University Dally Kansan
Friday, October 25.1974
1B
Drop in enrollment may alter KU mission
By JACK McNEELY Contributing Writer
Something as abstract as the goal and mission of a university is a hard thing to pin
it isn't the kind of thing you can hold in
your hand. Nor do you put in a bjar to
hurt it.
You can't even find as squiggles on a
backpack. You can fold and put in your
back pockets.
But the University of Kansas has a goal and mission. And how that goal and mission might change is a large factor in plans and decisions made at KU every day.
KU, along with the rest of the state's colleges and universities, faces the prospect of a rapidly declining enrollment after 1980. Enrollment in Kansas colleges and universities is expected to increase slightly through 1975, retrace its course through 1980, and then drop off rapidly.
WHAT SCENARIO comes from Kenneth E. Anderson, professor of education, who makes predictions for the state. Anderson's and public schools are private and public private schools in Kansas.
His predictions are based on the number of high school seniors who will graduate in 1967 and now in 1980, so will start declining because the birth rate in Kansas declined steadily from 1969 until 1967. The declining birth rate and, thus, fewer high school seniors, are national
Fewer high school seniors mean fewer potential freshmen.
"Every one of these 46 schools is going to
He quickly added that a change in any one of several factors could change his employment could be influenced greatly by the school's economy, world conflict, a change in the kind of people who come to college and the ability of his ability to sell higher education to the people.
Partly as an attempt to offset the expected decline in enrollment, but more because of an expanded definition of the University's mission, attempts are being made to enrol nontraditional students, KU administrators said recently.
"We'll have many more older people coming to college, if they'll come." Anderson said. A number of college for four or five higher school will change. Our clientele will change."
The administrators agreed that during the past couple of years the University has realized that it should have been educating a range of citizens as a service to the state.
ADMINISTRATORS SAID that for the past 20 years KU has focused almost exclusively on educating 18-to-22-year-old students and older graduate and professional students.
Whether the University suddenly realized that it should provide more services to the people of Kansas or whether attempts to enroll nontraditional students are responses to the prospect of declining enrollment are moot questions.
But it's clear that no matter how many older students the University attracts, access to most majors is limited.
PROJECTED KU ENROLLMENT
(FALL SEMESTERS)
be drawing from a decreasing pool," An-
drew said, "exactly. "We're all going to b
hit a little."
ANDERSON WAS QUICK to point out a decline in attendance at the decline at any particular school in New York.
chancellor. "Where people differ in this is in their expectations," the number of students going to school is lower.
programs are started for people off campus, KU's enrollment will decline.
"If this institution gets out and works, it can get more students at the expense of our staff."
IN SPITE OF attempts to enroll older people, Anderson said, there is no way to stem the trends of declining birth rates and declining numbers of high school seniors.
ENROLLMENT
HEAD COUNT
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
"We are most certainly after 1977 and have been working with students, said De Skelman, executive vice president.
Allen L. Weichert, assistant to the director of Facilities, Planning and经营管理 for foresee any possibility that buildings would stand empty on the Lawrence campus.
Shankel said declining enrollment wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
creasing percentage of nontraditional students will mean fewer students will be able to perform well in the test.
If the University can persuade the state's legislators to change the way higher education is funded, it will
enrollment will be an opportunity to improve the quality of education, Shankel
Under the present system, money is allocated to each state school on the basis of how many credit hours are taken by students at the school.
SHANKEL SAID that tying funding solely to credit leases will not account for the costs of some program.
The cost of maintaining the Museum of Natural History, for example, isn't reflected in any creatin number of credit hours, Shankel said. The cost of research programs also is disproportionate with the number of credit hours they produce.
Shankel thought a new funding system should be worked out that would take into account the cost of a school's programs and the value of those programs to the state.
If Shankle's system of tying funding to the cost of programs is accepted by the cost of education, the research university would be confirmed. That role and the quality of education at KU are in danger of changing if the funding of education remained tied solely to credit hours.
Ambrose Saricks, vice cancellor for academic affairs, said, "I suppose every institution will jockey for the kind of budget formula that will seem best for it."
"We're going to be building up to the 1980s just to meet the needs of the present enrollment and the increase we might get until 1980," Weichert said.
SHANKEL AGREED WITH that but added it would be lying funding for of programs using the school.
When enrollment boomed in the 1960s, the University didn't have enough space to handle all the students. The University still lacks space.
MANY OF THE buildings on campus are obsolete or were intended to be temporary. The people who work and study in those buildings deserve better. Weichert said
"We're still playing catcatch as far as the space needs of the students are concerned."
The decline in enrollment and the in-
In addition, some of the buildings that are structurally sound don't meet the functional needs of their occupants, he said. Marvin Hall, Bailey Hall, Green Hall, Hoch Auditorium and Spooner Museum are such buildings. Weichert said.
would be the kinds of programs the halls offered.
"I'm sure that if it's necessary to change, we will be changing the programs to fit the students of the studies," he said. "That's been the history of the University since the 1860s."
Dhon Alderson, dean of men, said there is a chance that some of the residence halls may be turned off.
Weichert said residence halls are built to meet the most of students' needs. Now that most of students want to live in apartments off campus, Weichert said, there are no plans to build more residence halls.
Some residence halls have already started to offer specialized programs. A communication center is being set up at the Hall, and HashingHall has an art center.
SOME KU PROFESSORS saw the proclaim of declining enrollment as a threat to students.
"There is no question that if our enrollment plateaus and then goes down, then some of our rooms might not be filled," Alderson said.
Should enrollment decline drastically, the university might have to fire or lay off teachers. But the University threatens the tenure system, which the professors said was the legal protection of academic freedom, because a tenured professor is merely for publishing unpopular views.
The professors' concern is to set up a system so that if declining enrollment forces the firing of some professors, the firing will be done equitably.
ALDERSON SAID the key to whether residence halls would attract students
All the professors interviewed agreed
with Wright, professor of human
development and public policy.
"We'd like to put the system were developing on a shelf and never use it."
BETTER ADVISING for freshmen and sophomores and making the University more accessible to nontraditional students by including faculty listed to prevent buying to use the system.
Other ways suggested to keep the University from having to fire or lay off tenured faculty members were to grant more sabbatical leaves or other leaves in which professors weren't paid full salary and not given or older faculty members to retire early.
But it will be difficult to persuade the legislature to allow faculty members to retire early, and grant more leaves of teaching, or enable the quality of teaching on campus.
Putting together a system for firing tenured faculty members is bound to be a process of choosing between evils. The professor who can general feeling among professors and administrators alike is that, to preserve academic freedom the system will have so few students as allowed that Kwil will have to be much worse than expected before faculty members are fired.
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