Students Take Issue With Fees; Film Department Works to Make Due

A Brooklyn College thesis film shoot./ Ryan Schwach
A Brooklyn College thesis film shoot./ Ryan Schwach

 With everyone getting hit financially in one way or another by the pandemic, students at BC have taken issue with fees included in classes that they have not been fully able to receive the benefits of. 

   Equipment fees often accompany film and art classes that utilize gear like cameras, dark rooms, and various other hands on equipment, and totals vary. With online learning, students this semester are not able to reap all the benefits that they would usually be paying for, and would like to see some support from the college. 

   “We’re not in school, obviously, but we are still getting charged all this money for things we are not getting access to and I think that’s just wrong,” said Sarah Feltman, a senior film production major. “I don’t get anything from that, like literally nothing,” she said, specifically referring to a $70 equipment fee in an art department photo class that has not given her any resources. Generally, students would be lent cameras, film, and use of the department’s dark room to process and develop the photographs, none of which were provided this semester. 

   “My professor was upset we had to pay that fee,” she said, adding that the professor had brought the student complaint up the grapevine at the beginning of the semester, and was told by higher ups that they would look into it. “That was in like the second week of classes,” said Feltman. 

   “The equipment fees, like all those things, really should be given back, at least part of it,” said Destiny Blackwell, also a senior film major. “It’s just a lack of support from the school,” she said. 

   Blackwell, who is struggling to complete her thesis film, the culmination of her four years in the program, says the college has not done all it can to help students during this stressful time. “They should be more flexible…We’re in a pandemic,” she said. In her thesis film, there is a scene that requires a large auditorium, and amid other options falling through, she hoped she could use the college, but was denied access. “They asked me if I had thought of other options, this is the other option,” she told the Vanguard. 

   Both Feltman and Blackwell argue that thesis students specifically are not getting what would normally be provided. and that the college or university should move to alleviate the financial burden on students. Both, like many students, have lost jobs due to the pandemic and are paying out of pocket. 

   “I personally think they should be waived. We are just paying these fees and getting absolutely nothing from it, said Feltman.  

   Blackwell agrees, but at the very least would like more transparency. “At least tell people where their money is going, that at least would give people some peace of mind,” she said. 

   The film department, which generally handles a large amount of film equipment and other resources like computers, says it is doing the best it can to provide for students under the circumstances. 

   “This pandemic was not something the department had any way to pre-plan for and yet I think we’ve managed to do a lot with what we do have,” said Annette Danto, chair of the film department. “We are one of the only undergraduate film programs doing any equipment distribution during this awful, and serious pandemic. NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ undergraduate Film Program, where students pay 60K per year in tuition, hasn’t had any equipment going out since March 2020,” she said. 

   BC’s film department has outfitted students in beginner and intermediate classes with specialized smartphone accessory kits to better the film making quality. As for screening fees, some classes have utilized a shared folder of film files, which are paid for through the student’s screening fee. 

   “We can’t pretend that life is normal,” said department head Annette Danto. “It isn’t and our expectations regarding our classes, equipment access, all have needed to be adjusted a bit. It hasn’t been easy, but we all understand that people’s lives are at risk. The fact that we’ve been able to manage any equipment distribution at all during this public health crisis is almost a miracle,” she said.