Amidst a lawsuit over DMACC’s new ‘D’ logo, some are curious about how it affects the students of both schools, primarily students from DMACC who are transferring to Drake.
During the lawsuit, students of both colleges turned to the popular social media app YikYak to discuss proceedings. Like Reddit, YikYak allows users to discuss topics anonymously on a thread. In light of the recent lawsuit, Drake students made fun of DMACC students on the app.
Many different circumstances can cause transfer students on Drake’s campus to feel alienated, and the ongoing lawsuit between Drake and DMACC only drew more attention to DMACC transfer students. To determine whether transfer students were feeling animosity online or in person, The Time-Delphic asked various students about their stories.
Rachelle Setsodi, the associate director of Drake’s transfer admission, said that approximately 200 students have transferred from DMACC over the past five years.
Setsodi has worked in transfer admission for 21 years and said she has not had any students come to her about being treated unfairly because of their status as transfer students. She recommends that they let the school know if this happens so they can go through the proper channels to receive help.
“Drake is known as a community, and Drake is known with staff, faculty and students to be welcoming and helpful. You know that Midwest feel help[s] them get to whatever the next step is,” Setsodi said. She added that Access and Success and other services are available to help students.
Second-year Joyanna Huang is cross enrolled in Drake and DMACC. Huang is majoring in strategic political communications, public relations and economics. Though she is not on YikYak, Huang was surprised to hear about the online discussions about students who transferred from DMACC to Drake. Even so, she feels confident about going to both schools.
“I haven’t heard of any [hate], but if they did, honestly, I don’t know how much it would affect me,” Huang said. “I’m very happy with my decision to have started at DMACC then [to go to Drake directly].”
Huang’s message to those who have negative things to say about transfer students is to welcome them rather than tear them down.
“They are no different than you are,” Huang said. “They want to be a part of the Drake family, so welcome them. There are so many intelligent students coming in from DMACC, and at the end of the day, they want to reach the same goals as other students in their majors. They’ve just chosen to take things in a different path.”
Senior Dena Gerhart is a DMACC transfer student. Her major is business, and she is on track to go to law school. Gerhart was one of the first DMACC students to complete the 3+3 law program. Although she is not on YikYak, she said her experience as a Drake student has been wonderful.
“I came in with the perception that I was going to be treated differently or something of that nature, and that has not occurred,” Gerhart said. “Basically, your Drake experience is what you make it as a transfer student,” she said.
Gerhart also said she had a preconceived bias about the students at Drake that she learned wasn’t true.
“I probably went in with the… notion of — these are private school kids they’re entitled and they think they’re going to know it all,” Gerhart said. “That was kind of my pre-contextual bias, which was [proven to be false] on the first day of class.”
Gerhart is currently working on starting a transfer student organization whole primary goal is to make a safe place for all state and international transfer students. The group’s first meeting occured this past Wednesday. They will need 10 members to become an registered student organization.
“We’re trying to get the temporary [registered] status so we can work with SBA,” Gerhart said. Once the organization is temporarily registered, it will host more events, such as the hot cocoa event hosted this past Wednesday. Gerhart said these events are created to help build a transfer community and provide support for difficulties they might face.
Interested students are encouraged to email Gerhart at [email protected].
