance that the reviews take, they usually offer valuable insights into what students should expect. They often share information about the professor’s grading criteria, including whether or not attendance is graded, in what capacity the textbook is used for the class, and general characteristics of the professor, such as their personality and how responsive they are over lines of communication. These are valuable tidbits that can help students navigate the sea of professors when composing their class schedules.

Lily Hsu, a sophomore studying visual arts and secondary education, said that she exclusively uses the site “if [she has] problems with the teacher, just to see if [she is] the only one or if they’re consistent.” Such uses give students an alternative method to assess issues that they are having in a class if the professor’s methods or advice are not helpful.

Other students use RateMyProfessor to decide which professor they want to have if there are multiple teaching a course. Raychel Thress, a sophomore studying graphic design, said the site helps her narrow down her options. With so many professors and courses at UMBC, students often know little — if anything — about their professor before the class starts, RateMyProfessor can give students some insight about their potential instructor and whether or not it seems like they would be a good fit for one another.

By reviewing professors that they have already had, students are helping others who are considering the instructor decide on whether or not to enroll in their class. This function is useful because it can potentially decrease the number of students that change, drop, and possibly fail a class due to learning and teaching style disparities. With so many professors on campus, it is unrealistic to get a feel for each of them, but RateMyProfessor reviews posted by peers can move students closer to that ideal.

Nearly every source across the political spectrum agrees that the present position of American politics is new, dangerous and unsustainable.

Whether the complaints are leveled at the Trump administration’s drastic reforms or at the obstructionist politics of the “resistance,” most opinion pieces hearken back to a previous time — one defined by civility, moderation and political unity.

Simply put, this alleged previous state never existed; what really came before the current political climate was actually very similar to what exists now. The failures of today are the logical conclusion to which previous policies have always led.

Many will point to the election of Donald Trump (and the response to that election by his opponents) as the catalyst for this departure from politics as usual. Despite what these pundits claim, Trump and the political trajectory behind him were not just a “fluke.” Rather, they are the fulfillment of deep, foundational flaws in American society.

America was built off of the genocide of indigenous peoples and the enslavement of millions. The original intention of the Constitution created a disgustingly unequal society wherein women were considered the wards of their fathers and husbands, immigrants were denied any real representation and African-Americans were counted as three fifths of a person.

This is not to say that this reality is the goal of the Trump administration. Instead, the administration is after the mythology that surrounds this political reality, of noble and moral patriots soberly steering the nation on a trajectory that would make America a great power. The quiet hope is that if those conditions can be recreated, so can those successes.

The reality is that this ideology has run its course and resulted in the current dire political situation. There is no reason to suspect that, if it were even possible to return to that political state, it would not just immediately degenerate back to the one that exists now.

Opposite the Trump Administration, the Democratic resistance hopes that the “checks and balances” of the original American political system could be used to reign in the present revisions to it. However, the “checks and balances” of this system were made to enforce the power disparities promoted by these revisions, not undermine them.

Indeed, these checks and balances were touted at the time by the framers of the Constitution as a way to keep the country balanced between “tyranny” and “mob rule.”

On the surface, this seems sensible until one realizes that these terms meant very different things to the founders. The mob was made up of everyone besides white natural-born landowning men. Tyranny similarly did not mean the oppression of the masses, it meant the loss of privilege for that ruling class.

A real path forward is the rejection of the flaws of American society and the embrace of an alternative that addresses those flaws in a way that preexisting political structures cannot. Rather than falling back on systems of marginalization to save the country, a bold path free of those systems must be forged.

In many cases, this path is already opening in the form of political outsiders, like Bernie Sanders or the Democratic Socialists of America who offer an alternative to liberal American capitalism and nationalism.

However, these are only the beginning of what must be a whole new approach to American politics which, in time, will be as universal as the present system.

Get ready for Critical Social Justice: Ignite with our What You Need to Know series. Written By Becca Mann, Mosaic Intern for Gender Equity, Social Justice, and Inclusion and Carlos Turcios, Coordinator for Student Diversity and Inclusion in Campus Life.

The term undocumented immigrant relates to a foreign-born person who is currently living in another country without legal authorization, whereas unauthorized migration relates to the action of moving to another country through means outside of what is permissible by that government. To most living in the United States, these definitions are not new. Although immigration to the new world began since the inception of the United States, the concept of “illegality” was something created in the late 19th century.  For each era of immigration, representation in the media clearly depicted imagery suggesting how immigrants looked like, the languages they spoke, why they were here, and how it affected the livelihood of Americans of that time.

In 2014, the majority of undocumented immigrants residing in the United States came from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and China. Forty percent have less than a high school degree and about half have very limited to no English language skills. (Migration Policy Institute, 2014). Foreign policy, poverty, violence and civic unrest in their countries of origin are just some of the reasons why immigrants leave to the United States.

The truth is immigration policies have always been convoluted to understand. Immigration policies have continuously expanded throughout the different waves of immigration that have created “gaps” to those who fall within “gray areas”.  These complications on determining the statuses of immigrants have led to recent executive decisions such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for various countries. More recent legislative decisions (i.e. attempts at terminating DACA and TPS), have affected general societal attitudes toward immigrants, especially the undocumented immigrant population.

Despite immigration being a common topic during election seasons, rarely do English-only speakers get a preview of what underlies in the experiences of the people living with this identity. Different nationalities, time of entry, age groups and socioeconomic statuses are only some factors that drastically affect the lived experiences of immigrants in the United States.

So you’re probably asking yourself “what can I do to help?” Below are some suggestions on what you could do to be a better ally:

Use the term “undocumented immigrant” instead of “illegal immigrant.” Undocumented immigrants are simply that, they don’t have official papers to be in the country where they are currently residing. Labeling them “illegal” is viewing their action of immigrating as an attack, suggesting their human existence is unlawful. In reality, being an undocumented immigrant is a violation of a civic law and not considered a federal crime.

Educate yourself on the U.S. immigration processes. Most people accuse undocumented immigrants of “skipping the line”and they just need to wait to live here legally. However, the official ways to legally enter this country have not changed since the Immigration Act of 1965 and sometimes this “line”does not exist for certain people. For those who have a line, the wait may be too long that it endangers their livelihood.

Remove needing a Social Security number from applications. Undocumented immigrants don’t have Social Security numbers and a lot of job applications, health forms, or other documents require that you include one. This excludes the entire undocumented population from opportunities like jobs, healthcare, welfare, and education among many others simply because they don’t have a Social Security number.

Stop assuming that immigrants “look a certain way.” Although statistics do show that the majority of immigrants come from Mexico and Central America, that does not mean that people from other regions can not hold this identity. Likewise, the nationality does not assume race and people can look very different regardless of where they are from. Be conscious of the diversity within the immigrant community.

There are ways to support immigrants and get involved!

Retriever Immigrants United, or RIU for short, is a brand new student organization on campus this semester. This org focuses on community building, education, and empowerment. The mission of this group is to provide a space for all statuses of immigrants (e.g. undocumented, DACA, Temporary Protective Status, first generation, second generation) and allies to provide support and share resources.

General Body Meetings are from 6 p.m. -7 p.m. every Wednesday in Math/Psych 105.

You can find Retriever Immigrants United on myumbc and Facebook. Also you can contact retrieverimmigrantsunited@umbc.edu with any questions or more information.

The Mosaic myumbc page also has a folder under the “Files” tab with a lot of helpful information.

To learn more, come to our event “CSJ Igniting Consciousness Into the Immigrant Experience” on Wednesday, October 24 from 5:30-7 pm in Commons Skylight.

October 24 is also “I Stand With Immigrants Day of Action.” Please join RIU for their event in recognition of this day from 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. in the Commons Breezeway.