WM Hosts Campus Forum On Impacts Of Growth

By Amber Lester Kennedy Friday, November 12, 2010

The College of William and Mary is facing an identity crisis. Should the college, known for its small class sizes and close relationships, grow? And if growth is inevitable, what has to give to make it acceptable?

A committee looking to gauge the community’s opinion received a uniform answer on Thursday: Growth, at this moment, is not appealing. More than 130 people gathered in a conference room in the Sadler Center for an open forum to discuss the potential expansion of the student body and the associated growing pains.

A committee of 12 faculty members and students has been investigating the potential impact of adding 50 students a year. Freshman classes have increased over the past two years, partially due to an echo baby boom, and the college has begun to face outside pressure from legislators to add more in-state students to its student body.

Committee co-chair Todd Mooradian, an associate professor of marketing with the Mason School of Business, shared a letter the college received from state Del. David Albo, who represents Fairfax County. Albo had received a letter from a constituent who was denied entry to William and Mary, despite a combined SAT score of 2100 and an over 4.0 grade point average. He said the college maintained it needed the revenue generated by out-of-state students, but managed to find funds to hire a director of multicultural studies and more.

Albo wrote that in his 17 years in the General Assembly, he had learned that it is always better to find a solution than get run over. Mooradian said the committee didn’t agree or disagree with his letter, but that the school “cannot ignore this letter because it makes us uncomfortable.”

Frances Bradford, the college’s associate vice president for government relations, said in her 20 years of higher education work in the government, the pressure to accept more in-state students has only increased. “The heat has gotten hotter and hotter,” she told the audience. “And the pressure won’t go away.”

The committee, formed by President Taylor Reveley last spring, is evaluating the potential impact of adding students on the curriculum, class sizes, town-gown relations, finances and quality of life. Provost Michael Halleran said a decision is not imminent. “We felt if we’re going to grow, we’re going to do it strategically,” he said. “Everybody recognizes William and Mary is a special place partly because of its size.”

The decision, when it is made, will not be based on the financial impact, according to Sam Jones, vice president for finance. If the college admitted 50 additional students, 65 percent in-state and 35 percent out-of-state, it would gain $800,000 in additional revenue. Jones said $200,000 to $250,000 would go toward the additional financial aid packages and about $350,000 would go toward the additional teachers, leaving a gain of about $250,000.

In contrast, the decision to add more students would require more tenure-track faculty or force more reliance on adjunct faculty, and might demand three extra labs for research. And that is where the committee has concerns about diminishing the quality of a William and Mary education.

The quality of William and Mary student life would also be diminished if changes weren’t made to accommodate more students. Vice President for Student Affairs Ginger Ambler said more students would increase the existing pressure on parking and student housing. Last year, the college had nearly 400 students get waitlisted for housing; the college also has to accommodate readmitted, transfer and exchange students. The college’s strategic plan calls for adding 250 beds to on-campus housing, and the Tribe Square project on Richmond Road will add about 56 when completed.

Dean of Admission Henry Broaddus said accepting 50 more students would not diminish the quality of incoming classes at William and Mary. This year, the school received more than 12,500 applications and admitted 32 percent of those applicants. It is the ability to sustain its perceived selectivity that could be affected, he said. The only comparable institutions with smaller classes are private Ivy League schools.

During the open forum, audience members offered a variety of reasons for delaying growth, but also shared suggestions for ways to satisfy growth without investing in much more infrastructure. Two professors suggested using the additional revenue to boost the study-abroad program, and relaxing some of the requirements to enable more students to study in a different country. If 50 more students studied abroad, 50 more students might be able to come in, they reasoned.

David Kranbuehl, a semi-retired professor of chemistry, suggested the college might consider creating satellite campuses or encourage distance learning as a way to satisfy the demand for more in-state students.

Several speakers said they’d like to see the college address its existing issues before taking on more students. Bill Cooke, a professor of physics, shared that his son, a freshman, was unable to enroll in most of the classes he wanted to take when registration occurred in July. “I’m concerned we might be losing what we think we might be,” he said.

Students echoed his concerns, sharing stories about how registration and the housing lottery are dreaded each year. Another student, now a Resident Assistant, urged the administrators to make repairs to the existing dorms; she said she had a roach infestation last year, and has seen plenty of leaky ceilings.

Joanne Braxton, the Frances L. and Edwin L. Cummings Professor at the College of William and Mary, spoke passionately about the college’s need to build a sense of community among the students it has in light of recent suicides. “Growth, like migration, has its costs,” she said. “I would want to underscore issues of human sustainability. For all our traditions and history, we could foster more community in this beloved place.”

For those who could not attend, Halleran encourages the community to weigh in on the conversation by e-mailing him here.