Students enrolled in Statistics 208 can receive extra tutoring beginning Wednesday until the end of the semester.

Three graduate students will tutor Stats 208 students on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Math Help Center, DuSable 330, said Ibrahim Ahmad, Statistical Mathematics director.

The tutoring is in response to 129 grievance forms filed with the Student Association Academic Affairs Committee against stats Professor Sadhana Tiwari.

The tutors will be paid an hourly wage, with money provided by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Ahmad said.

The SA Academic Affairs Committee sent a request March 9 to the Provost Office asking that students be allowed to withdraw from the class after the normal date or get extra tutorial service, said committee member James Mertes.

The request asked for a response within one week. However, committee members practically gave up all hope on receiving help from the administration after several weeks without word.

“It takes time for these things to happen,” said NIU Associate Provost Lou Jean Moyer. The request was relayed to the math department and it takes time to hire tutors, she said.

Twenty-six freshmen, 41 sophomores, 41 juniors, nine seniors and 12 other students filed complaints, according to the Academic Affairs Grievance Report.

“One hundred percent of the freshmen that completed a form expressed grave concern about the instructor’s ability to speak English fluently. Unfortunately, the professor’s ability to speak English is further impeded by her ‘talking too fast’ and covering material ‘too quickly,'” the report stated.

Some of the comments taken from the grievance forms include: “We need a new instructor. We are paying good money for our education and I don’t feel we are being treated fairly” and, “Trying to understand the material is hard enough without trying to understand her English.”

Tiwari teaches two Stats 208 classes in Cole Hall with a total of 370 students. She said she has not noticed an increase in the number of students seeking tutoring.

“Actually, the students who had come for help before the complaint seek help. The others who do not want to learn, do not,” she said.

“The students who are complaining do not seek help,” Tiwari said. “If they had problems with my accent, they should have come to me first” before filing a grievance, she said.

Tiwari also said students who have problems understanding her should sit in the front of the class, not the back.