MONDAY: Opinion
TUESDAY: Politics
WEDNESDAY: Opinion
THURSDAY: Politics
FRIDAY: Opinion
editorials, letters, commentary and perspective
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Student n
Growth
A tight rope to walk
■ OUR OPINION:
With 2,000 new students
on the way before the
millennium, the University
is ill-prepared to maintain
quality education
President Frohnmayer said and most
likely what he believes about the
University of the future. And if anybody
should have a vision or an idea of where
this place is going, it’s him. But the
problem is, this idea of students on
conveyer belts may not be too far off.
It’s unfortunate or almost unbelievable
to believe this cookie-cutter process
could happen here when one looks at all
the documentation, figures and graphs
the Johnson Hall gang has put together
over the last few years. Innumerable
think tanks, meetings, conferences and
examination went into the idea that, in
short, this University is going to be just
fine.
Unfortunately, the Oregon State
System of Higher Education has decided
the University will welcome 12 percent
more students, mostly from in-state, by
the year 2000. That’s more than 2,000
additional people roaming this campus
and city, demanding housing, parking,
classrooms and professors. Not to
mention opportunities, space, comfort,
accessibility and quality — all basic
needs any college student has a right to
— granted he or she pay $11,000 for the
privilege.
To say life around the University
community will be congested, even
more so than now, is an understatement.
To say life will be harder and the quality
of our education lower because of this
growth is a prediction the University
administration is trying hard not to
realize. They know it won’t be easy, but
they feel they can avoid it — with one
thing.
All the hopes and dreams for a quality
University lie in something called the
e’re not going to turn
this place into an
assembly line.”
That’s what
SOURCE OSSHE Institutional Research Services
CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald
“Academic Productivity Plan,” a
complex and lengthy resolution based
upon goals formed during the
University’s Progress Report at the end
of 1993. The March 1994 document, part
of a statewide movement to reform
higher education at all levels, is
composed of three primary goals:
provide university educations to more
Oregonians, capitalize and build on
existing strengths and create financial
stability.
Any possibility that the graduates of
the year 2002 will have more knowledge
and be more prepared for the working
world, the ultimate bottom line in higher
education, rests mostly in the hands of
the second goal: building on existing
strengths. This includes the creation of
something called “learning
communities”: attempts to get students
involved in the learning process early —
freshman seminars, freshman interest
groups, honors college and honors track.
Other tricks up the administration’s
sleeve include “new and refurbished
classrooms,” “new marvels of
communication technologies” and
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effective teaching methods, as stated by
Frohnmayer in his State of the
University address last week. But what
isn’t talked about so proudly in this
grand plan of productivity is that it also
budgets the University for the same
amount of faculty as today or even six
years ago, for that matter.
The administration’s answer to this is
that six years ago, before the carnage of
Measure 5, student enrollment was more
than today, 18,141, and won’t be
reached again until 1998. This, in
Johnson Hall logic, leaves a bit of a
comfort zone for the school to grow back
into since they dealt with these student
numbers before with the same resources
at their disposal.
But just because the University
handled something before doesn’t mean
it’s good for the school’s future to
“handle” it again. No students around
here seem to be talking about a comfort
zone. Stepping unwittingly into
“distance education” classes transmitted
over a TV screen or having classes taught
and papers graded increasingly by
inexperienced and overconfident GTFs
or being locked out of necessary classes,
students are feeling the pinch, not
relishing the space.
President Frohnmayer says it is the
University’s duty to welcome all
qualified Oregonians. For if we don’t, he
continued, we aren’t preparing our own
with a college degree so sorely needed in
today’s job market. But by allowing so
many students at such low standards,
we aren’t helping Oregonians, we’re
hurting them. A degree is not just a
degree. Practical skills are needed with
direct feedback by experienced
professors — qualities conspicuously
missing from the administration's vision
of the future.
This editorial represents the opinion of
the Emerald editorial board.
THE PLAN
In 1993, the slate
legislature required all j
institutions in the
Oregon State System I
of Higher Education to ;
develop long-term
plans to increase
efficiency, productivity i
and capacity to serve |
an increasing amount j
of students. This
mandate resulted in
the University’s 80- ;
page “Academic
Productivity Plan” in I
March 1994, with the
following outline:
■ GOAL To provide
university educations j
to more Oregonians
INCLUDES: More
graduates, better
programs, larger
enrollment, strong
relationships with
other schools
■ GOAL To build
upon existing
strengths as research j
university, while
enhancing “traditional i
college” environment !
INCLUDES: More
learning communities, I
student engagement in j
learning process, link
between under
graduate and graduate
programs
■ GOAL To establish
financial stability
INCLUDES:
Recruitment and
retainment, more state
support, private gifts, j
stable programs
EH
How will the
University be
affected by a
dramatic increase
in student
population?
"I think [the
University] is going
to be way too
crowded. Classes are
already full as it is
.... It’s going to be
impossible for
people to graduate in
four years now.’’
Robyn Giacchi
Junior
journalism
"Parking is going to
be horrible. I already
have trouble finding
parking as it is.
They'll need to build
a parking structure or
something."
Sky Duarte
Freshmen
undeclared
"Student housing is
at its limit already.
They’ll have to make
some changes. [The
University] will have
to build more build
ings and student
housing."
Mark English
Senior
history
“It's good because if
you have more mon
ey in the school you
can do more things,
but there is a limit to
how big the school
can be. I don't know
how you decide what
that limit is, but I
think they (the Uni
versity) need to think
about it before they
assume more money
means better!"
Triscia Tighe
Junior
chemistry