University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

Page 18 text:

Headaches and Longer Lines As enrollment figures soar, students and administrators attempt to cope with the strain on the system Scott Houdek, engineering fresh- man, in front of Jester Center. photo by George Bridges Classes too full. Student teacher relation- ships rare. Scarce housing. Hours difficult to acquire. No parking available. Too many people. Enrollment reached an all time record of 50,107 students for the Fall 1988 semester, and the resulting strain on the University was evident. Some students found it difficult to get desired classes, especially upper-division courses. Additional class sections were opened in many required courses while other classes moved to larger rooms to accommo- date more students. Also, people with schol- arships found it difficult to attain the nec- essary number of hours needed to qualify for their financial aid. The whole system is impersonal; there ' s no one-on-one between teacher and stu- dent, Amy Foss, former UT student, said. You ' re just a Social Security number packed into a room with masses of unfamiliar people. Most of the classes were so full that there wasn ' t any opportunity to get to know the teacher or the other classmates; no en- vironment of debate. Housing problems also added to the pres- sure. The University residence halls were full; 5,315 bed spaces were packed with an additional 1 1 5 students assigned to tempo- rary housing in converted study lounges. Meanwhile, apartment complexes were filled to their capacity. If students were able to find housing on campus, would they have found a place to park? It ' s impossible to find a place to park on or near campus, Jeff Minter, broadcast- ing freshman, said. The only solution is to suffer the inconvenience of riding the bus. Up to 1,100 more C parking permits were given out this year for a total of 16,594; with not enough parking spots to satisfy everyone. Parking and Traffic Administration man- ager Ray James said that to tackle the park- ing problems, the next possibility would be a second parking garage; but nothing is being discussed right now. James added that there was no land available for a garage. Administrators added an application fee, strengthened provisional requirements and raised standards for freshman admissions to help solve the enrollment problem. While the $25 application fee might hold some people back, the most important thing to do now is to tighten the requirements for the provisional students, Robert Hogeda, admission counselor, said. Under old requirements, provisional stu- dents who did not achieve a 2.0 grade point average in summer coursework at UT were given a second chance. That policy was elim- inated. Provisional students needed to make no grades lower than a C and at least one B to attain freshman status in the fall. Also, the freshman admissions standards were changed, but not fully applied to the freshman who entered in Fall 1988. How- ever, Ronald M. Brown, vice president for student affairs, said that the next freshmen class would be completely under the new admission requirements and procedures. The University also experienced the great- est increase (2,364 students) among other Texas universities. As the second largest uni- versity in the nation, the University ' s en- rollment has been surpassed, for the last sev- eral years, only by Ohio State University which last year had 58,347 students. How- ever, this was one instance where students and administrators hoped to avoid first place. Deborah Wolantejus fih 14 Enrollment

Page 17 text:

Catching Z ' s Edited by Barbara Neyens In Mexico, the stores, restaurants and shops all closed daily for the siesta. In the Tropics and the Med- iterranean people observed afternoon rest periods as strictly as Americans val- ued their lunch hours. And at the Uni- versity, students freely adopted, and even looked forward to, this activity which their mothers had previously at- tempted to force upon them: the nap. I take naps whenever I ' ve had a rough test or if I ' ve stayed up late study- ing. That ' s how I get through the day, Mimi Sawatka, communications fresh- man, said. She wasn ' t alone. According to a study published in the Jan. 29, 1989, Parade Magazine, 55 percent of college students napped on a regular basis. Naps were believed to improve moods and even increase memory. Moreover, researchers found that humans had an innate tendency to sleep twice a day, at SWEET DREAMS: Scott Fredrickson, pharmacy senior, takes a break during Adds and Drops in September. photo by John Moore night and in the afternoon. Frequent nappers supported this theory. I usually take a two-hour nap in the afternoon, so I ' m full of energy to study or go out at night, Trey Brown, mar- keting senior, said. After an afternoon nap, I can stay up until 2 a.m. and then sleep four or five hours. I get my seven hours of sleep that way. But busy schedules often made it dif- ficult for students to squeeze in that much-needed rest. Some had to impro- vise. Karen Kuhn, advertising sopho- more, lived off campus and didn ' t have time to go back to her apartment be- tween classes. I don ' t have time to come home, so I walk to a friend ' s house on campus. I sleep there and then go back to class, she said. For those who were denied their af- ternoon repose, life could get difficult. I get cranky or I don ' t have enough energy to study without a nap. I feel unmotivated. I end up going to bed early or just being lazy, Sawatka said. Maybe Mom was right after all. Student Life 13

Page 19 text:

. - c : -- STANDING ROOM ONLY: Students crowd onto the 40 bus. Packed shuttle buses were one of the many symptoms of the over- crowding that plagued the cam- pus. photo by George Bridges. NEXT IN LINE: Undergradu- ate business students wait near the Graduate School of Business reading rooms to pick up their registration materials. photo by An Pettigrew. CHECK, PLEASE: Students stand in line at the Tex- as Union check-cashing counter. photo by George Bridges Enrollment 15