College transfer system creates complications

By Staff Editorial     12/3/09 6:00pm

In their short life spans, Duncan College and McMurtry College have already faced more than their fair share of challenges. The colleges opened with malfunctioning air-conditioning units, broken locks and virtually nonexistent cell phone reception. They encountered growing pains in meshing with Baker College and Will Rice College. There have been moments of triumph, to be sure - look no further than Monday's remarkable Powderpuff championship for McWill (see story, page 10) - but the moments of morass seem to outweigh the minor miracles.Yet another moment of chagrin seems to have come to pass over the past few weeks. The administration chose to forgo methods used to populate Martel College in 2002 (see column, page 3), instead sprinkling random transfer invitations to the new colleges among the original nine colleges, with a select number of guests attached to each invitation. The university purposely overshot the number of invitations, correctly anticipating a certain number of students would decline the invitation.

However, a different problem has arisen in its stead - too many students have elected to transfer from certain colleges. At Jones College, the problem has come to a head, especially among the sophomore ranks. After two rounds of invitations, one-third of Jones' sophomore class elected to make the new colleges their home, exceeding the administration-suggested cap and purportedly ransacking that class. Other colleges are threatening to break the cap and enter the same problem of imbalance Jones faces.

It is clear the administration knowingly ran this risk when it implemented the system, but the proposed solutions do not hold muster. The promise was extended to these invitees and their guests - to renege on that promise is both uncouth and unfair. Likewise, in terms of social strains, the transfers incurred the stigma when they informed their friends they would be transferring; forcing them to remain at Jones (or elsewhere) would foment undue social tension upon a college already hampered by the large number of transfers.

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The administration has said it wouldn't fill this gouging of the Jones sophomore class with a larger number of freshmen next year, so that possible solution is already off the table.

Fortunately, there is one possible solution to the matter: allowing a greater number of transfer students into Jones. Those transferring mid-year into the class of 2012 would fill in the spaces vacated by those jumping Jones' ship, and the college would eventually be balanced out. There is nothing to be lost by placing a few more transfers within the confines of Jones - perhaps fill half the spots this year, and half next year - and the balance among the classes would remain the same.

Of course, this problem could have been avoided if a first-come, first-serve method had been implemented, or at least enforced. But now that the problem has arisen, we feel that those wishing to transfer should have their wishes honored. Let's let this problem slide, and focus on bigger ones at hand - like, say, how to make sure Will Rice doesn't repeat on the Powderpuff pitch next year.

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