In Continuing Support Of Our University. Perspective Values in Conflict: Full Access or Quality Teaching? by Paul H. Thompson University President For 103 years, Weber State has been an open-access institution. Most of those years have been spent encouraging more students to attend Weber State. It has been our goal to offer educational opportunities to anyone who desired an education. However, that will change in 1993. After a decade of dramatic growth, the Board of Regents has instructed us to limit our enrollment to the 1991-92 level, which is approximately 14,500 students. The amount of money provided by the Utah Legislature for 1992-93 will barely cover expenses for students already attending Weber State. This brings into conflict values that have played a pivotal role in the development of our institution. It has been part of our tradition to offer a chance for a higher education to anyone who wanted it. Our classes have been small; faculty and student interaction has been high. We are committed to protecting that tradition and philosophy, but that 40 will be impossible without adequate funding. We are faced with difficult choices. We are concerned about the effect enrollment limits will have on the University. Faculty and staff at Weber care about individual students. We do not want that to change. We want to preserve and protect Weber State’s heritage of quality teaching. However, if we continue to accept an increasing number of students, we will not be able to keep our classes small or devote adequate faculty time to individual students. On the other hand, if we limit enrollment we may be denying higher education to the very people who are most in need of such an opportunity. Alumni and community members are understandably concemed. As I have visited with alumni, many have recommended options that would allow us to serve more students. Two of the most common suggestions are that we increase class size and hire more parttime faculty. Let me explain why we ve decided against those options. 1) INCREASE CLASS SIZE This practice is fairly common at large universities. We have chosen not to do that in order to maintain student access to faculty, which is often where real learning occurs. A recent survey at Weber State indicated that 98 percent of our students have as much access to faculty as they would like. That is an impressive response. We will continue that commitment to quality. 2. HIRE PART-TIME FACULTY Many institutions have a large number of part-time faculty and graduate students teaching lower division classes. We have evaluated the possibilty of hiring more part-time faculty and decided that our commitment to full-time faculty is what differentiates us from the large universities, While we are not planning to make changes that will undermine quality, we are looking at ways that we can continue to serve as many of the citizens of Northern Utah as possible. We are encouraging high school students to better prepare themselves for a college education. Many of the students who attend Weber State require remedial courses in math and English. If these students would prepare better in high school studies, we could eliminate the need for remedial courses and serve more than 300 additional students. We are encouraging students to consider all available options for post high school education. Those options include applied technology centers, community colleges and private business colleges. We also are trying to help our students to complete their educations by taking fewer courses. Many of our students change majors several times and repeat classes. If we can help students graduate in less time, we can admit students who otherwise might be excluded. Finally, we are seeking private funds as a means of expanding the University’s resources. We appreciate the assistance we have received from alumni and friends and we are expanding our efforts to raise private dollars. These funds will allow us to provide a quality education to more students. We will continue to explore other ways to serve students. We encourage you to join us in the discussion of this most important issue. # CREDITS University Times is published by the Public Communications Department, Weber State University, Ogden, UT 844081010. Address all correspondence to the Editor. Submissions of manuscripts and artwork are encouraged, but no responsibility is accepted for unsolicited materials. Bylined articles reflect the viewpoints of individual writers and are not necessarily those of the University. Mailed third-class nonprofit at Ogden, UT 84408-1010. PUBLISHER: William C. Loos EXECUTIVE Eprror: Ronald D. Cantera Eprtor: Craig V. Nelson Waiter: Charlie Schill Copy Eprrors: Roger Terry, Ken Shelton CONTRIBUTORS: Fred Ball, LaVon B. 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