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Hillsborough Community College\u2019s Dale Mabry campus on Jan. 25, 2021. Credit: Feng Cheng \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\nHillsborough Community College\u2019s Dale Mabry campus on Jan. 25, 2021. Credit: Feng Cheng \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 6:30 in the morning and inside my headphones is the calming sound of ocean waves. Outside, the sun is rising behind the apartment complex across the street. Swooping into view is an osprey, who lands atop an orange construction cone and stares intently into the pond below. It\u2019s nest on the next telephone pole. In a few hours, I\u2019ll drive to work and begin another lesson with my students at Hillsborough College\u2019s Dale Mabry campus.<\/p>\n
As each school year has come and gone, the home of the Hawks feels less like the nest I once knew. Over the last five years, I\u2019ve noticed my student\u2019s reading comprehension start lower and lower; I\u2019ve witnessed my colleagues grow more bitter and disheartened; I\u2019ve begrudgingly sat through (countless) committee meetings on how to \u201cintegrate AI into my classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, while sitting through another faculty in-service watching the AI-generated videos of what \u201ccould be\u201d our new (much much smaller) campus, I can\u2019t help but feel like the conductor on the Titanic, hopelessly trying to convince my students that the music matters as the ship begins to slip into the icy unknown.<\/p>\n
For the first time since becoming a teacher, I found myself dreading the start of the Fall semester. Aside from the uncertainty of our campus\u2019 future, my apprehension was in part due to the fact that a week before the semester started, I was informed my Intro to Creative Writing course would be cancelled due to low enrollment\u2014a class I\u2019ve been fighting tooth and nail to resurrect after being buried in the college\u2019s course catalog.<\/p>\n
Now, you might think \u201clow enrollment\u201d means \u201clow interest.\u201d But the answer isn\u2019t that simple. In fact, considering I ran the same course with 19 students last spring the reason for \u201clow enrollment\u201d becomes much more complicated. With each passing semester student\u2019s time is further monopolized by general education courses, \u201cfirst-year experience\u201d requirements, not to mention Florida\u2019s housing crisis, a stagnant job market, and exponential increases in living expenses that make \u201celectives\u201d seem \u201cunnecessary.\u201d Unfortunately, the problem of low enrollment has affected dozens of courses across the Humanities, which leaves eager faculty and students wilting on the vine.<\/p>\n
When I was a student in community college, my humanities courses were some of my favorite. Learning about art, culture, and language in new ways with new people was exciting. What I remember most about those days now, though, is that the classrooms were always full. I was just one of 25 students excited to share their work, discuss that week\u2019s reading, and (at our best) debate the merits of the Oxford comma.<\/p>\n
The short-term (and perhaps most obvious) answer to the low enrollment question is that Hillsborough College\u2019s Dale Mabry campus is set to be turned into a professional sports stadium, coffee shops, and high-rise apartments. To say HC\u2019s redevelopment is an afterthought in those plans is easily proven by our forthcoming moniker: Innovation Edge Featuring Hillsborough College.<\/a><\/p>\n As higher education becomes increasingly transactional, I see students who are apathetic; they want to \u201cget-in-and-get-out\u201d as quickly as possible. In a world that wants to leave them behind, why wouldn\u2019t they microwave their education with ChatGPT and Gemini? I see professors burnt out from teaching six, seven, and eight courses a semester. For context, at most four-year public universities, you\u2019re considered to be \u201cpaying your dues\u201d if you teach four classes a semester. The students and faculty of Hillsborough College deserve their time back. We deserve the space (literally and metaphorically) to explore art, culture, and language that deepen the educational experience and enrich our community, not commodify it.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t blame my students for their apathy. I don\u2019t blame my colleagues for their disillusionment. What scares me is that I\u2019m starting to feel those things, too.<\/p>\n It\u2019s now 9 a.m. and the alarm on my phone cuts through the soft sound of waves washing ashore\u2014it\u2019s time to get ready for work. I close my laptop and glance back out my window. The orange traffic cone is silhouetted against the sky. I take off my headphones and listen for the high-pitched chirp of an osprey, scanning the auburn colored roof of the apartments across the street. There\u2019s rain clouds off in the distance. I wonder if the hawk has found better shelter, if it\u2019s ready to weather the storm.<\/p>\n Joshua Corson is an English instructor at the newly-rebranded Hillsborough College, formerly known as Hillsborough Community College.<\/p>\n Creative Loafing Tampa Bay accepts letters to the editors and op-ed pitches. We will not run your letter without permission. Email your submissions to\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>\u00a0for consideration.<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in August 27 \u2013 September 02, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t