In response to the imminent shortage of classroom space throughout the University, administration officials have laid out a plan they feel will adequately mitigate the crisis. This plan calls for a large increase in the number of Friday classes – with more weekend classes potentially on the way – as well as removing later classes in favor of more during the day. While in the short term this plan might be an adequate alternative to the status quo, its necessity only reveals an administration that has allowed University growth to accelerate beyond its means.
Over the past decade GW has seen an explosion in the size of its undergraduate student population. Since 1994, the size of the incoming freshman class has increased by nearly 50 percent. The impact of this sharp rise in the undergraduate population has already been made evident by the housing shortage precipitated by the overwhelming size of the class of 2005. It is only now becoming evident that a gross lack of planning has adversely affected GW’s ability to offer an education.
Even before the pending loss of classroom space in Funger Hall, one can already feel the stresses of a bloated undergraduate population. In many classes, professors expecting a small number of students are surprised to arrive on the first day of class in a room filled to capacity, a situation both antithetical to higher education and physically uncomfortable for students.
While in the long term it is evident that alleviating such a situation requires the implementation of some forward-thinking proposal – whether a four-by-four system, trimesters or something completely different – the University must make sure that its short-term solution is well thought out. Unfortunately, in its current form, the plan is inherently flawed.
Many students are drawn to GW because its location – being in the heart of Washington, D.C. – is conducive to holding one or more internships in addition to a full load of classes. Many students achieve this either by blocking their classes in one two-day period, ensuring they have no Friday classes, or by scheduling their classes earlier or later in the day. The current plan seriously inhibits this scheduling freedom. Since many Monday-Wednesday classes will be distributed between Monday-Friday and Wednesday-Friday time slots, it will be much more difficult for students to juggle internships. In addition, the University plans to cut back on classes offered later in the day. In doing so, the administration will only further complicate an already difficult task for working students.
While it is clear that some action must be taken to respond to this imminent situation, the administration should work hard to avoid impeding upperclassmen’s flexibility. The most logical way for this to be achieved is by placing the burden primarily on freshmen-dominated classes. Because freshmen are far less likely to hold internships than upperclassmen, such a step will not hinder their employment opportunities nearly as much as it would benefit those of upperclassmen.
The University is only now beginning to see the ill effects of a grossly mismanaged growth policy. And while students will have to adapt to new policies, the University must make sure that it takes all due precautions in continuing to maintain the central aspects of a GW education. The administration must not make implementing such ad hoc policy decisions a frequent occurrence in coping with serious long-term problems. Without a proactive long-term vision to address situations of this nature, the University will find itself in an even more precarious position in the future.
