New students fight for classes
By Catherine Blalock
Staff Reporter
Increased enrollment at UNL has
left many students scrambling to find
a seat in their required 100-level
courses.
Clay Wolf knows this all too well.
The projected enrollment increase
of 500 students, mainly freshmen, at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
has put a strain on the entry-level
classes — not to mention Wolf and
others like him.
Wolf, a freshman psychology ma
jor, went through New Student En
rollment in May, trying to avoid the
heralded fight for classes.
His plan didn’t work.
After a morning filled with NSE
activities and a meeting with an ad
viser, Wolfwent to register. Only three
of the classes he needed were avail
able.
Wolf then headed back to his ad
viser for help and tried to register
again, this time willing to take his
English or math class at any time.
No such luck.
For his third trip to the registration
computers, Wolfs adviser told him
simply to register for whatever classes
he could get.
“I was frustrated and mad,” Wolf
said. “I ended up taking courses I had
no interest in.”
Some departments are offering
more sections for their 100-level
courses this fall, but demand gener
ally has been greater than supply.
Gerry Brookes, vice chairman of
the English department, said English
150 had a limit of 22 students. Three
sections were added this fall, he said,
but it still wasn’t enough to accommo
date students.
Offering more sections is better
than increasing the number of stu
dents in a classroom, Brooks said.
“Students in bigger classes get less
individualized attention,” he said.
All English 150 sections are now
full. Students wanting to take the class
must wait until next semester, Brooks
said.
But some students, like Ben Dar
“/ was frustrated and mad. I ended up taking
courses I had no interest in. ”
CLAY WOLF
Freshman psychology major
ling, had no trouble fitting into wanted
classes.
“I was surprised by how easy it
was,” said Darling, a freshman actu
arial science major. “NSE needs to
keep doing it like that because it was
perfectly set up.”
Darling registered for classes dur
ing the first part of June and was able
to get all the classes he wanted.
The scramble depends on which
classes a student wants. Political Sci
ence 100 has been one of the more
popular classes this fall.
David Forsythe, chairman of the
political science department, said three
or four sections were added this fall.
But the decision was not tied to the
increased enrollment, he said.
Class sizes range from 30 students
to 75 students, he said. As soon as
students could enroll, he said, the sec
tions filled up.
“Most of our introductory courses
are full all of the time,” Forsythe said.
And overrides are not possible
when all seats in the room are filled,
he said. Instructors cannot just pack
up their things and move to a larger
classroom, he said, because there is no
place to move.
“The university needs to build more
large lecture halls,” Forsythe said.
An increase in the political science
budget also could ease the strain,
Forsythe said. If five more faculty
members could be hired, it would help
a great deal, he said.
And a rise in students at one end of
the spectrum can spell trouble for stu
dents on the other. Rob Krueger, who
is teaching Math 103, said graduate
students teaching math courses are
finding it difficult to schedule extra
time to grade papers.
“It adds to the work load. There are
more assignments and tests to grade,”
Krueger said.
Usually only 35 students are in a
Math 103 class, but those numbers
have been expanded to accommodate
the students, said Steve Dunbar, vice
chairman of the math department.
Overrides are allowed, he said.
Not all instructors are finding the
increased number of students in a class
a problem.
Brian Harboume, who is teaching
Math 106, finds himself in front of a
group of 119 students. But Harboume
does not find this to be a problem
because several years ago, he taught
90 students in Math 106.
Teaching math to 90 to 120 stu
dents is not a problem, he said. A class
of that size is not an overload on the
instructor, Harboume said.
Yet some, like Brookes, thinkthose
growing class sizes detract from the
quality of education.
James Griesen, vice chancellor for
student affairs, said that although he
would like to avoid growing class
size, the university was doing all it
could to accommodate students and at
least get them enrolled in the classes
they needed.
“Our first attempt is to add sec
tions,” Griesen said, “not to raise the
class limit.”
Incoming students need to realize
that they don’t have to take all tHeir
required classes first semester, he said.
If students are unable to take an En
glish class first semester, he said,
they’ll just have to take it later.
Adventure group offers trips
By Sarah Danberg
Staff Reporter
This semester, Outdoor Adven
tures participants will canoe in Ne
braska, cross-country ski in Colo
rado and tour Wyoming’s
Yellowstone National Parkr
And that’s just the beginning,
said student guide Becky Dolliver.
There are trips planned for all lev
els of student ability, she said, and
for almost everywhere.
The group plans to take a back
packing trip to Mexico next sum
mer. A complete schedule is avail
able at the Campus Recreation Cen
ter.
The cost of a trip, which runs
around $ 100 for members, includes
transportation, meals, equipment,
insurance and leaders. Deadlines
vary from trip to trip, and about 12
people usually go on each trip,
Dolliver said.
In addition to guided trips, the
group fecently added a resource
center, open to anyone wanting ad
vice or help in planning a trip.
The program also sponsors a
high-ropes course at Camp Easter
Seals in Milford.
Outdoor Adventures, which be
gan in 1971, is both run and funded
by students.
“We don’t make any money,”
she said. “It’s run for students by
students.”
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