Rider University - Shadow Yearbook (Lawrenceville, NJ)

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t by Jim Longenecker, Student Academic Affairs Committee Co-Chairman No individual, in my opinion, possesses the per- spective necessary to qualify any broad generalizations concerning the academic atmosphere at Rider College. I am, therefore, reluctant to make any statement related to this issue without first qualifying my remarks as sub- jective observations. Accurate measurement of aca- demic activity in numerical or descriptive terms is an im- possibilityg hence, judgements made are relative to past experience. From my point of view I observe increasing improvement in the quality and the quantity of academic activity from semester to semester. However, I also rec- ognize several significant obstacles which prevent con- tinued improvement at a similar rate. It is these specific areas which I propose to expose and analyze in this essay. classes. Obviously, the entire situation could be recti- fied by recruiting more faculty in the affected depart- ments. Unfortunately, our present budget constraints prohibit the cost of hiring these additional faculty mem- bers. Although the solution to this problem rests ultima- tely upon the reassessment of budget priorities, I am not designating a new budget as a panacea for all aca- demic illnesses. To deal directly with many of the specific obstacles preventing academic progress, we must attack the problems on a departmental level. Based on the prem- ise that students possess unique information about the learning process, The Ad Hoc Committee on Eval- uation Report recommends that students be consulted on a departmental level through an elected group of 'I li- + ,, av T ,W mai. Excessively large classes, faculty overloads and a high student-faculty ratio result in an impersonal rela- tionship between professors and students. Identification with the professor on a human basis plays a vital role in the motivation of the student. This type of identification is impossible in a large class. This year especially, many students felt the classroom cramp resulting from in- creased student enrollment with a correspondingly small addition to the faculty. Moreover, the advent of the Interim Studies Program necessarily reduced the number of professors available to teach during the regular semesters. Rather than compensate for the new program by hiring a sufficient number of new faculty members, departments were forced to reallocate their existing faculty members which, in effect, created larger 38 ,,..-e-I from three to five majors serving as an advisory group to the chairman. Given this opportunity, students must now accept the responsibility of candidly expressing opinions and airing grievances with the department chairmen. Likewise, chairmen must be open to student criticism. The Student Government Association, through the Student Academic Affairs Committee, is currently at- tempting to establish Departmental Advisory Boards to discuss both faculty evaluation and curriculum changes. However, the success or failure of a program of this nature is highly dependent upon the concern and motivation of the individual students within the vari- ous departments and upon the degree of the recep- tiveness of the department chairmen. se

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