Lia McDonald Meteer, a third-year criminal justice major and a transfer student from the University of Albany, noticed that Northeastern did not offer as many criminal justice resources as SUNY, and wrote a petition demanding increased diversity of learning opportunities in the criminal justice program and more exposure to the field of forensic science.

Meteer wrote the petition Nov. 21, 2021 with the support of her fellow executive board members of the Criminology Forensic Science and Neuropsychology of Criminal Minds, or FaN, club. The petition outlines dissatisfaction with the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern, which currently ranks 12th nationally for best criminology schools. 

Despite this ranking, the only forensic classes offered that combine criminal justice and criminology degrees are “Psychology of Crime” and “Law and Psychology.” Students involved in the petition want to see more classes that will give them a holistic foundation in the forensic science field, as many enrolled at the school for the highly rated program. 

“I think the fact that we really neglect one portion of criminology takes a lot of students that are super passionate about them and [diminishes] what they came here for,” said club coordinator and second-year combined criminal justice and psychology major Sage Shumate. “We are not doing those people justice who want to be in this program and maybe chose Northeastern over other colleges specifically because we have a criminal justice program.”

The petition lists forensic classes that are absent from Northeastern’s course offerings but are taught at other universities. Through her research, Meteer found specific classes she wished she could take at Northeastern.

“Temple [University] has classes like ‘Criminal Investigation Skills’ and Northeastern has a really good criminal justice program, but we don’t have that,” Meteer said. 

On Feb. 2, the FaN board discussed what they will add to the petition. They will request forensic science classes pertaining to criminal justice students, as the only class offered now is more applicable to those studying chemistry. 

The petition also emphasizes the need for existing and supplemental classes to teach neuropsychology. Many of the students in the club have combined majors of criminal justice and psychology, and want more classes that would integrate these studies. Their hope is that scientific classes will allow them to make meaningful connections between their majors.

“The psychology requirement for criminal justice is all psychology,” said Anouk Bauknecht, the social media head of the club and a second-year criminal justice and psychology combined major. “It’s not applied at all. It’s fun but it has nothing to do with criminal justice.”

The board discussed issues that are a result of the current lack of science classes they are asking for. Exposure to a variety of criminology classes would allow students to know what job options they have to pursue. Without the knowledge of what jobs are pertinent to their studies, they feel confined to law enforcement.

“I seriously considered going into forensics as a career, but when I don’t have any sort of exposure to it or foundation of it, it almost turns me off because I don’t know what I’m getting into,” said Kevin Roebelen, the public relations representative of the club and a third-year biology major and criminal justice minor.

The club has been in touch with Carlos Cuevas, the club adviser, to find the most feasible approach to making everything on the petition happen. Cuevas is the only psychology professor in the criminal justice program, which raises the question of how the desired classes will be offered to students at Northeastern.

The board also plans to speak with Kevin Drakulich and Ekaterina Botchkovar, associate directors and professors of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern. The students hope their influence in the criminal justice program can bring the petition to life.

The petition will be amended and shared on social media to spread the word.

“We’re all pretty passionate about this,” said Club Treasurer Sofia Giamartino who is a second-year combined criminal justice and psychology major. “It’s because we enjoy learning about it [criminal justice and psychology] and there are certain aspects that we don’t get to learn about from Northeastern.”