Although the first day of classes has come and gone, many students' schedules remain in limbo and professors in several departments find themselves turning away record numbers of students.
Yesterday "there were millions of people in line at the computer labs all trying to get into ISIS" and find slots in classes, third-year College student Tehrae Heflin said.
According to several department heads, many of those students are likely to come away disappointed.
John Owen, director of undergraduate studies in the politics department, has a waiting list of over 100 students for his PLIR 101 class, International Relations, despite having added another section to the lecture course and increasing the class size from 180 to 200 students.
"In my own experience, this is the worst we've ever had -- the biggest waiting list there's ever been," Owen said.
Although he attributed growing interest in his international relations class to "people thinking about Iraq, North Korea and the war on terrorism," lengthy class waiting lists have become typical throughout his department.
"Most of the [politics] courses are full, and certainly those below the 500-level," he said.
His colleague, Political Theory Prof. Stephen White, was caught off-guard by the "extraordinary" pressure he has faced with students attempting to get into his PLPT 302 class, Modern Political Theory, he said.
"I have answered 50 to 100 e-mail messages since November asking me about course-actioning into the course," White said.
White announced yesterday that he would add only graduating fourth years and those with special exceptions.
"It may have sounded harsh but the room wouldn't have held five more [students], let alone the 50 to 75" that sought admittance, he said. "It's really a crowd management problem."
Such problems have sparked many concerns within the department of politics about its ability to meet the needs of its majors.
"We're concerned that there are many first and second years wanting to major [in politics] who are not going to major with us because they can't get into classes," Owen said.
Spanish Department Chairman Joel Rini had similar concerns.
"The biggest problem [with unmet interest] is at the three and four hundred levels," especially those classes required for Spanish majors, Rini said.
Alison Weber, who teaches two sections of SPAN 311 Grammar Review -- a "gate way" course required for students taking higher level Spanish classes -- set up a waiting list but had to discontinue it when it reached 30 people.
Weber said she received "several very sad messages from students, some who haven't been able to get into the class and are worried about getting rusty if forced to wait an entire year to take a Spanish class."
Although it is primarily the higher level classes having difficulties meeting student demand in the Spanish department, classes at all levels have reached their capacity in the English department, according to Department Chairman Michael Levenson.
"It's the first time I've looked through ISIS and every course, with just one or two exceptions, is at its ceiling," Levenson said.
In addition to a perceived growth in the English major and current budget difficulties, the department has had to deal with the loss of Prof. Charles Vandersee and the two classes he taught.
Yet, despite the lack of class slots, "students have been very understanding," Levenson said. "The faculty of English has been eager to accommodate" students and to "take students from their waiting lists without sacrificing education in their classes."
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