Along with prompting faculty concerns, plans for the university’s rapid growth are also increasingly being considered from the student perspective.
“Regardless of what the issue is, I get told [by faculty], ‘Well, this is not the kind of institution that our students thought they were coming to, whatever it is: size, attitude about this, goal about that, whatever,’” said Evan Chipouras, associate professor of biology and president of the Faculty Senate. “And because I’m not hearing it directly from the students themselves, I don’t know where the balance in the student population is.”
In interviews and chat sessions with numerous students, the balance appeared to swing heavily toward disenchantment and concerns about campus growth similar to those voiced by faculty.
Elisa Turney, a junior psychology major, raised questions about how the university spends its money. “Look at all the palm trees and all the cosmetic renovations that we’re making,” Turney said. “But what about the internal renovations that need to be made?”
She also said the university’s increased enrollment is interfering with her classroom experience.
“I chose UT because it was small and I thought if I’m having some trouble in a class I can always go up to a teacher and get specific one-on-one help, and I feel we’re losing that with the increase in student body,” she said. “I feel like we admit more students regardless of their academic numbers if they can pay the bill. . . . The student population this year is bigger than the student population last year, [which] is bigger than the student population the year before.”
Turney said she would not be returning to UT for spring semester.
Kirstin Pollock, a freshman communications major, also questioned the caliber of admissions standards. “I’ll talk to someone who will be like, ‘Oh, yeah, I had a 1.8 GPA in high school,’” she said. “And it’s almost insulting. . . . It makes me feel like I’m not going to as good of a school as I thought.”
For Chelsea Bender, a senior sociology major, rising tuition has influenced her decision to minimize her time at UT. “I’m doing the three year track so that I don’t have to pay this ridiculous money anymore,” she said.
Bender wondered whether projects like the Sykes Chapel are really desired by students. As she stated, “I don’t think if you took a poll four years ago, the student body would have voted for a new chapel.”
Bender also acknowledged that this semester seems more tense for students than any other during her time at UT.
“The complaints I hear more are [about] the amount of students,” she said. “Lines everywhere are longer. There are more issues with dorms this year. We have a second hotel. Smiley and McKay, I don’t know if they need to be renovated, but they’ve flooded at least twice already.”
One student who finds housing inadequate is Maria Alejandra Ibarra, an international student majoring in communications. “I live in McKay and we have a lot of issues with the flooding,” she said. “There was one storm and the rooms have been flooded for three days. . . . My room gets flooded. I sleep on the second floor, and the water comes out [of] the walls.”
Ibarra’s rooming situation has also exposed her to what she perceives as misleading university recruitment pitches. “My roommate works at admissions and we have a room to show, so tours come in and it’s just upsetting how the tours have certain points to say,” she said. “They all say the same things and we’re sitting there listening to lies, listening to everything they’re promising students that they’re going to get, and it’s not true.”
Djenee Dunn, a sophomore advertising and public relations major, said her biggest issue at the moment is parking. “It’s come to a point where you have to get to school an hour or an hour and a half earlier [than normal],” she said. “If you come any later, you’re looking around, looking for parking, and you can’t get to class on time.”
As she added, “I love being here. I think it’s a really good school. I think they just need to find out where they need to put some more of their priorities toward, in terms of satisfying the students and the faculty, because without it nobody is really going to be getting what they deserve or what they’re paying for.”
Kristen Horrocks, a sophomore secondary education major and member of President’s Leadership Fellows, thought that the university’s expansion represented an opportunity for her organization.
“I know in President’s Leadership Fellows we were able to, since we had a bigger student body . . . be more selective,” she said. “With a wider group you’re going to get more of everyone, but that means you’re going to get more talented people and people with higher GPAs and leadership qualities.”
However, Horrocks added, “We have to decide as a university, are we going to be a mediocre medium-sized school or are we going to be a really good small-sized school? . . . I think that UT can offer a lot of really amazing experiences especially based on the diversity that we have. It’s unparalleled in a lot of ways for schools our size, and that’s really special.”
Other students, such as Allyson Bartolomeo, an undecided freshman, feel the average class size was misrepresented.
“The whole reason I came here and didn’t go to a cheaper, bigger state school is because . . . I wanted small classes and I wanted the attention,” she said. “The first day when I got to my first Pathways class, I counted my class, because when I walked in I was like, ‘This isn’t where I should be.’ I mean, there’s so many people in here . . . it kind of makes me mad. I feel like I should be getting money back or something.”
Bartolomeo confirmed that she found UT to be a “good school” overall.
Sarah Brick, an undecided freshman, agreed that the size of her classes did not meet expectations.
“I got into some pretty good schools, and obviously it wasn’t the only deciding factor, but a big part of it was I wanted to come to school that had good class sizes for me,” she said. “I require that kind of personal education . . . but when I came here and saw how big the class sizes were I was kind of upset.”
“My academics are suffering,” said Caitlyn Guthrie, a senior double major in English and global world affairs. Guthrie does not think UT’s growth has affected her positively. “I picked UT because it’s a small school and the small class sizes,” she stated. “I don’t get that individualized attention when I’m in a class of 30 students versus being in a class of 18 to 20.”
Anne Gormly, dean of the College of Social Sciences, Math, and Education, said that UT does fare well in average class size and faculty-to-student ratio, especially when compared to public universities. “Class size is a concept that is reported on all institutions,” said Gormly, “[When] they talk about an average class size, many of the students that are responding are probably responding to [the specific classes in which they are enrolled] as opposed to all of the classes.” she said.
She said that figures such as the average class size and faculty-to-student ratio are “standard reporting of any institution” and are not meant to mislead students.
“Clearly when you have, I’ll say, over-enrollment, which we did have this year, you’ve got to do your best to accommodate everyone,” Gormly said. “So . . . if you’re coming in here and you say, ‘Oh, I expect there will be 21 students in a classroom,’ first of all that’s not realistic because you’re not going to remember when you’re in really small classrooms or you have . . . individual independent study kind of tutorials and things like that, which a lot of students do have.”
As she added, “The issue is not so much whether there’s 21 students or there’s 30 students in a class, but what’s the quality of the interaction of me as a student with the faculty member.”
Mikey Angelo Rumore can be reached at michealangelorumore@gmail.com.
Rich Solomon can be reached at richard.solomon@spartans.ut.edu.
My decision to come to UT was based a lot on the fact that UT was small and had small classes in which the student could have easy access to profs. As a senior I see this access diminishing every year as classes get larger and larger. I now have to try and make appointments with profs at only certain times on certain days and work around their schedule which is packed due to so many students trying to meet with them. Often I hear a prof say, “Just email your problem and I’ll get back to you”. This is friggin’ unacceptable!!! And no offense to Gormly, but I don’t give a rat’s rear about the classes I’m NOT in!!! All I know is that every class I take gets bigger and bigger every semester. This school has gone from good to mediocre when it comes to class sizes and being able to have quality one-on-one time with your prof. I also totally agree that we don’t need all these cosmetic renovations! Its just UT wasting money to appear better. Instead, invest in something we actually really need like another parking garage, more dorms, and maybe fixing the existing dorms so we don’t have leaks, rotted holes in roofs, A/C units burning out, lights,switches, and outlets not working, tiles falling off shower walls, shower heads not working correctly, toilets not flushing all the time, steps on staircases breaking, elevators shutting down halfway up the shaft, doors not working right, or the plethora of other things that are wrong around here. I don’t know, I don’t think I’m too crazy for asking. Just saying….. Another issue, which has already been hit on is the long lines everywhere! Academic offices, food establishments (waited 41 mins the other day at Pandini’s!!), book store, waiting forever to use equipment in the gym, or and it shocks me to say…. the public RESTROOMS!!!!! Seriously UT?! We can do so much better that that!!! Make UT what it was; an exceptional, small school where things run smoothly! Finally, my biggest issue in this rant session is the quality of the profs and their instruction. Since coming here I have seen a very noticeable decrease in the number of quality instructors here at UT. Not to say there are not still excellent profs here, there are, but more and more I have a prof who doesn’t seem to exhibit much interest in the topic they are teaching, they really don’t seem to care how well you do in the class, they make no effort to actually teach the material, but instead just throw up notes or principles on the board and expect you teach yourself the material or take more of your personal time to go for tutoring. They also will appear annoyed when you come to them for help, and act as if the time they say they are available to help students is really their personal time to drink some coffee, read the paper, or take a nap. Tenured profs are the worse and I had one actually tell me when I confronted the individual about never being able to meet for some help and the attitude that was displayed in and out of class, “I really don’t care, its my class not yours. Go to the Dean and complain, I’m tenured and I don’t have a problem; you have the problem and there’s really nothing you can do about it. Drop my class if you have a problem understanding the material, it won’t bother me. You’ll get the W on your transcript and I still get paid the same”. I know this may sound ridiculous, but’s it’s completely true!!! It never used to be like this,so why is it now? This is this kind of stuff UT needs to be concerned about and not planting more damn palm trees or making buildings look aesthetically pleasing. I really want to see more profs like Prof. Stefan who makes learning interesting and applicable. He is always willing to meet with students and help them as much as he can. He clearly outlines what he expects you to learn and doesn’t make it a guessing game of what you think you should learn or study for an exam. His classes are not easy, there’s a lot of reading and work to do, but they are manageable because he’s there to help and you know what you are supposed to be learning. If you do the work, you’ll do fine. Another good prof is Prof. Coleman. Lots of work, notes, and assignments and the tests can be tough, but she is always willing to meet with you and help you with any issues you may be having. A great faculty member is Mz. Abrunzo. One of the best faculty I have ever known!! She is always willing to help you, give advice, or direct you to the person who can best help you. We need more people like her and not these individuals who send you running in circles or straight up say they can’t help you just because they don’t want to deal with you or lack the motivation to get up from their desk and give you some of their, oh so precious time.
I know this has been extremely long, but I sure hope to God some faculty and head honchos at UT read this! These types of issues that I and my fellow students have addressed have either gone on too long or just keep getting worse every semester. The headmen and woman of UT need to grow some intestinal fortitude, stop trying to just make money, stop trying to please the crowds into coming here regardless of how poor a high school student’s GPA is, and start listening to the students that are already paying to go here!!! These are issues which can, and must addressed in an effective and timely manner. I already know 3 people who have quit UT because of some of the above mentioned issues. Let’s change before that number rapidly starts to increase.
So, head honchos, faculty, and profs of UT, what are you going to do? This is just another plea among many others to fix these problems, and what I want to know is are you finally going to do something, or just shove this back under the carpet and let the problems continue? They may seem minuscule to you, but you don’t have to live with them every day.
Be the people you’re supposed to be and do the job you’re supposed to do. Fix the problems and make UT the outstanding school it once was!!!
Thank you,
A Tired of the Problems Student
First I’d like to mention that the title of this article is misleading — I clicked on it to find out “what faculty letter?” and never found the answer. Anyway…
I am a part-time student (work full-time) so I’ve been attending for a few years and unfortunately these concerns raised by students are not new, and getting worse instead of better. I also chose UT because of class size and its reputation as an outstanding school. In the past few years I’ve seen both features deteriorate. I am currently in a class with 50 other students (hello? am I at USF or HCC?). Not only is there NO chance of individual assistance, but a bunch of my classtime is spent listening to the professor babysit the immature, unprepared, disruptive students.
I’ve spent countless hours being my own advisor, figuring out what courses I need, what credits will apply, etc, etc, because faculty advisors are sadly uninformed about how to be an advisor, and the academic advising office is pretty clueless. All the same crap I had to do when I took classes at Hillsborough Community College (at a tenth of the cost).
I’ve seen a handful of OUTSTANDING professors leave because of their frustrations with the school and they either don’t get replaced or are replaced with adjunct professors not nearly as qualified.
And don’t even get me started on the parking! It’s been a nightmare for years and just gets worse because every year someone decides they need another new building so they close another lot. Their answer is the garages blocks from any classroom building (not a good answer when you’re leaving class at 10:00 at night). Commuter students are definitely not an administration priority, and heaven help you if you’re a part-time evening student – definitely the bottom of the priority ladder there. I have to leave work early to get to campus more than an hour ahead of my class time to get a parking space, and most days I have to call the security office to remind them to open the gates.
It’s truly a shame because I used to be so proud to be a UT student. Now I’m just glad I’m almost done. The administration has sent their message loud and clear — they are going for quantity and the biggest dollar, and quality be damned. Too bad.
I’m glad that I graduated last year. These issues are ones that I had talked with my fellow graduates about in the time leading up to graduation. UT needs to get it’s priorities in order. I went to UT for a few reasons, one of which was the small class size. In some of the classes I was able to really appreciate this and especially being in a growing major such as Management of Information Systems, I was able to take advantage of it.
The students, faculty, and administration need to be on the same page with regards to quality of education versus quantity of students. It sounds like UT is becoming more interested in dollar signs than academic reputation.
I graduated from UT over a year ago, and I left hearing about all of these issues becoming an increasing concern. I am disappointed in what the school is becoming and I hope the administration can get it together and re-focus some priorities. I loved UT, but it certainly had its downfalls as well.
Look at class caps in Spartanweb. There are some majors which get special attention but for many majors the only thing keeping the classes at 35 is the size of the room and the fire marshals.
Wait, so the problem, according to Gormly, is that students are looking at their own classes, as opposed to the classes they’re not in? That makes a lot of sense. And is she saying that independent studies are being factored into the average class size? Because that’s probably something that should be a part of the “standard reporting,” and I tend to feel like probably it’s not. Oh, Gormly. The feces is stacking. The issue, according to this article, clearly IS whether there are 21 (why twenty-ONE?) or 30 students in a class—the reason that so many people want to go to UT in the first place.