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He had us hnad in the first page of a paper due a week layter and include a witty title and our thesis. He gave me some comments on what I could fix. When I got the final draft of the paper back he told me my thesis was weak. WHY couldn't he have told me this the first time he saw my thesis.

First, you will not understand one thing in his class because all he does is make up terms that are supposed to make him sound smart. (E.g. Transendental homelessness.) He will give you a C on your paper if you use passive voice, meaning you can't use the words "it is". If you go to him, he will tell you your paper is fine and then fail you. Awful.

Avoid this professor. His class is boring... regurgitates information that he's read in books, etc. Doubt he even understands a word he's saying. His tests are unfair and so are the grades he gives. If a paper has passive voice he automatically lowers the grade ... actually ... the structure of the paper counts more to him than what's written.

He is a nice guy BUT as a teacher he : is unclear, makes up words that make no sense or are wrong, if you ask him a question he will talk for an hour and not answer it, if he dosent like your writing on day 1, dont plan on good grades, his help only makes it worse, he's right, youre wrong unless you agree with him, only good is managable midterm

horrible teacher, you learn nothing, he is unclear, hard grader, would never take one of his classes again...just so horrible

By far the toughest class and professor I have ever had. Over loaded us with course work when this class was just a distribution. Even when the coronavirus impacted our class and we moved online, our classes continued being incredibly difficult and he kept us longer than the allotted time. I do not recommend,

Absolutely terrible experience. So much unnecessary work and forced participation. I don't even know how much the final was worth and what I got on it. Just saw my final grade. His class is also unbearable and the stupid journal don't even get me started on that. Not worth it to take this class at all

Literally the worst professor I've ever had. I thought i was going to lose my mind every time I had class with him. He's definitely going through something and taking it out on his students. Must be tenured because there's no reason for such a useless professor to still be teaching. do yourself a favor and don't take this professor. ridiculous.

Would rather die than ever take another class with him again. seriously. ridiculously bad- im not overreacting trust me.

Content of class is actually interesting in my opinion. But, coupled with the boring lectures that make me want to sleep, a severely harsh grading policy, and a sassy tone at times, this was easily the hardest class I have ever taken. I just needed this class to get the credit and it turned into a world mission for me to even hope to pass.

So much wasted time and effort for a class where I did not appreciate the material and did not yield the results that were deserved. DONT take this class or this professor for any classes as he is very unclear of what he wants and is a harsh grader. I took this class for LIT credit but this class was more work than all my other classes combined.

AVOID. Impossible workload. Impossible tests. Unclear directions. Rude. Will belittle you in front of entire class. Never pleased no matter how much work you do. Expects 3 hours of homework for every hour in class, a direct quote from him. Do yourself a favor and choose a different professor.

Donahue is an okay person but his teaching styling is very confusing. He is very big on vocab and at the beginning of class he writes terms on the board and skims over them youll have to ask him 3 times what the actual term means. His grading criteria is not clear, and he doesn't give prompts for papers bc it's "too high school".

He actually yelled at students for reading the material in their native language...never wanted to drop a class so fast...absolutely horrible

midterm is based on vocab that he never discusses the actual definitions for. Lectures can be very confusing to listen to. You have to ask for answers multiple times to get a straight answer to no fault of the students.

Avoid him at all costs. He is very passionate about the works and it shows. If you don't read you will not pass. His mid terms and exams are all terms but they are usually only words we gloss over in class and if you don't have sufficient notes tying it to the books you won't pass. Incredibly hard grader.

I wouldn't recommend taking him. He is big on vocab words that will appear on the midterm and when reviewing he doesn't make it clear which words will or will not be on the test. On the midterm for our class, he said that only 40% of both classes did well. I think I know what the problem was.

SO VAGUE. Midterm & final included vocab, but refused to elaborate on what terms would be included & grading criteria + got very passive aggressive if you asked him to reexplain something. Will give you a terrible grade if you don't write exactly like his writing style. Smart guy, but terrible professor.

Awful, Horrible, Dreadful!!! NEVER TAKE THIS CLASS! SAVE YOURSELF from Neil Donahue. He grades by three essays in the class. You want to fail you on purpose. He thinks that by giving a low grade, he will motivate you to do better. His feedback is not understandable. He doesn't explain how to get better. Tests are based on words from his head.

Never gives clear dates on when work is due, has you read a full book within 1-2 weeks on top of your other readings

Prof. was really condescending. Kept judging people for not raising hands in class and would make jokes that people liked to skip class. The homework wasn't hard in theory but he's a tough grader about it. He's clearly very passionate about lit but doesn't feel very approachable. And he assigned a book that legit was impossible to find anywhere!!!!

Terrible professor does not offer clear expectations.

He is a sad old man that cant see his own downfalls

This man is condescending and told me, "The only thing you proved in this essay was that you could do better!" he constantly tears students down and should not be a professor. Avoid this man completely he is not worth the stress. He embarrasses students for fun and is just a sad man with nothing better to do.

just sad

Horrible.

He does not care if you have things going on in your personal life. Has no sympathy and likes to embarrass students. He calls out students for being late or not showing up for a class even if they make it known why.

Hates when you ask questions or refuse to participate. There's really no winning.

He makes fun of students in front of the class if they are late or miss a class even if they have things going on. Insane.

has fun embarrassing students in front of class and genuinely overall it not a good professor.

He doesn't care what you have going on in other classes he will pile on the work and expect it all to be done, as if we're robots. Doesn't explain anything and shames people for having lives that take place outside of the classroom.

I strongly encourage not to take this class if you have other options.

never again.

hate it

just awful

don't do it.

Neil isn't the best professor at all. He purposely makes it difficult for students to pass and learn about the subject he teaches and I wouldn't recommend his class.

Horrible professor indeed. Doesn't acknowledge originality of students work, and is constantly accusing students of plagiarism, even if they WROTE Everything. Such a horrible professor and honestly should be fired. He legit haas a 2.5/5, how tf can Hofstra keep him? Like everyone else said, if you see him RUN!

Really Bad professor. Did not care about his students one bit. If we ever see him RUN away. Just a sad old man

During my time in his class, he was nothing but disrespectful and extremely unprofessional. Assigned tons of homework and books that are hard to find anywhere. He is never satisfied with your work and will penalize you over the smallest detail. Gets mad when you ask questions or don't participate. No feedback and doesn't help students do well.

This man needs to be investigated and fired from his position. He is never approachable for assistance and constantly blames students for the smallest things. Be prepared for at least 4+ hours each night of reading and tons of homework with unclear directions. Very rude professor who makes fun of students for having lives outside of class.

He actually got mad at students for speaking the language fluently. Piles on readings and assignments and expects it to be done in such little time. Good luck preparing for the exams cause he doesn't tell you what to study and grades solely on HIS perspective. Makes disrespectful remarks toward students for having lives outside of class.

He's extremely condescending, plays favorites, and he's a harsh grader. And he's very blunt with his feedback, and it comes off as very rude and discouraging. He is super mean to students he doesn't likes. Dude has a reputation for lying to the scholarship board too because he constantly accuses students of plagiarism. How hasn't he been fired yet?

Our class was doing so bad in just the first few weeks of class, that almost half the class had to drop. He is so unnecessarily harsh. I have never had a class so time consuming with reading and homework. Very rude professor who doesn't care about the well-being of his students. Please don't take him if you need this class.

Super rude professor who doesn't care about his students well being. Never pleased no matter how much effort you invest. There is so much reading and so many papers, and if you don't read and take good class notes, you will not pass. If you ask questions, he won't give you a clear answer. There's really no chance at getting an A.

Literally the worst professor on this planet. I really hope Hofstra looks at this and questions themselves: why are students disliking this professor? Everything everyone else said about him is completely true; do not take him even by mistake! I hope one day he realizes the trauma he gave to all his students. A complete condescending professor!

Literally don't.

I don't know what to say. He is just like Marla Hendricks from Boston Public, passionate, but super difficult. I have never met a professor in my entire academic journey who acted so entitled, belittled students for simply trying their best, and intentionally tried to fail his students. Please never trust this man with your life.

You are better off taking anybody but him.

This is a professor who hates his life and takes it out on students. He embarrasses and makes rude remarks towards students, wrongfully accuses students of plagiarism, and piles hours of work each night. If you miss class or a deadline, even for a good reason, he will give you a very hard time making up the work you missed. Please avoid!!

Words cannot describe how horrible he is. Gives 7+ essays compared to the other classes that give 1-2. Essay prompts make zero sense, and when he asks for criticism, he refuses to take any accountability. Switch/drop if you get him for WSC001.

He actually told me “stop worrying about everything happening outside of class because it's the primary reason you're failing my class.” Goes to show he doesn't care about his students. He just fails students for fun and is just a sad old man who shouldn't be teaching.

I had to drop after a few weeks. The classes are super fast paced and the professor constantly piles on the work as if his class is the only thing you have going on in your life. He also did absolutely nothing in the way of accommodating his students and when students discussed their issues, he didn't care.

You will write an essay every week, they progressively get longer as well. He gives some feedback but does not explain and will give no help when you ask for it. At one point I kept asking for help and he told me he was not going to grade my papers, as I'm not making the corrections he never explained. DO NOT TAKE HIM

Just dropped his class. Beware, you will write A LOT of papers assigned almost every class. He's unclear about what you need to do and will belittle students instead of doing his job amd helping you grow as a writer and student. Also, expect to be accused of plagiarism, even if yoir work is completely original and honest.

I honestly have no clue how he's even allowed to teach. He teaches this course like a graduate level course and expects you to know how to do things that aren't discussed in class. His assignments are almost impossible to complete and do well on. Oh, and if the whole class is failing, he automatically blames the students. DNT

Get ready for tons of papers and to possibly lose your passion for writing in just the first few weeks of his class. Assignments, prompts, and due dates are often unclear or nonexistent and not even he knows what he's doing. He's super disrespectful towards his students if you're struggling or if he thinks you aren't trying. He should be fired.

I took his English Composition 1. And the class was absolutely horrible. He doesn't explain things clearly, and doesn't even teach us anything. He'll make you feel stupid for asking a question. Just a very rude person, and he will give punishment grades if he thinks you're not listening, but in reality I just couldn't understand his bad teaching.

Two words: Emotional Terrorist.

RUNNN AWAYYY!!!! very mean, sad old man who hates his life, and takes it out of college students.

He actually told me “you're failing because you're not listening.” He really doesn't care how much you care about the course and thinks that by disrespecting students, he'll motivate you to be more disciplined. He will literally do everything in his power to fail entire classes for the mistakes of one student.

Super rude and bossy professor. He'll do literally anything in his power to fail you if he doesn't like you. Just run far away. It's absolutely not worth it.

This is a professor who's clearly going insane and needs to sign in to a psychiatric institution. He finds pleasure in failing not only students, but also entire classes over nothing. Your personal obligations are not important to him. If you were sick or dying in his class, he would probably want you in his class.

You can do better Prof. Donahue!

Beyond disrespectful and a complete failure of a human being. He shows zero understanding and care for his students. Bullies and embarrassed students for nothing. Just avoid him.

I've had better professors in my college journey, and this man was the absolute worst. Told me ”Well, maybe if you don't understand something, PAY MORE ATTENTION FOR ONCE.“ He's nothing more than a condescending and mean human being who thinks he rules over all else.

This guy is disrespectful to every student and will not take the time with you to meet one on one to discuss your grade. He offers no help whatsoever and clearly shows he could not care less about his students. It amazes me that he is allowed to teach at any level. It is people like him that will make you afraid to answer a question.

He's such a negative professor who hates his job and will take it out on students. Not only does he disrespect and embarrass students for fun, but he also seems to find humor in failing students (and possibly entire classes) for fun. I know there are better professors out there that would've helped me do better. Evil teacher and human.

Whatever you do, avoid this professor at all costs. He is mean and careless. He thinks he is a God, even though he is a horrible and unclear teacher. There are no grading rubrics for papers, so he will grade you based off of the mood he is in when he gets to your paper. There is no reason to grade so harshly for a level 100 class. STAY FAR AWAY!!

He's just such a mean person and will not take the time to let you express your concerns or seek help on course material. He never comes to class on time let alone with a plan. He's very disorganized and has no grading structure and when students reached out with concerns, those were completely ignored. There's better professors out there.

This man is extremely disrespectful to his students and will not help students no matter the context. His classes only consisted of him talking at a fast pace, expecting us to understand everything he said. Assignments were disorganized and he often blamed students for the work that they produced if it didn't meet his heavy expectations.

Such an awful class that should never be taken by anybody. This professor had no structure whatsoever and no grading criteria. Showed nothing but disrespect and arrogance towards his students and blamed us for minor wrongdoings. If you need this class, take literally anybody else. How this man is allowed to teach at this school is insane.

IF YOU GET THIS GUY, DROP THE CLASS IMMEDIATELY!!!!

Terrible teacher will fail you even if you try so hard on your essay and he is very rude and will tell you to drop the first 2 days of being in class. You could spend days writing your essays and actually try and he will give you a d on everything he doesn't even explain what we have to for the essay. DO NOT TAKE PLEASE HE IS TERRIBLE

Extremely rude and passive-aggressive. Used fake AI detectors, withheld grades, mocked students for bathroom breaks, and told anyone struggling to “just drop.” I dreaded this class. Easily the least supportive, least educational class I've ever taken.

STAY AWAY. He is an incredibly tough grader on essays and very particular about how you do things. He also literally prevents you from going to the bathroom, and if you do he WILL embarrass you. Also he has no review sheets either. The concept of the class is nice but I did not learn anything except how to annotate + highlight everything

Such a mean professor with a clear disregard for the learning environment at Hofstra. Will embarrass you for fun, make rude remarks over the smallest things, and refuse to accommodate your own personal needs. There are no clear instructions for papers, and he thinks that because this is college, we should figure it out. Get him out of this school.