Online comment of the week
In response to "An increased size means increased opportunities"(April 13, 2012)
While it's great that we still have so many classes with fewer than 20 students, that comes at the expense of having lots of students who can't get into the classes that they want (or need).
Even the larger classes are filling up before students who need to take them can get in, and there's little to blame for that other than the combination of increased enrollment and lackof attention to increasing course offerings to accommodate that increased enrollment.
I completely agree with the positive aspects of increased enrollment you've outlined. There are, however, problems that result from the way the university has has handled the increased enrollment. I have spoken to numerous students over the past week who have been unable to get the classes they need for their major; some have been unable to even get classes in their major department. The university needs to focus on increasing the number of course offerings and the number of sections for required courses (rather than increasing class sizes, which would not be desirable). It is unacceptable that students at a university known for its high quality of life cannot get into the courses they need.
Again, I cannot stress enough that it is not increased enrollment that is the problem; it is the fact that the changes that need to come with increased enrollment to keep everything working properly have not come, and that has been particularly evident in light of registration for the fall 2012 semester.
Anonymous
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