O for 600

Getting into a lower level social science course is like getting into the World Series. Three of the five courses offered this year held sectioning meetings Saturday morning, two on an absolute first-come-first-served basis. The third made exceptions only for sophomores who had expressed interest in the course last spring. An estimated 600 students were turned away from Soc Sci 2, 5, and 8; and because of the length of the sectioning lines, striking out on one left the undergraduate no chance for the other two.

Students still wanting to take a social sciences course were left with Soc Sci 1 and 6. But since the latter accepts only 125 members, the real choice for most is between Soc Sci 1 and waiting till next year.

The problem can be attributed to enrollment limits in popular courses and to the fact that two Soc Scis are not offered this year. The existing limits are caused by a shortage of section men and professors willing to teach general education courses, and thus an obvious solution to the dilemma would lie in finding the needed personnel. The University could either raise the enrollment limits, offer all seven soc scis, or else develop new courses, as was done this year with Soc Sci 8. At any rate, tuition-paying students who plan programs of study should be able to follow them.