BUS students get fewer permissions

Photo by Mariya Manolova

This semester business professors were more reluctant to give away permissions after the Business Department decided to limit the number of students enrolled in overcrowded courses.

In the past, "we have used discretion in which […] professors would increase [the number of students per section] to his/her desire. However, that has become a routine," Chair of the Business Department Julio Pontes said. Classes that were supposed to have 25 students, routinely had 30 students enrolled "and with that [we are] either violating college policies or violating department policies on class size."

"[Professor Andre] Mailer said that they decided to limit the capacity and not […] let more people enroll,” student Silviya Becheva said. “[After] I explained that I really needed the courses now […] he said [that I should] email Pontes."

Only students who are graduating and those with special circumstances were given permissions. Before getting permissions students "had to talk to me and sometimes they had to talk to the Dean [of Faculty Steven Sullivan] but ultimately [it was] my decision to let them [register] or not," Pontes added.

"There were a couple of […] students who did not get into a required course that they needed to get into in order to graduate. In these cases […] students did not register when their registration time came up for one reason or another. Most of these cases […] were injuries that were self-inflicted," Sullivan said.

"I know that last semester there were around five permissions per section […] but now I think that number is limited […] and most of the professors were not really comfortable with giving permissions without consulting […] the head of [the] department […] who was absent," student Antonija Mulickoska said.

Even though Pontes was not in the country for a part of the Add/Drop week, he said that he does not believe that his absence caused any problems. "I was constantly on the other side of the computer, replying to all emails and resolving matters. […] The only few things that happened that were very special circumstances," he added, were resolved "even prior to my arrival."

"I tried to get in OTB [Organizational Theory and Behavior] but there was only one section. There were 28 students registered on the waiting list. They did not open a new section. […] They need to open new sections, hire new professors […] [and] try to organize it in a better way, because I don't think it's working that well this semester," Mulickoska added.

"I don't think that I was supposed to [deal] with this kind of problems. I thought that this University should guarantee us enough sections, enough professors and […] [that] they should find a [different] way to figure this out," Mulickoska said

. The Business Department did try to find new faculty members to teach OTB "but we have to have in mind that we are in Bulgaria and […] it is hard […] to find business specialists that could do a course in OTB since OTB is heavily management theoretical course," Pontes said.

Even though Sullivan "asked the faculty to be cautious [when giving permissions]," the university permission policy did not change. "There has been no change in policy because principles are always the same," he said.

"Especially for those of you teaching General Education courses or elective courses for which students have available substitutes, please do yourselves and your colleagues the favor of resisting the temptation to add additional students to your classes or raise the caps. If you feel you have a special case (or cases), please consult me first," Sullivan wrote in an email sent to all faculty on January 15.