2008 Woodie Awards
Zeig: Class schedules are not consistent
By: David Veselenak
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: News
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Staff Reporter
Central Michigan University's class scheduling process is inconsistent, SGA president Mike Zeig told the Student Liaison Board on Wednesday.
"We don't feel that courses are regularly offered for students," the Sterling Heights senior said.
Zeig told the board certain students are unable to register for classes required for them to graduate. Without these classes, students may not leave CMU for an extra semester or two.
Zeig presented the board with information he and faculty, including University President Michael Rao and Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe, compiled in a seven-page document. Zeig addressed three main concerns: classes only offered in the spring or fall semesters, lack of semester designators with courses and major/minor courses not being offered.
"We really feel the university needs to offer these core classes," Zeig said.
Trustee Marilyn French Hubbard, chairperson of the Student Liaison Committee, said the trustees did not know this was happening.
"We don't know it's a problem unless it's brought to our attention," she said.
The report also contained every department's policy on listing semester designators. Almost 43 percent of departments had no designators while others had designators of when certain classes would be offered.
Zeig said while there have always been complaints from students, faculty had not seen any statistics on the subject.
"They understand, but there wasn't any actual data behind it," he said.
When students find out what classes are being offered, it is often late in the semester, hindering their plans to graduate when they want, Zeig said.
"Students don't want to take that process to graduate," he said.
Roscoe said since some departments list the designators, others could as well.
"We know it can be done," Roscoe said.
The Board of Trustees cannot act on the resolution, only bring it to the attention of the departments, Zeig said.
Another concern of Zeig's was the cost of textbooks. While textbooks containing CDs and DVDs are not usually used by faculty, these items can drive up a textbook's cost an average of $60, Zeig said.
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