Bed shortage results in fewer first-years

Author: Dina Magaril

The "New Faces" book, Middlebury's visual catalogue of incoming students, will feature approximately 30 fewer faces next year. According to Director of Admissions John Hanson, there will be a slightly smaller freshman class next fall. Next year's incoming class, he said, will only have room for 555 first-years, instead of the typical 575 students enrolled at the College each fall. The Feb class will only be cut down to approximately 105 students from the 110 members of the class of 2008.5. Hanson and others cited recent housing shortages that have left some upperclassmen without on-campus housing as a primary reason for the cutback.

"The incoming class will be based on the beds available," noted Associate Director of Admissions Albert Phinney.

The administration is also in the process of hiring new faculty for next year, although the 11:1 student-faculty ratio will not be altered. The new faculty members will replace those teachers who are retiring, going on sabbatical or leaving the College. According to Alison Byerly, vice president for Academic Affairs, faculty members going on sabbatical are usually replaced by instructors filling temporary term positions which last anywhere from one to three years. Professors who permanently leave the College tend to be replaced with candidates for tenure track positions. The Educational Affairs Committee considers the requests for new faculty positions, which then need to be approved by the president.

This year several positions are being considered for tenure track, including those in Environmental Chemistry, Classics, Economics, Latin American Economics, Italian Literature and International Politics. Byerly said most of these positions have already been filled. Another recruitment is going on for a dozen or so term-long positions in various departments. There is also sometimes a need for new faculty when a new class is created.

While the school usually tries to use an already existing faculty member to teach new classes, there are occasions when someone is specially hired. According to Director of Faculty Susan Campbell, however, the creation of these new classes is not decided until the summer.

Faculty hiring may also relate more directly to students. In the beginning of each semester, many students find it difficult to gain admission to certain classes, especially seminars and smaller lectures that place a cap on the number of students admitted. Byerly commented that if great pressure exists from the students, a particular class might open up additional sections to account for the demand. If no faculty member is able to teach an extra section, that department can then appeal to the Educational Affairs Committee to request that a new instructor be hired.

Campbell said she was confident that the increase in faculty hiring would not seriously affect tuition. The number of faculty positions that can be approved must fit into the current teacher-student ratio, she explained, adding that new professors are usually only hired when current faculty members leave, so the number of faculty is more or less constant.