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

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. - 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

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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

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Homecoming Returns After a 25 year absence, the Homecoming Task Force brings back a football institution In 1962, John F. Kennedy was president, the Beatles were at the forefront of the Brit- ish invasion, and Homecoming was still an annual UT tradition. But in the words of Bob Dylan, the times were a changin ' , and by the end of that turbulent era, JFK, the Beatles and Homecoming were all relegated to the history books. However, in the fall of 1987, Michelle Gray, marketing senior, decided to change part of that. She formed a committee to bring students and alumni together in the return of a tradition Homecoming. Gray headed up the Homecoming Task Force ' 88. The task force sent out 350 letters to campus organizations to involve them in the planning of events. At their first meeting, 50 organization members came to show their support and by the second meeting this num- ber had doubled. The task force scheduled many activities to promote Homecoming, but the most popular was a talent show that benefited disabled students on campus. This was the activity that got the most student response, Gray said. The talent show raised hundreds of dollars and many campus organizations en- tered the contest. Other activities included a breakfast with Longhorn football coach Da- vid McWilliams. The committee also started a new tradition called Pin the Yellow Rose. This gave UT students a chance to buy tickets for a yellow rose to pin on their date at the game. The task force hoped this would become a tra- ditional part of Homecoming. The task force raised all the money to sponsor the events themselves. The Univer- sity provided no financial support, so the committee relied on an ad book, car washes and corporate sponsors to fund the events. Former students also offered their support and help in any way they could give it. Alumni were very receptive to the Home- coming idea, Gray said. Although the task force put up signs, ran ads in The Daily Texan and tried to pass the word around, still few people knew that UT once again had a Homecoming. I think for a first year try we pretty much got the student support we expected but hopefully it will improve over the years, Student Involve- ment Committee chairman and studio art freshman, Carey Smith, said. I really didn ' t know what to expect out of Homecoming. Though I knew when it was , I really didn ' t know if it was going to be that big of a deal, Christine Stewart, pharmacy junior said. Homecomings of the future were already being planned as new chairmen were chosen and new committees formed. Some ideas placed on the backburner, such as a Home- coming court and parade, might soon find themselves a part of the tradition. The goal in 1988 was just to simply let people know that Homecoming had returned. Each chairperson worked many extra hours to make sure Homecoming was a sue- 1 cess. Although Gray, along with the other I chairpersons, was glad Homecoming was over, each said the hard work and effort was well worth the chance to be a part of bring- ing back a tradition. I think UT needs tra- dition, Gray said. It ' s important for stu- dents to feel a part of a school as large as Texas. Jennifer Jones 16 Homecoming