Some students will be barred from the university’s kinesiology minor – but only temporarily.
The number of kinesiology majors has doubled since the 2003-2004 academic year, and the department cannot accommodate the number of students flooding into the sport commerce and culture minor, which was started in 2005.
With students struggling to graduate on time because their classes are filling up before they are allowed to register, the department – which offers classes such as KNES287: Sport and American Society and KNES293: History of Sport in America – decided it needed to take action.
“Majors have more than doubled,” said Colleen Farmer, assistant chair of the kinesiology department. “We need to get our majors through. It is the right thing to do at this time.”
Though major and graduate programs have a precedent of suspending programs temporarily, this is the first time the university has suspended a minor, said Phyllis Peres, associate provost for academic planning and programs.
The hiatus allows the department to revise the kinesiology curriculum for both majors and minors, while still allowing students already enrolled in the college to graduate in a timely manner. Despite the hiatus, the university is definitely not cutting the program, Farmer stressed.
Students currently in the minor will still finish the requirements and graduate.
But many students, like senior journalism major Maddie McConnell, who had been working to add the minor but hadn’t been able to yet, are out of luck. Students will no longer be admitted into the program for the next two years, though Farmer said the timeline could fluctuate depending on the suspension’s effectiveness.
McConnell said the minor’s suspension “definitely threw a bit of a wrench into my plans to graduate in four years.” She was taking a prerequisite class so she could officially add the kinesiology minor, but she was told recently she wouldn’t be allowed to continue working toward the minor despite being only two classes away from fulfilling the requirements. McConnell will now need to stay an extra semester to complete an English minor.
In addition to the booming number of majors and minors, the department has lost four faculty members since the university’s hiring freeze kicked in earlier this semester, Farmer said.
“People are trying to do a good job with the resources they have,” she added. “We are making sure everyone gets a four-year degree and a quality education. … There’s an expectation that all students making reasonable progress finish their major in a reasonable time.”
The decision, which was proposed by the kinesiology department and approved by the university, still has to pass the University Senate before the decision is official. The decision will be finalized within the next couple days, Peres said.
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