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July 3, 2007

Making It

Due to low enrollment, some exercise classes are in danger of being cancelled

Story by: Diana Golobay

The Shorthorn staff

With the second summer semester beginning Thursday, students looking to stay active can enjoy classes like archery, golf, pilates and self-defense for women.

Or can they?

That’s the question raised due to low enrollment in the Kinesiology Department’s summer II exercise classes, which may cause many classes to be cancelled. Activities co-chair Melissa Evans, a kinesiology clinical assistant professor, said the university requires an enrollment minimum of 10 students to keep the class operating, or “make” it.

Monday, the MyMav system showed only a few sections with enough enrollment to make the class. One of the classes, a combined fitness walk and jogging for fitness section, showed 11 students had registered. In a tie for second place were bowling and cardio-kickboxing, each with eight students. One scuba-diving section showed seven enrollees, beginning fencing showed six, and both golf and yoga showed five.

Many more classes, such as step aerobics, self defense for women, beginning swimming and swimming for fitness, fell short in the enrollment race with even fewer registrants. Aerobic dance and pilates both touted two-enrollee sections. Enrollment for archery plummeted to zero from four in May.

Public Affairs director Bob Wright said it’s not unusual for classes to be cancelled due to low enrollment.

“You always estimate what type of summer enrollment you’re going to have and make sure you offer more classes than you need,” he said. “Sometimes they make, and sometimes they don’t. From what I understand, it’s no more than any other year.”

Evans agreed the low enrollment that may cause these classes to drop is not exclusive to kinesiology. She said the department calls or e-mails dropped enrollees and advises them about alternative classes they can take.

“Typically, we try to contact students just as soon as possible,” she said. “We try to do everything we can ... to work with students to find a class to meet their needs.”

Evans urged students who need one or two class hours to take advantage of exercise class openings, and referred to their stress-relief benefits.

Wendell Hawkins, kinesiology clinical assistant professor, is also getting the word out about exercise classes. He teaches several departmental lecture classes but recognizes the importance of activity in student life.

“We all try to encourage students to increase physical exercise and health so they don’t die of heart attack or diabetes,” he said.

Despite the efforts of Hawkins and Evans, most summer II classes may still get the administrative boot to the curb if registration cannot reach 10 enrollees. Many students have already felt the pinch of low-enrollment drops.

Accounting senior Ashley Alcorn said she wanted to take a fencing class earlier in the year but was unable to. She recalled enrollment had not been high enough for the class to make.

Although information systems junior Hatem Murad has not had a class drop while attending the university, he experienced a similar situation at another school in the UT System. While attending UT-Dallas two years ago, Murad enrolled in an Arabic class that was dropped because not enough students had registered for it.

“It happens with languages,” he said. “I just decided to do something else.”