NE Dance Director Kihyoung Choi has been removed from her classes, according to students.<\/p>\n
Choi was called into an emergency meeting with Human Resources on Monday during her class, according to dance student Rachel Ramsarran.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in the middle of ballet. We thought everything was normal. She has meetings all the time. So, she just left,\u201d Ramsarran said. \u201cHours passed by.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students said it is not clear whether she\u2019s been terminated or put on administrative leave, and with her gone, students are concerned for their end-of-the-year performance.<\/p>\n
Vice Chancellor for Communications and External Affairs Reginald Gates said he can\u2019t comment on the situation due to the situation being under investigation.<\/p>\n
Dance instructor Jenna Chang and adjunct Najwa Seyedmorteza returned to tell students that the Dean of Arts and Humanities Hwiman Chung informed them they\u2019d be assuming all Choi\u2019s classes for the rest of the semester due to an emergency.<\/p>\n
When asked, Chung said he was unable to respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what we know is [there\u2019s] no apparent reason,\u201d Ramsarran said while holding back tears. \u201cThey won\u2019t even tell her co-workers why. They won\u2019t tell her students why. We can contact her, but she can\u2019t contact us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Choi taught seven classes that Chang and Seyedmorteza have had to split up, according to the students. Chang\u2019s now teaching an emergency overload of 11 courses, while Seyedmorteza is teaching 6 courses as an adjunct, on top of her courses at TCU, according to student leader of the dance program Joshua Garcia.<\/p>\n
Chang and Seyedmorteza wouldn\u2019t respond to any questions regarding the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cChoi was the backbone of everything this department is. It\u2019s nothing without her,\u201d Ramsarran said. \u201cWe\u2019re all at a loss, and it\u2019s just really frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia said he and other students are worried about the department\u2019s future without Choi as their leader.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been part of the program for years now and said many students, including himself, see Choi as a mentor. Now, he said he feels the college is leaving all of them in the dark about what\u2019s happened to their teacher.<\/p>\n
\u201cTCC has a history of trying to hide things. On this campus alone, the first thing that comes to mind is what happened to the day care here,\u201d Garcia said, referring to the NE Children\u2019s Center closing in 2024. \u201cThey dissolved the day care overnight as far as I\u2019m aware, and we don\u2019t want that to happen to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dancer Brenda Alvarez said she\u2019s very upset with the college for removing Choi. Their studio, amenities and space are nothing compared to other campuses, and even though she lives closer to them, she said chose the NE dance program because of Choi.<\/p>\n
After all the work students put in this academic year for their final performance, she said she feels the college has left the program down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked really, really hard. When we joined the class, everybody was putting in the effort, and we\u2019re still putting in the effort,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cWe all paid money to be here, and I feel like the department has failed us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia said their concert sold over 750 tickets and was one of the largest events on NE Campus that brought together students, families and the community. The sudden disruption without clear communication, he said, has left many confused and frustrated.<\/p>\n
\u201cAudience members who paid for tickets are uncertain, and students who spent months preparing are left without answers,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cHow can students feel pride in their institution when major decisions are made without transparency?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NE Dance Director Kihyoung Choi has been removed from her classes, according to students. Choi was called into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-589365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}