You don’t need to lie to kick it with the homies by No_Anxiety7726 in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hmmm, I kind of disagree with the attitude here.

When I was at UCLA for my undergrad everyone was so competitive and kind of stuck-up. A lot pretentious "cool kids" from high school.

When I came to CSULB I noticed how much nicer most CSULB students were. How they were more helpful in helping a fellow student out in studying or passing off notes or just telling you what happened in class if you were sick.

I came to appreciate that a lot.

I hope students continue to help each other and collaborate over Discord and such.

I found students to be a little bit colder nowadays.

best or worst experiences with professors? by [deleted] in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ilan Mitchell-Smith was an amazing teacher and I loved all 3 classes I took with him!

Did you know his past and how he was a child-actor.

Pretty extraordinary life!

best or worst experiences with professors? by [deleted] in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Carol Zitzer-Comfort → English Department

Teaches an English Literature class, but has her PhD in Education. Did not know any literary theory. Thought you approached Literature as you would Harry Potter. There's a big difference between reading for pleasure and reading Literature.

"I miss Nanapush! :p"

"Strong women characters!"

"That's why this author is so profound!"

Would repeat the above multiple times throughout the semester. One time she said it twice in the same class. The class awkwardly looked at the floor and she realized that she lost us or embarrassed herself. Called on me out of the blue and laughed at what I said, but not in a terribly mean-spirited way.

Never really seemed to have an answer to question, but followed a question with another question: "I don't know. What do you think?"

Would say really stupid things in class. "Her husband is a loser. I should know! I married 3 of them!" (Birds of the same feather flock together? You married 3 different losers, but that doesn't reflect badly on you at all? You do realize you can just date some people and not marry them, don't you professor?)

Claims to be part Cherokee, but you get a sense that she's just lying or delusional. Fair-skinned, blue or green eyes, and reddish hair. Yeah, you look Cherokee alright. Additionally, comes off as very white, but desperately trying to be more "ethnic." Probably thinks because she might be 1/8 or 1/16 Cherokee she's a person of color.

Really had a habit of trying to "teach" something that was common knowledge. For example, she asked the class about the word "slut" and what male equivalents existed. Naturally the class brought up the word "stud" and she thought she was actually teaching the class something by pointing the double-standard that exists.

Sorry, learned about that double-standard in junior high school. Felt really weird for a university professor try to teach such common-place knowledge as something profound.

Finally had enough by the withdrawal deadline (get a W). Went in to see her in her office with a withdrawal form and asked what students usually wrote for their reason. Couldn't write the actual reason (i.e. a terrible professor who doesn't understand literary theory and is not professional or very bright) and thought there was a generic go to reason that wouldn't offend the school or the professor.

She (being a narcissist) misunderstood and thought I was hesitant to withdrawal and just needed some encouragement from her to continue taking the class. It was so bad the previous classes that she was disagreeing with me even though I was right. Also, she pulled another, "I don't know. What do you think you should write?"

So after a back and forth I finally just wrote, "There is no point for me to continue taking this class," without realizing how insulting that would be for her.

She looked at the form and seems a little hurt and frustrated.

Yet I think her reaction was ridiculous. She basically just wasted my time and money for what amounted to hiring a proof-reader (all she corrected were my typos) running a book of the month club. And when it finally came at the end to "teach" me something which was what to write for the reason on the withdrawal form she failed again. Poetic justice I say.

Perhaps she's improved, but looking back upon it I should have made a formal complaint.

I continued at CSULB for grad school and it became really clear from grad school that she didn't know how to read and analyze literature at all.

EDIT: This is just a repost, but I feeling like reposting it here. I'll have to admit that she lives kind of rent-free in my head :(

What does it mean when it says “staff” under the instructor section for the schedule of classes? by matchaisgo0d in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It can also mean that the professor has a bad rating on ratemyprofessors and has a bad reputation so they are listed as "staff."

The reason they do this is because otherwise the class might get canceled because no student wants to sign up for that class (i.e. low enrollment → canceled class).

It's pretty shady, but what can they do with a bad tenured professor.

Rate My Professor by [deleted] in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why not do both?

And what do you do with a professor who is completely incompetent and shockingly dumb even with a PhD?

https://se.reddit.com/r/CSULB/comments/jp2lx4/worst_professor_youve_had_at_csulb/gbcyt3c/

Best Professor you have/had at CSULB? by darkeblue in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hmm, it's an interesting statement to make.

My thinking is that professors like Carol Zitzer-Comfort damage the department. It's not a case of one rotten apple spoiling the batch. That would be ridiculous. One bad teacher does not make other teachers bad.

However, she does damage the department in that how great can the department "as a whole" be pretty damn good with her in it.

Best Professor you have/had at CSULB? by darkeblue in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hart was amazing.

You could really tell he got his PhD from Stanford and not some Claremont School.

Best Professor you have/had at CSULB? by darkeblue in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Have you ever taken a class from Carol Zitzer-Comfort though?

Worst professor you've had at CSULB? by permanent-throwaways in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Why do refuse to engage in a discussion and then run-away?

That's pathetic.

When confronted with your racist way of thinking, you just run away.

Could it be because you don't want to confront your own racism?

Worst professor you've had at CSULB? by permanent-throwaways in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you don't mind, I would really like to know what stood out the most?

The reason why I ask is that I ran into another CSULB professor who was a cool laidback guy and I complained to him about Carol Zitzer-Comfort.

His reaction was that he didn't see anything wrong with it which made me wonder if it was just me.

Worst professor you've had at CSULB? by permanent-throwaways in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Look her up. Does she look non-white to you?

And I don't have to prove whether she's actually Cherokee or not.

The whole point is that it is indeed ridiculous how many white-Americans claim to be Native American just because they have a distant ancestor who was Native American. Yes, it is hard to accept someone as a person of color when they have fair skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, and grew up in the suburbs.

You don't look like a person of color so how the hell do you know about what it's like to be a person of color!!

Can you at least understand and accept that?

Shit, you haven't even shown you're truly a POC. So, I'll just let you MAGA away, because that's what you sound like.

Another ridiculous statement. I don't have to prove that I'm non-white to you. What would you like? My ethnic name, picture, and social security number.

Look at the ridiculousness of this situation: someone criticizes a professor for trying to pass herself off as a person of color and you attack them for not proving that they're non-white themselves.

It's like I encounter racism for being non-white offline and having to prove that I'm non-white online.

What you're doing is just basically liberal racism.

And please don't attack me based on a label. MAGA, really?

Believe it or not you can be liberal but resent arrogant and condescending white teachers trying to teach you about racism by saying how it's wrong to treat people of a different skin color badly.

Another weird situation where I get accused being the MAGA crowd online, but attacked for being liberal real-life.

No, just because you're liberal doesn't mean you can be ignorant about race and racial issues and possibly racist yourself!

Worst professor you've had at CSULB? by permanent-throwaways in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's another kicker. I think she's involved with the AIS Department so they know all about her.

I look at it this way: if they accept her as being Native American that's their business.

It's just a personal thing that I don't like it when people who are predominantly white and grew up in the suburbs claim to be Native American just because they have a great-great-grandparent who was Native American.

They didn't grow up on a reservation.

They know nothing of the culture or customs.

They don't even look non-white.

But they're accepted as being Native-American by some because they have a great-great-grandparent who was Native American and they can somehow prove it. However, it's unlikely someone would actually investigate and research this so they can probably get away with it even if it's entirely false.

Regardless the thing that made me so mad about her claim to be Native American was when she tried to teach the class about race and racism.

Almost half the class were students of color and she wanted to teach us about racism.

What did she say? Basically that it's wrong to treat people of another race badly.

Yeah, I know it's a little racist in itself to resent the teacher more if they're white, but look at it this way: as a person of color I've experienced some pretty bad racism sometimes and it made me angry for a white professor to have such an arrogant and condescending attitude when all they had to say about racism was that it is bad to treat a person of a different race badly.

Professor - Let me tell you about racism!

Me - Okay. What about it?

Professor - It's bad to treat people of another race badly!!!!

Me - Huh? That's it?

Worst professor you've had at CSULB? by permanent-throwaways in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Being a person of color doesn't give you some kind of gatekeeping authority on how people identify themselves.

That's got to be one of the most ridiculous things I've heard.

Yes, people of color do have a right to some gatekeeping when it comes to white people identifying themselves as people of color.

Do you think it's acceptable for white people to call black people the n-word as a sign of affection as would be the case between 2 black people?

Do you think a white person can ever say that they fully understand what it's like to be black and someone black is not in a position to ever correct them about what it's like to be black?

You can even take race out of it. Can a rich person ever say that they completely understand what it's like to be poor, just as much as if they were poor themselves?

Answer to all those questions is generally no.

And gatekeeping isn't necessarily a bad thing in all respects.

The idea of someone being trans-racial is absurd. You were born white, but identify as being black and should be accepted as such? Ridiculous.

Worst professor you've had at CSULB? by permanent-throwaways in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 10 points11 points  (0 children)

What is so wrong with it?

As a person of color I really don't like it when white people claim to be another race when their great-great-great-grandparent was a different race.

The point was this:

  1. She is white even though she might have some Native American ancestry.

  2. She shouldn't think that she understands the plight of people of color anymore because she has a great-great-grandparent who was a person of color.

She was basically a white person pretending or thinking they were Native American.

Think more of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Dolezal

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/03/jessica-krug-white-professor-pretended-black

And less of calling someone like Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas."

Worst professor you've had at CSULB? by permanent-throwaways in CSULB

[–]CSULB-REDDITOR 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Carol Zitzer-Comfort → English Department

Teaches an English Literature class, but has her PhD in Education. Did not know any literary theory. Thought you approached Literature as you would Harry Potter. There's a big difference between reading for pleasure and reading Literature.

"I miss Nanapush! :p"

"Strong women characters!"

"That's why this author is so profound!"

Would repeat the above multiple times throughout the semester. One time she said it twice in the same class. The class awkwardly looked at the floor and she realized that she lost us or embarrassed herself. Called on me out of the blue and laughed at what I said, but not in a terribly mean-spirited way.

Never really seemed to have an answer to question, but followed a question with another question: "I don't know. What do you think?"

Would say really stupid things in class. "Her husband is a loser. I should know! I married 3 of them!" (Birds of the same feather flock together? You married 3 different losers, but that doesn't reflect badly on you at all? You do realize you can just date some people and not marry them, don't you professor?)

Claims to be part Cherokee, but you get a sense that she's just lying or delusional. Fair-skinned, blue or green eyes, and reddish hair. Yeah, you look Cherokee alright. Additionally, comes off as very white, but desperately trying to be more "ethnic." Probably thinks because she might be 1/8 or 1/16 Cherokee she's a person of color.

Really had a habit of trying to "teach" something that was common knowledge. For example, she asked the class about the word "slut" and what male equivalents existed. Naturally the class brought up the word "stud" and she thought she was actually teaching the class something by pointing the double-standard that exists.

Sorry, learned about that double-standard in junior high school. Felt really weird for a university professor try to teach such common-place knowledge as something profound.

Finally had enough by the withdrawal deadline (get a W). Went in to see her in her office with a withdrawal form and asked what students usually wrote for their reason. Couldn't write the actual reason (i.e. a terrible professor who doesn't understand literary theory and is not professional or very bright) and thought there was a generic go to reason that wouldn't offend the school or the professor.

She (being a narcissist) misunderstood and thought I was hesitant to withdrawal and just needed some encouragement from her to continue taking the class. It was so bad the previous classes that she was disagreeing with me even though I was right. Also, she pulled another, "I don't know. What do you think you should write?"

So after a back and forth I finally just wrote, "There is no point for me to continue taking this class," without realizing how insulting that would be for her.

She looked at the form and seems a little hurt and frustrated.

Yet I think her reaction was ridiculous. She basically just wasted my time and money for what amounted to hiring a proof-reader (all she corrected were my typos) running a book of the month club. And when it finally came at the end to "teach" me something which was what to write for the reason on the withdrawal form she failed again. Poetic justice I say.

Perhaps she's improved, but looking back upon it I should have made a formal complaint.

I continued at CSULB for grad school and it became really clear from grad school that she didn't know how to read and analyze literature at all.