Rattler Nation has learned that FAMU's declining enrollment is causing the University to take a hard look at what classes will be offered this fall. Preliminary indications are that many upper level division classes will be cancelled because the University just does not have the enrollment. The implication here is that if courses are not offered then not all faculty will be needed.
"It is becoming apparent that pre-registration is not yielding the class loads of previous years," said one faculty member. "Deans and department heads are scrambling, trying, to realign faculty and courses." Those that taught upper level courses, may soon find themselves teaching lower level courses. This has many implications, we are told, and could have an impact on the number of qualified undergradaute and graduate students able to work with experienced faculty in the laboratories and on research. There is a real concern that this may result in many course sections being canceled leaving some faculty without courses to teach.
Four years ago, FAMU had an incoming senior class of 2,274 (Fall 2001) by Fall 2005 that number had shrunk to 1,407. FAMU's 2005 junior class of 436 (Fall) is way down from the 2,295 juniors enrolled four years ago, 2,295 (Fall 2001) A 61.6 % decrease at the junior level. See FAMU Enrollment data from the Florida Board of Governors: Enrollment Fall 2001 Enrollment Fall 2005
Also see: Enrollment Crisis Link to Recruitment Failures
Shrinking Enrollment A Major Concern
How we get 5,000 and something sophomores? Where were the enrollment managers when this was happening?
ReplyDeleteumm....
ReplyDeleteThe problems is, is that Dr. G and Castell, to beef up enrollment opened the flood gates and accepted damn near all who applied regardless of qualifications. Now these kids are having problems earning 60 hours to become a junior and passing the CLAST test to advance to the upper level.
ReplyDeleteGainous and Castell have been playing fast and free with enrollment and we are now become a University full of General Studies majors. Oh it true!
If that is true, anonymous at 11:38 a.m., wouldn't this also make the BOT culpable and the chair/trustee of student affairs just as delinquent and derelict in their duties?
ReplyDeleteSeemingly, but trustees are volunteer and supposedly only meet four times a year.
ReplyDeleteTrue, anonymous @ 12:35 p.m., but they have a fudiciary responsibility and are required by Florida Statute to serve as the governing body of the FAMU. Theyselect the President of the FAMU to serve at the pleasure of the Board and shall hold the President responsible for the University's operation and management, performance, its fiscal accountability, and its compliance with federal and state laws and rules of the Board of Governors.
ReplyDeleteThe Board shall have the authority to carry out all lawful functions permitted by the Bylaws, its Operating Procedures, or by law. The specific statutory powers and duties of the Board are enumerated in Section 1001.74, Florida Statutes.
Ultimately, they are responsible for any state the university finds itself in, including the decline in enrollment.
WOW! With all these freshman and sophomores we really have become Florida A&M CC right before our very own eyes. Thanks Jeb! Thanks Trustees!
ReplyDeleteFast and free with enrollment...
ReplyDeleteThere is no enrollment crises. We are just undergoing growing pains.
The Queen Bee has a plan.
A plan to turn us into Florida A&M CC!
ReplyDeleteWhy is everyone blaming the Queen Bee for the present state of FAMU? She is fixing the problem!
ReplyDeleteWhat has she fixed? Certainly, not the budget, which was never out of kilter (and auditors have gone into extra months to go through her wild claims). Facutly/staff morale is at an all time low.
ReplyDeleteIf she's fixed anything, please share with us what it is?
She fixed the mess left behind by the two previous administrations. FAMU is well respected and moving forward.
ReplyDeleteThe question is: "Who is going to clean up the mess that Dr. Bryant has created?"
ReplyDeleteHer decision to abolish the recruitment program has resulted in lower enrollment. That means less state funding. And now, FAMU is looking at faculty (and staff) layoffs as a result of this problem.
Her cuts to the research division have impaired FAMU's ability to seek grant dollars. Research dollars have plummetted.
Bryant's flagrant disregard for shared governance, lack of cooperation on the collective bargaining agreement negotiation process, and resistance against pay raises for professors have all lowered faculty morale.
FAMU's legal affairs are in a state of crisis. We lost the Billy Joe public records case, had to release the NCAA report (after the GC said it was confidential), had to grant a legal hearing to Percy Luney after the administration denied him that right, and had to restore the Center for Urban Policy after Bryant claimed she had a right to shut it down.
Now, we're looking at wrongful termination lawsuits from Billy Joe and Phyllis Gray-Ray. We also have the lawsuit from BJ's former assistant coaches, the lawsuit from the Kappas, and the lawsuit from Patricia McGill.
Who is going to clean up this grand mess that Bryant has brought to FAMU?
Are you going to believe everything the faculty said. They are lazy and that Bill Tucker has finally been shut up.
ReplyDeleteThe Queen Bee is doing her thang and getting FAMu right.
To anonymous @ 10:37 PM, the cuts in recruitment and research are facts. FAMU has suffered substantial money losses in both those areas.
ReplyDeleteThe persistent legal woes are facts as well. FAMU has become a laughing-stock for making so many poor legal moves.
The lack of shared governance is a fact as well. Bryant has not included the faculty in the hiring processes for any of the VPs she selected. Shared governance is a university principle in university-level education. At Harvard, it was one of the reasons the faculty rose up against former President Larry Summers.
Bryant has not taken any steps to raise faculty salaries above the mimimum amount required by law. That is a fact also.
Even Roosevelt Wilson, one of Bryant's staunchiest supporters, admited that she needs to try harder to work with the faculty union to get the collective bargaining agreement done.
Faculty morale is down. That is more than evident on campus and it is negatively affecting the quality of education are students are receiving.
This is not about believing "everything the faculty said." It's about being informed about the problems that are plauging are campus.
Debate based on the facts, rather than trying to scapegoat Bill Tucker and faculty members who are brave enough to speak up.
Further, your "Queen B" ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Can we just say, NOVA!
ReplyDeleteYa'll kill me. Dr. Castell Bryant wasn't even in office when these Juniors enrolled as freshman and you want to blame her for them still being sophomores.
ReplyDeleteWhatever.
Ok, well die bytch!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteYa'll kill me. Dr. Castell Bryant wasn't even in office when these Juniors enrolled as freshman and you want to blame her for them still being sophomores.
Whatever.
9:52 AM
Na'll, she was just sitting on the Florida Board of Governors and all up in FAMU's business and plotting and planning with that coon face Corbin.
Pull you head out of the sand (or Castell's butt). She never left FAMU after she was removed from the board.
Rufus are you out here again?
ReplyDeleteGet to work!
Are there really FAMUans out there who seriously believe Bryant played no role in creating this enrollment decline? She tore down the damn recruitment program! When an institution does not recruit effectively, an enrollment drop is inevitable.
ReplyDeleteThe blind, personal loyalty to Bryant defies common sense.
I was well situated within the President's office from 1997 to 2004. To me it is clear that the problems began with Lewis and are being continued under the current administration. But it is also obvious that it is more than just the Presidents causing the trouble. It is also the advisers who have lurked in the shadows since Dr Humphries left, attempting to prove that he was a bad leader by undermining the things he built as Pres. Instead they have destroyed what made FAMU a success. I do not have any blind loyalty to Humphries, but I do not think that FAMU would be in this mess if he was still the Pres.
ReplyDelete