230 UCI Students Scrambling After Key Course Is Axed Without Notice

A writing course required for graduation, for which 230 UC Irvine students had signed up, has been canceled without notice, less than two weeks before the start of the fall quarter, because of a clerical error, university officials said.

Executive Vice Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien, who learned of the mix-up Wednesday, said that “space will be made available for all who signed up” for the course. It was unclear, however, how the students would be accommodated.

The problem, discovered early this week, occurred after Humanities Dean Terence D. Parsons approved cutting 10 classes of English and Comparative Literature (Writing 39) because of budget constraints. But the university registrar was not notified of the cancellations before class scheduling was done by computer last weekend.

230 Falsely Enrolled

As a result, 230 students, mostly freshmen, were enrolled in classes that do not exist.

Parsons said Wednesday that some of those class sections may be restored, and other classes might be enlarged. In addition, he said, he will petition Tien’s office for more money.

“We will shift resources from anticipated needs in the winter and spring” to provide for the writing students, he said. “I can’t say we’re averting problems. Maybe we’re postponing them.”

Urgent concerns remain about students who may not be able to fit an alternate course into their class schedules. If any fall below full-time enrollment status, they could lose eligibility for financial aid and campus housing.

“If the students had been notified early enough, they wouldn’t be registering for this class,” UCI ombudsman Ronald Wilson said. “Now, students are going to come to their assigned classes expecting Writing 39A, and it’s not going to be there. We’ll have 200 students scurrying around trying to get into new classes.

“My biggest concern is what happens if student financial aid is affected, or if students lose their housing. We can’t predict the impact yet.”

The extent of the problem will not be known until Monday, when the first students arrive on campus for orientation week and the add-drop phase of registration. A record 16,400 undergraduate and graduate students are expected for the fall quarter, which will begin Sept. 25.

The underlying issues, however, are philosophical and financial: whether courses needed for graduation should be cut and how universities should use scarce dollars when enrollment and faculty growth outpace state budget increases.

Tien said Wednesday that required classes are a high priority and that Writing 39A, one of three options to fulfill a university English requirement, is particularly important.

Parsons said he cut the writing sections and added other composition classes because UCI freshman enrollment for the fall will be slightly lower than projected.

Budget Squeeze Described

He also said he is forced to make do with a university allocation that is just 4% larger than last year’s but includes 10 more humanities faculty members, a new department plus increased enrollment.

He estimated that cutting the 10 writing classes would save $32,000 to $35,000--roughly the starting pay for an instructor.

“Last year was a poor year, and this year is worse,” Parsons said. “It is affecting almost all our courses--we’re turning students away from philosophy, foreign languages, English, almost everywhere. The tightness in my budget comes from tightness in the university’s budget.”