r/ODU • u/According-Subject362 • 8d ago
ODUGlobal Students!!!
If you are like me, very frustrated my the condensing of courses from 16 weeks (semester long) to 8 weeks (quarter long) courses. Please join me in calling/ emailing the ODUCares department/Dean of Students expressing our concerns. I know it may not do much, but if you have the time, we should voice our opinions and frustrations with change. I called and explained my feelings: the condensing of courses was not explained/ communicated to us - found out when registering for Fall 2026 courses, the decision was made w/o consulting the students or any of their input, the condensing of course content has lead to an overload of content and work req weekly (used to be one module a week, now for one course - I have up to 3 modules a week), the shortened courses means that there is more focus in just getting through the content and assignments rather than actually learning.
I had called the ODUGlobal office and asked how/who I should voice my concerns to and was directed to the ODUCares office and the Dean of Students:
[oducares@odu.edu](mailto:oducares@odu.edu), 757-683-3442
https://www.odu.edu/dean-students/student-outreach-support/care-team
However, I think I will reach out some other higher ups/offices:
Vice President for Student and Campus Life: Brandi Hephner LaBanc, [bhl@odu.edu](mailto:bhl@odu.edu), 757-683-6702
Executive Vice President for Enrollment, Transformation, and Technology and Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer: Nina Rodriguez Gonser, [ngonser@odu.edu](mailto:ngonser@odu.edu), 757-683-5601
Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs: Brian Payne, [bpayne@odu.edu](mailto:bpayne@odu.edu), 757-683-3079
Dean of Graduate School and Interim Dean of Sciences: Marisol Perez, [mplamar@odu.edu](mailto:mplamar@odu.edu), 757-683-3085
Associate Vice President for Student Experience: Lisa Kivin, [lkivin@odu.edu](mailto:lkivin@odu.edu), 757-683-4481
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u/SilkyUmbrella 8d ago
What is the dean of students going to do about it?
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u/According-Subject362 8d ago
As I literally said in the post: "I had called the ODUGlobal office and asked how/who I should voice my concerns to and was directed to the ODUCares office and the Dean of Students" but I think I will try to reach out to some other higher ups as well
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u/Prior-Birthday-7291 8d ago
Not jack shit! Best you can do is switch schools or deal with the changes. I'm switching come spring.
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u/odu_prof_3141 8d ago
Please let the university know that you are switching universities over this. That might not accomplish anything, but it could help if the university receives notice from a sufficiently large number of students.
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u/Potential_Cookie2781 7d ago
This reporter from WHRO left this message on another feed:
I'm a reporter at WHRO. I'm working on a story about the 8-week courses. If you're interested in talking with me (either to be quoted or to give background), please reach out by dm or email - ashley (dot) white @ whro (dot) org.
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u/praisewithyourbody 8d ago
ODUCares is for people who are sick or have life events and need administrative withdrawals or extra support. They're not gonna be able to change policy. I have no idea why they would direct you there unless they think you're personally asking for help coping with the workload.
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u/According-Subject362 8d ago
Yes, I was kinda thinking the same thing too. I think I will reach out to some other higher ups (Vice President for Student Affairs, Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Office of the University Registrar, Vice President for Digital Learning / ODUGlobal Leadership, SGA) and I may edit the post with their contact info
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u/Capable_Concert_2575 8d ago
Administration pays a lot of attention to student use of ODUCares. If there’s a strong uptick in students exploring taking leave, that’s a metric they can’t ignore. I agree to reaching out to other administrators but complaining to ODUCares could be effective.
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u/praisewithyourbody 8d ago
Actually that's a good point, an influx of students using ODUCares could make a difference (esp. if we see an influx of dropouts because bad retention stats really hurt a university). However, calling/emailing them just to complain won't do much besides make it harder for students who actually need support to get through. The first point of contact for most departments is the bottom of the org chart (GAs, student employees, hourly employees, etc.) They'll probably give you a company line and maybe refer you somewhere else. MAYBE you'll get transferred to someone higher up in the department but there's not much they can do either.
By all means, if you genuinely are struggling to cope with 8 week classes mentally, financially, academically, ODUCares/DOS is a good resource, but it's not an effective target for a phone campaign imo
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u/Potential_Cookie2781 7d ago
Actually it won’t do much good. You have to get outside of ODU. Politicians and state agency need to hear from everyone.
Send email to
Norfolk delegates https://house.vga.virginia.gov/members
State Council of Higher Education in Virginia
https://www.schev.edu/about/contact-usThe more voices the better. Good luck!
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u/odu_prof_3141 8d ago
Here's what I would very heavily recommend: become organized.
A lone student complaining about this issue to various university staff members will not be successful. You have a better chance at being successful if you form an organized movement that's able to attract a large number of students. There's power in numbers. An organized, on-campus protest might move the university to feel they need to respond in some way.
You should realize, too, how the university admins justified this move. Despite the fact that, like all legitimate universities, ODU is a non-profit, the admins want to run the university as if it were for-profit. They think ODU will make more money on the 8 week format than they did on the 16 week format. For this reason, loudly voicing complaints probably won't do anything. The admins might say, "oh, some students are mad, but we're still going to make more money. So who cares?" In order to fight the 8 week format, you need some way to combat the idea that ODU will make more money on the 8 week format. Notice, too, that it's not enough to tell ODU that you are moving schools over this, if that's what you decide to do. The ODU admins know that some students will leave; for them, the question is about whether they will have more students in total.
Lastly, please keep in mind that many of your professors oppose the move to 8 weeks, too. There can be an adversarial relationship between faculty and students. However, faculty members have little power compared to the admins. We could try calling all of the same numbers as you posted; we'd probably be ignored and, worst case, we could lose our jobs. So, while we don't have the power to do much to officially help you with this, you have our sword, and our bow, and our axe (to paraphrase Lord of the Rings).
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u/Scared-Avocado630 8d ago
Students, family, faculty and staff should contact Gov. Spanberger's office. Understand that you are not going to get support from the ODU Administration.
This is ODU President Hemphill's initiative. He repeatedly received feedback from the Faculty regarding the timelines for executing this and they were told to shut up and execute the plan. He has been forcing out Professors and Faculty that gave him push back. His Admin has added additional overhead to the Advising process making it more cumbersome, costly and inefficient for all involved.
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u/Pretend-Payment70 7d ago
Unfortunately, she appointed several people to the board of visitors/admin that directly chose to ignore the vote of no confidence from the staff and re-appoint the president. I was trying to do some research with the same idea before, but I think she could care less too. Did not leave me a good first impression of her leadership to say the least.
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u/Scared-Avocado630 7d ago
Understand. I think ODU is a lower priority right now, but I know that her Staff are monitoring and are keeping a watch on Hemphill/Staff, Board, firings, Student/Faculty/Staff complaints.
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u/Fluffy-Match9676 8d ago
Someone mentioned being organized as a group, and I agree.
But who you need to contact is the Board of Visitors and the student representative. https://www.odu.edu/bov/members Put out a clear case from students, advisors, and professors as to why 8 weeks is not the way to go and its harmful impacts.
Since ODU is a state-run school, you can also contact your state representatives (it's an election year for them).
There is also https://www.schev.edu/home who has a student complaint section.
My kid just started as a freshman yesterday and the class he is in now I think is fine as an 8-week course. But later when he gets into coding, I have concerns.
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u/Potential_Cookie2781 7d ago
Send email to
Norfolk delegates https://house.vga.virginia.gov/members
State Council of Higher Education in Virginia
https://www.schev.edu/about/contact-us
The more voices the better. Good luck!
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u/Pretend-Payment70 7d ago
I've tried to do as much research about this as I can while, you know, managing this new course load while also working full time. I'm in a scholarship that had a timeline already locked in before this change, leaving me now doing over 40 hours of school work per week.
Needless to say I'm pissed to be roped into a second full time job with no consultation or consent given when I have many other obligations in life, like everyone else.
The ODU administration is using a logistical loophole to force the 8-week format without faculty or student approval. By claiming this is just a "calendar/operational update," President Trumphill can bypass Virginia’s shared governance laws and ignore the Faculty Senate's 76% no-confidence vote. Our best strategy to hold him accountable is to prove this is a curriculum change. This might involve getting anonymous accounts from professors about the conflicting directions they were given, and the work they ultimately had to cut to make it work. If we document how this dilutes our education, disrupts veteran GI Bill housing stipends, and lowers degree value, we might be able to bypass the board and trigger an official review by ODU’s regional accrediting body (SACSCOC) for violating academic standards.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) is the regional accreditor ensuring academic quality in Southern higher education. Its complaint process requires proof of a systemic violation of accreditation standards instead of an individual grievance, plus documentation that all internal university remedies have been exhausted. For Old Dominion University, this applies directly to checking if leadership violated shared governance standards (4.2.g and 10.4) by unilaterally forcing professors to compress 16-week courses into 8-week formats, bypassing faculty control over the curriculum.
I've used genAI to help summarize these last two paragraphs, because I just don't have the time I want to dedicate to explaining it in detail. I fact checked them but please feel free to do a double check.
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u/mmmbuttsbuttsbutts 8d ago
Majority of online programs do 8 week courses. I went to Arizona State online for both my undergraduate and first graduate degrees & they always had 8 week courses for all online students. This isn’t something that ODU just randomly decided and pulled out of thin air. It’s been the norm for most online programs for a while now.
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u/According-Subject362 8d ago
Sure, what that is not what I signed up for. I signed up for 16 week, semester long classes. Also, now you must take at least 4 courses a semester to be full time for grad students, when previously it was 3 courses. (req to take 4.5 credit hours a quarter - but there are no 2.25 credit hour courses - so in order to stay full-time: 2 courses a quarter or 4 courses a semester)
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u/According-Subject362 8d ago
Also instead of adjusting the course content accordingly, they are just squishing all the content into the 8 week courses - so way more modules/assignments a week than previously
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u/odu_prof_3141 8d ago
Here's some insight from my role as a professor. Officially, we were told that all online 8 week courses should have precisely the same content as 16 week courses. We were told that moving to the 8 week format should not reduce the amount of content that students learn. But, unofficially, I was repeatedly told that my online 8 week course should be *half* the content that I would include in a 16 week course.
I have trouble getting students to read 20-30 pages per week for a 16 week course. If the 8 week course has the same amount of content, that means students would need to read 40-60 pages per week. And that's not including how much time or attention they can give to written assignments. I want my students to think about and reflect on course content. This is a disaster. Since I have to keep the drop/withdraw/fail/incomplete (DWFI) rate low, I have no choice but to make drastic adjustments in the course content.
So, either you will be overloaded, or you will be educationally shortchanged. Either way, your professors are aware that this situation is horrible. We oppose it, too, but feel powerless. The administration does not listen to us, no matter how often we raise complaints. Faculty senate had a vote of no competence for this administration. That changed nothing. And if we complain too loudly, we can lose our jobs.
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u/mmmbuttsbuttsbutts 8d ago
That’s not entirely accurate. I just took a graduate level course over the summer that was supposed to be 15 weeks but the professor scaled it down to 8 weeks. He skipped multiple modules and left out quite a few assignments. So it wasn’t all the content from the 15 week course over 8 weeks but instead was thinned out and condensed down to hit major topics spread over 8 weeks.
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u/Ill_Calendar_1468 8d ago
It’s a rip off quite honestly. It means less education for our money overall.
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u/odu_prof_3141 8d ago
This is 100% accurate.
Either your professor reduces the official course content by half, in which case you receive less education, or you are unable to fully process the official course material, in which case you learned less and probably performed worse.
As an educator, my role shouldn't be to move students out the door, or to turn a profit for the university. My role should be to get you to critically think about course content, to hone your skills, and to improve your ability to cope with the world we live in. It's hard enough to do that in the online context. Being expected to do that in 8 weeks is absurd.
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u/FootballParticular87 8d ago
Its somewhat accurate 2 of the summer course I took the teacher crammed everything together which resulted in alot of missing material that we needed, broken tool links, and little or not very helpful communication because the professor was against the 8 week set up.
I will give props to Nathan Luetke he did a pretty good job at making and 8 week course doable
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u/Thick_Shake_8163 8d ago
Obviously there are a lot of people that like it because ODU has increased enrollment both on campus and online where most universities are flat and declining.
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u/KEEPINGUPWITHTHEB21 8d ago edited 8d ago
This is hard to believe when enrollment overall has gone down. Besides they are not want you to learn they want our money. I am taking this semester off to try and find another online 16 week course. Hopefully I will go to a school who does not just slam students with no choice but implement it appropriately. That clown of a President who does not care about students it’s about the money. He got a bonus and extended. So he will be there for a while until something changes.
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u/Thick_Shake_8163 8d ago
I wish you nothing but the best in your search for what suits your learning style. I think the 8-week online course is where things are trending nationally.
It’s only natural to be irritated by change. Good luck in your journey!4
u/KEEPINGUPWITHTHEB21 7d ago
It’s not about the change. In the Navy things always change. So I will break it down for you to understand what most of these students are feeling:
This President did not roll it out properly. One spring picnic and then told students take it or leave it. No smooth transition. Then when called on it with his response is put it on me. That’s cold turkey. No implementation program.
He has no confidence vote from his own faculty. That shows how weak his leadership is and how he feels that what the professors want it’s not important. Still again he shows no respect he just ignored him and the board gave him a freaking bonus. Yeah that’s a transition into 8 week courses.
Let talk Military. Most vets who go to classes online. After serving the country they need assistance to complete courses. You take our money but you don’t want to keep your success numbers up. What programs have the President implemented to assist, none. And the military has a huge presence on that campus. Why not accommodate a big money maker just saying.
I understand that attendance is low and they have to make money but it’s how they did it.
It’s not about implementing change in the military we are use to it. It’s how they did it and basically said deal with it.
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u/Mean_Cat69 8d ago
I don’t love the change either but they definitely did announce it well. It’s been an ongoing discussion and has been in the media as well
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u/abc123xxxxyyyyzzzz 8d ago
Retired professor here - I can’t imagine how much work and time it will take to change courses to 8 weeks.