New Neeley requirement unfair
Problem comes from university’s weakness in managing employment

Either by the grace of God or a lot of good luck, I have always been able to enroll in the required classes for my major every semester. Perhaps this is because there are not a lot of people in my major (math), or maybe it has to do with the flexible nature of the classes I take. Either way, the majority of TCU students are not as lucky as I am in this aspect.

One group of people who will be butting heads with enrollment problems for the next two weeks are those majoring in advertising/public relations. According to a Skiff article printed March 30, about 150 to 200 advertising/public relations majors will be affected by a new enrollment policy that will only allow students formally accepted into the M.J. Neeley School of Business to enroll in upper-division business classes. The only exception to this rule applies to students whose majors explicitly require business courses in the current catalogue.

The problem with this? Advertising/public relations majors who have an emphasis in marketing or management will not be able to enroll in these required courses because their emphasis requirements are not specifically listed in the catalogue. In other words, if you are a journalism student in the advertising/public relations sequence (which is the largest sequence in the journalism department), good luck figuring out your summer and fall semester schedules this year.

The reason for this massive inconvenience is that the business school has expanded so quickly they can’t allow in excessive numbers of students into the classrooms. So sacrifices must be made on the part of many advertising/public relations students.

Correy Jefferson/SKIFF STAFF

At first glance, I was infuriated when I found out that advertising/public relations majors would have to suffer because the business school decided to be selfish and exclusive. After some thought, however, it became obvious that this was not something the business school wanted to do, but rather a situation in which they had no other choice.

But like they say in the FBI, blame must be assigned somewhere.

The problem is with TCU’s weakness in managing the employment of professors. The business school can’t allow non-business majors into certain classes because the classes are filling up faster than they can count. If there were more professors to teach classes, this enrollment policy would not even be considered.

Take the philosophy department for another example. It has four full-time faculty members. After Ted Kline retires at the end of this semester, will TCU ensure he has a replacement? The department is already struggling with what little help it gets, and there is no way they can afford to lose any more.

The philosophy department and business school are by no means the only academic units in dire need of more professors. The departments of speech communication, ballet and modern dance and journalism are just a few that are lacking professors. The problem is occurring campus-wide, and sooner or later, a remedy will have to be made.

For anybody who has to postpone his or her graduation for another semester or two because classes have filled up, I sympathize with you. Let’s just hope somebody will find a way to rectify this situation.

Emily E. Ward is a junior math and news/editorial journalism major from Springtown.
She can be reached at (e.e.ward@student.tcu.edu).

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