Despite cutting hundreds of classes in its bid to save money, City Colleges of Chicago actually registered 12.4 percent more students last week compared to a year ago.
But the increased popularity of the eight-school system did nothing to appease hundreds of students, especially incoming freshman, who found themselves unable to register for classes they wanted or needed to fulfill academic requirements.
”I`m appalled by this,” said a frustrated Cornelius Hawkins, 19, who stood in the registration area at Daley College on Friday. ”I feel like the doors of opportunity have been shut in my face.”
That sentiment was shared by many on the City Colleges campuses.
Hawkins had wanted to enroll in entry-level chemistry and biology courses for credits he needs to return to the University of Illinois at Chicago, he said. ”I went to those (registration computer) terminals over there twice and I`ve been rejected twice,” said Hawkins, who wants to be a pharmacist.
Faculty, students and others like Hawkins blamed their difficulties finding an open class on the cancellation of 475 classes by the system`s board under Chairman Ronald Gidwitz.
On Saturday, three South Side state legislators, all Democrats and led by state Sen. Alice J. Palmer, gathered outside City Colleges headquarters in the Loop to warn that the cuts will shut out hundreds of students from basic education, particularly those who cannot afford to enroll anywhere else.
State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie called it ”unconscionable” that the cuts should be made so late in the summer when registration at many other colleges has closed. ”We`re talking about the end of August, for heaven`s sake,” she said. ”What alternative arrangements can they make?”
Students echoed lawmakers` concerns.
”Because they did that stupid cut,” said Colleen McGrath, 19,
”nothing`s available anymore. So what are we supposed to do, forget our education, say throw our future out the window?”
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Gidwitz was out of town, said his secretary at Helene Curtis Inc.
Ray LeFever, president of Wright College, responded to complaints but noted that ”the City Colleges have enrolled nearly 3,000 more students than they did last year. What`s all this stuff about people being turned away? How could we have registered more and be turning people away?” he said.
LeFever is also one of three college presidents temporarily heading the system as it searches for someone to fill the vacancy left by Chancellor Nelvia Brady.
Earlier this summer, the board eliminated teacher overtime and the use of part-time lecturers, which resulted in the class cancellations. The board made the controversial move, which drew fire from teachers and students, in order to help close a $9.8 million budget deficit.
”The deficit is real and we began addressing it,” LeFever said. ”And rather than lay people off we eliminated overtime. (Teachers) lost their overtime. But nobody lost their job.”
But students are losing out on learning basic skills, said Palmer, chairwoman of the Senate`s Subcommittee on the City Colleges of Chicago.
Replacing the cut classes with televised or remedial courses ”is unfathomable to me,” she said. ”We expect the board to come up with a way to keep these students in class. You do not turn students away, particularly from a community college.”
Although many pointed fingers at the board`s decision, it remained unclear as registration week drew to a close how much of the problem was due to cancellations or if other factors were more to blame.
For instance, registration rose significantly to 26,043 students this semester. The rise may be due to the hobbling economy; recessions often cause under- or unemployed people to return to school in hopes of improving their job chances.
So the increase would have meant more demand for classes, especially those entry-level sections in areas such as English and science, even if classes had not been cut.
Even the assumption that the cancellations had caused a serious shortage for students this year, especially those registering late in the week, was open to debate.
”On this day, typically in past registrations, very few classes would be left,” Patrick Brown, Daley College`s dean of students, said on Friday. ”It would be difficult for students at this time to get a complete, cohesive program. Because so many classes have been taken.”
”I would beg to differ,” said Jim Kozicki, chairman of Daley`s College`s English Department. ”There`s no reason on God`s earth that we should be shutting the doors to these schools to the range of students we get, especially in this economy.
”In the past at this school, as need materialized, we would just authorize another class to be opened and recruit another teacher,” Kozicki said. ”You always met the need.”
Opening up sections to meet demand runs counter to the larger national trend that has taken hold of higher education for more than a decade. What happened last week at City Colleges is common at universities and colleges across the nation as schools whittle away at their course offerings, though the reasons differ from those of Chicago`s community college network.
At many research universities, for example, the problem is often that professors prefer to teach upper-level courses that focus on their special areas of knowledge, which means fewer teachers for introductory courses.