Olivia Allery, news editor 

This semester, the Augsburg Day Student Government (ADSG) passed a resolution for increased transparency from Augsburg administration in light of nine staff layoffs that took place on Sept. 11. According to ADSG President Kallista Miller, this resolution did not get a response from administration. This request for transparency has returned to ADSG’s radar as Spring 2024 class registration is winding down and the end of the semester is drawing near. 

Augsburg has an existing policy regarding low enrollment for courses, as is outlined within the Class Enrollment Guidelines. According to Director of Public Relations and Internal Communication Rachel Farris, “Every semester, the Academic Deans and Department Chairs and Graduate Directors review the course schedules multiple times prior to, during, and post registration. We approach this work with students’ academic experience as the primary focus.” Farris continued in a quote to the Echo, “Based on reviewing the distribution of course enrollments across the past few years, this pilot proposes that minimum enrollment for 100- and 200-level classes is 12 registered students. The minimum enrollment for 300- and 400-level classes is 8 registered students. The minimum enrollment for graduate classes is 5 students. These guidelines allow the university to then offer other classes across the curriculum where there is more demand from students.”

Miller, in an interview with the Echo, explained that when an Augsburg professor told her about this policy, she wasn’t necessarily surprised at the policy itself but more so with the fact that being a senior, she had never heard about it until recently. “Realistically speaking, Augsurg can’t hold classes that don’t have people in them so it’s always been an existing policy, but it’s not one that’s talked about a lot, even on the committees I’ve sat on.” Miller continued by saying, “And it’s not that they’re doing anything bad, but because they are not telling anybody, so it’s perceived as bad.”

According to the Class Enrollment Guidelines, the enrollment pilot is run every two years to make adjustments for unintended consequences, reviewed again in Fall 2025. These consequences are also briefly touched on in the guidelines, “Low enrolling courses are canceled after course selections have been made which increases student frustration and occasionally requires faculty members to offer courses as independent studies. Department chairs, faculty, professional advisors and students find it difficult to help students plan when low enrolling courses are in danger of not running.”
Miller explained in her interview that after hearing about the policy it also brought up questions about overenrolled courses as well. “Especially as we get more students I think the main problem at this point it’s less under seating, it’s more overseating, because most professors have really full sections and their contracts are not being renegotiated.” Miller continued this point by saying, “I think it’s less about the policy itself, because it’s a fairly realistic policy, it’s just the lack of communication and if there’s a policy for that then there should be a policy for overseating as well. With overseating, it’s up to the discretion of the professor always, but they don’t get paid for it, and it’s more so that [Augsburg Admin] is not being transparent enough.