By
The Wildcat Opinions Board
Arizona Daily Wildcat
As of this semester. the math department no longer offers tutoring to students in math classes above college algebra or Math 124. This has cut off many students in difficult courses from the tutoring opportunities previously offered by the math department. Services were not cut, however, because of a lack of tutors or funding, but by a lack of space. There was simply no place to put the tutoring sessions anywhere near the Mathematics building.
Space was available on the north side of campus, but it is unreasonable for the math department to offer these services there. The tutors that make the invaluable individual aid possible are volunteers: asking them to trek across campus to provide their services is ludicrous. The math building is along the absolute south edge of campus, and no one looks forward to such a walk - even when they have to, for a class.
We have become very concerned with the problem of housing new students. However, we have seemingly neglected the problem of where students are supposed to learn.
Certainly, the completion of the Integrated Learning Center will help to alleviate the classroom crunch. Supposedly, freshmen will have all or nearly all of their classes in the new building. Thus, many of the exceedingly large classes taught under the General Education banner will no longer be filling lecture halls used by other students. Of course, this is simply the way things are supposed to work out. Considering track record of the university in how things are supposed to work out versus the actual outcome, don't hold your breath.
Until the completion of the ILC, however, the solution to the overcrowding problem is well within the grasp of the administration. As it stands, almost all classes are clustered around the same times of day: between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. It is during these hours that the university is most crowded, and the struggle for rooms is greatest. For any number of reasons, students don't want classes before lunch, or on Fridays or on Mondays. In general, this is considered to be one of the privileges of being an upperclassman; but it could be the root of a solution to overcrowding.
It isn't that we don't have extra classroom space; it's that we don't use the space we have. Obviously, the total number of students that can be taught in a day is equal to the number of seats in the classrooms, multiplied by the number of classes that can be taught during the operational hours of the university. The result of this calculation far exceeds the current requirements for classroom space. So, why, then, do we have a classroom crunch? Because we don't make use of all of the classroom space all of the time. Noon classes are always more full than 9 a.m. classes because people don't want to take classes before noon. That's fine, but if we are facing a classroom shortage, we no longer have the luxury of allowing such schedules. Scheduling more classes earlier and later in the day will allow us to make full use of the facilities we have, avoid any shortage of classroom space and decrease campus congestion, without costing an extra dime. Until a better solution presents itself, we need to look into it.
