ANDY’S SWISS TRAVEL 21

Dear Dean Craig,

I am writing this email in regards to the Carnival Cruise Cancellation. As Dean of Students Affairs, I understand that you make decisions that are suppose to be in the “best interest of the students and college community”. However, as a student who attended the Switzerland Study Abroad program, I am extremely disappointed to hear that some of the students who were enrolled in the class, have raised concerns. During the 3 week period we were given several opportunities, by Dr. Garely and Prof. Blake-Neis, on a daily basis, as individuals and a group, to raise any issues or concerns in regard to how the program was being conducted. Many of the students who attended the study abroad program had a misconception of what a study abroad program means. Some thought that the 3 weeks period in Switzerland was going to be spent hanging out, partying and drinking on a nightly basis. It personally angers me that more than half of the students were enrolled in this 3 credit course for the wrong reasons and those individuals are not even Travel and Tourism majors.

If you were to take a look most, if not all, of the students who raised “concerns” in regards to how the program was conducted, you will notice that these individuals were not scheduled to attend the cruise. Also what about the other 8 students who were supposed to attend the cruise and were not part of the study abroad program. The time and effort that others and I put into this cruise can not just go to waste and BMCC’s Administrative staff does nothing to correct this grave injustice. I was reimbursed the $670.00 which I paid for the cruise, but the issue goes beyond that. Take a minute and think about my other investments into this cruise, such as my time off work, clothes purchased and hours spent to book this cruise.

I truly hope that, as the Dean of Student Affairs, you will come up with a solution in regards to the cruise cancellation. We should be compensated by the school with another cruise or monies. It is not fair that the students who were scheduled to attend the Carnival cruise should be dealing with this “bogus” burden. Ms. Craig, being sorry doesn’t fix the issue, taking action to repair some of the damage done is what needs to be done.

I hope to hear from you soon.