M T H E M O N TA G E
The disappearing act Meramec’s classes continue to vanish KAVAHN MANSOURI EDITOR IN CHIEF STLCC-Meramec’s start of the fall 2012 semester was plagued by class cancellations. While the beginning of the spring semester was “an improvement,” according to Andrew Langrehr, Vice President of Academic Affairs, cancellations are still a lingering issue on campus. With more than 60 classes axed this semester, students and faculty members were left scrambling to fill course loads and re-enroll in classes. “I think that it was an improvement over the fall. I think in the fall we had a situation where enrollment was lower than we anticipated. When we built the schedule it was based on having higher enrollment than what came in, so we had more to cut,” Langrehr said. “Coming into the spring we didn’t cut as many [classes]. I think there is a little over 1,400 sections, between 1,400 and 1,500 classes offered this spring.” Langrehr added that fewer classes were cut on the cancellation day than we cut last semester. “I think a little over 60 classes were withdrawn, between 60 and 70 withdrawn, which is an improvement over the fall. I think the department anticipated that enrollment was a little lower. I think that they managed it,” Langrehr said. “When I say we withdrew between 60 and 70 classes that wasn’t in the last week before classes. Probably only a third of those are withdrawn on that class cancellation day.” English Department Chair David Taylor said the department took steps to minimize cancellations by anticipating an enrollment drop. “What we did is we looked at the spring schedule and anticipated a decline in enrollment by about 10 percent and then we offered a fewer number of courses to match that enrollment,” Taylor said. “It wasn’t necessarily eliminating sections but the number of seats we offer.” Langrehr said administration tried to act as advocates for students and faculty. “The deans are advocates for students
and faculty and they try to give that class every chance to make to the best of their ability,” Langrehr said. “Sometimes that means that you hold one and it gets cancelled late and people are scrambling.” Departments saw the turmoil caused last year and planned ahead Langrehr said. “I think that people saw how it went in the fall and people didn’t want to have that sort of vibe again” Langrehr said. “I saw a lot less [cancellation] notices as I walked down the hall.” Langrehr added that even though this semester was an improvement there is more to do. “We can still improve; they’re some new department chairs and things. I think they are getting their bearings,” Langrehr said. “We still retained a significant number - I’d say more than 50 sections that have less than 15. They had good reasons.” In addition to class cancellations, the college has also suffered a loss of 900 students this semester according to Langrehr. “Enrollment is down,” Langrehr said. “We had a big increase in the last few years when the economy went bad. We anticipated coming back to some norm but we’d like it to be a little bit higher.” Langrehr said administration is focusing on making the right moves when it comes to scheduling. “It’s something we’re focused on; we’re trying to schedule classes where you could get a broad number of people to take them,” Langrehr said. “What’s bad is when you budget for x number of students and you get less than that.” Planning ahead can have its negative and positive effects, according to Taylor. “It was positive in the sense that we didn’t have as many cancellations as we did in the fall, negative in the sense that we didn’t feel as comfortable offering a variety of courses at the same times we did previously because we didn’t want them to be cancelled,” Taylor said.
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Voume 48 Issue 8
www.meramecmontage.com
January 24, 2013
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