Douglas Colleze’s autonomous student newspaper. Wednesday, January 18, 1978. THER PRESS Volume 16 Issue 2 Enrolment at Douglas Douglas should climb over 4000 this semester and fac- ulty are “getting worried a- bout handling overcrowded classes and a heavier work load. by Dan Hilborn Andy Wilson, the college registrar, declined to give a figure for the number of students enroled but he did say, ‘‘If there is an increase, it’s due to. the faculty’s cooperation.’’ Most of the faculty agreed to increase their class sizes form 35 to 40 last semester, and according to early regis- tration figures released last ’ week, the majority of cour- ses should reach that num- ber again. Terry Farrell, the chair- man of the arts and humani- ties department, says that some teachers have asked unregistered students to: at- tend classes if they hope to enrol after other students drop out, and this is pushing their workload even higher. Farrell said that the col- lege had 114 per cent enrol- ment last semester, based on the maximum class size of 35, and this semester they’ll be over 100 per cent again. ‘“Some students need sig- nificantly more attention at the college level,’’ said Far- rell. ‘‘The larger the class size the less the faculty are able to provide that atten- tion and assistance.’’ Some instructors have up to 170 students, he said, and last semester many of them were marking papers until three of four days before registration. Because of the high numbers of students registering at the college 20 additional course sections were added in both the fall and spring terms. “We've _ been watching this build for two years,’ Farrell said, ‘‘and the facul- ty and administration have tried to assist with the problem to the best of their ability.’’ In the Nursing Program 90 students pack. into the new theatre for a double class with two instructors for Health Sciences 510. Mary Fewster, the director of nur- sing, said the reason the department did that was so that only one faculty mem- ber wouldn’t be burdened with that number of stu- dents. The nursing program usu- ally gets around 250 appli- cants each year but only has 82 seats in its first year program. ‘‘This is a well respected program in. the province,’’ she said. One reason nursing gets sO many applications is that they offer threshold tests for people who don’t have the proper high school credits. Nursing runs for six straight semesters at Doug- las and Fewster has reques- ted that the ministry reduce that to only two semesters a year. ‘‘That’s to give stu- dents the opportunity to work during the summer to finance themselves,’’ she said. In the mathematics divi- sion, department head Al Lawson, says, there should be no increase over last semester, but adds that they could have filled a couple more classes. ‘‘Maybe 40 students were turned _away,’’ he _ said, ‘‘and most are new stu- dents.’’ He said he would like to see more mathema- tics courses offered “if we had the money.’ “There is a place for them to go if we can’t take them, “‘he said referring to night school courses offered at Centenial High School and New West Senior Secon- dary. “We're not suffering as badly as some areas,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve added two sections because of de- mand.” “Faculty resources are way stretched,’’ said Far- rell. ‘‘They’re doing an ex- traordinary job.’’ Most of the instructors are working in excess of 50 hours a week, he added, and many are being paid a half time rate because the ministry - does it’s calculations on con- tact hours (actual class time). ‘‘We’ve done our best to meet the needs of the stu- gh registration hurts teachers but . there’s not dents enough money to go a- round,”’ he said. ‘‘We seem to be facing years of fiscal restraint, | have no idea what they’Il do and neither does anybody else.’’ Figures released last sem- ester at Douglas College showed 31 different sections added at least 5 extra stu- dents and every academic discipline reached over 100 per cent enrolment. Few student reps at Douglas Douglas College policy does not neccessarily have to be made without student imput, it just happens that it usually is. Out of about 30 by Dan Hilborn positions open to students within the college govern- ance system only two have been filled to date. Douglas College presi- dent, Bill Day, will be re- questing today, Jan. 18, that the student society look into finding people to fill the vacant positions on almost 20 different committees. Barb Bessey, Bill Day’s secretary, says that the five unfilled positions on the Educational Planning and Policy Committee (EPPCO) are probably the most im- portant student positions a- vailable. EPPCO’s mandate, which is currently being revised, is as advocate to the college board. “It’s a real shame that students aren’t on it (EPPCO),’’ said Gerry Della Mattia, the Dean of student services. Della Mattia is the chairman of the Educational and Student Services Divi- sion Curriculum and Plan- ning Committee, the first planning committee to ap-~ point a student, Jim Will- iams, to it this year. At an EPPCO meeting January 11, members spent two hours discussing the college philosophy © state- ment, a governance review survey, budget decision ap- peals, a plan to introduce self-funded courses, a mo- tion on legislative Bill 20, policy for special needs stu- dents, and the problem of finding student representa- tives. The committee does hard work, but, according to fac- ‘ulty representative Mae Burrows, they feel it’s good work. One recommendation was on the budget decison unit list, which the college board has placed a moratori- um on. ‘‘Was that ever awful, was that ever had,’’ she said. , Another item the commit- tee has made recommenda- tions on is a review of the Entry Level Training Pro- gram (TRAC). According to Ann Frost, another faculty member on EPPCO, -TRAC would have been implemen- ted a year ago except for their advice. Frost says Douglas Col- lege is the only college in the province that has not implemented the program, and she gives the credit to the college board for listen- ing to EPPCO’s concerns. “We only have the same power that every other com- mittee at Douglas has, we can advise,’’ said Frost. “The college board has the authority.’’ Sean Balderstone, the stu- dent society president, says his council should carry some of the blame for a lack of student representation at the governance level. ‘‘Stu- dents who wish to get in- volved usually do so at the student society level,’’ he said. ‘It’s our responsibility, to the extent that we who are involved in the student soci- ety, are concerned about student issues and obviously EPPCO is a concern’’ Bal- derstone said. continued on page 3