The UCSD administration recently began to consider a proposal that would eliminate five minutes from the current 15-minute interval between classes. The proposal’s supporters argue that adopting a 10-minute passing period would eliminate inefficient use of classroom space, which would improve the effects of the overcrowding trend that plagues UCSD.
The Guardian believes the 10-minute passing period will be an overly burdensome, quick-fix solution to a pressing problem that instead deserves less onerous, long-term solutions.
Specifically, the administration failed to recognize and address the effects that campus overcrowding would undoubtedly have on classroom availability. Had campus officials begun planning classroom complexes four years ago, when overcrowding trends in on-campus housing and parking began to indicate that the university needed to prepare for an annually increasing number of enrollees, the classroom crunch would not have become such a dire situation.
Ultimately, there is no reason the administration could not have foreseen a shortage in classroom space and begun preparing for it years ago by constructing new buildings — a move that may not be as feasible now, because it takes several years to move forward with building proposals.
Now the administration is attempting to find a solution at the expense of the quality of student life.
Just the impossibility of traveling between certain lecture halls in only 10 minutes indicates that this policy is too much for students to bear. Having suffered several losses through the implementation of high-profile, yet ultimately ineffective parking and housing growth plans, students should reject this plan, which is simply the administration’s newest attempt to shift the costs of its poor planning onto the student population.
Instead of adopting the 10-minute passing period, the administration should immediately plan for new classroom complexes, which would provide long-term improvements to classroom crowding.
In addition, more required courses should be offered during summer sessions. If students can complete prerequisites and general education courses during summer, the need for these courses to be offered every quarter of the standard academic year will decline, thus freeing up classroom space. If this is chosen as a method of ameliorating classroom crowding, the administration would be wise to offer evening summer courses so that students are meanwhile able to maintain summer jobs or internships.
