Eight sections of marketing classes have been added for General Arts and Science students who could not get the courses during pre-registration.

Students following a marketing program in the GNAS liberal studies option have had difficulties scheduling upper-level classes, said Michelle Spangler (junior-general arts and sciences).

Last semester, some 400-level classes these students needed were closed to students outside the College of Business Administration, said Mike Miller, College of Liberal Arts adviser. Controls were placed on 400-level business courses after pre-registration, Miller said.

Because enrollment in the College of Business Administration has been increasing, students outnumber both faculty and resources, said Peter Bennett, a marketing professor. Because of this overcrowding, entrance to majors is limited and based on grade-point averages, he said.

Students within the marketing major are given preference for the upper-level classes when scheduling, Bennett said. GNAS students do not receive priority because they can schedule alternate classes which slightly alter their program, he said.

Students who were not able to get into marketing classes were steered in other directions, Miller said. These students were advised to take classes in which marketing could be indirectly applied, he said. These courses include political science, speech communication, sociology or social psychology.

This semester, two sections each of marketing 221, 322, 428, and 426 have been opened to accommodate GNAS students, he said, noting these sections were not added until finals week last semester and may not be permanent additions in the future.

GNAS advisers are looking for long-term solutions to the problem, Miller said. More communication in advance between the College of Liberal Arts and other departments as to what classes will be closing would help advisers coordinate future programs and enable students to schedule different classes, he said.

Advisers are encouraging students to enroll in a specific major before choosing GNAS, giving them more security in getting required classes, Miller said. Students who select a GNAS option should work within the College of Liberal Arts because GNAS advisers have no control over admittance to classes in other departments, he added.

Students choose to major in GNAS rather than a University-developed major because they can select their own courses instead of following a strict plan, Miller said. Through one of five options -- arts, humanities, social sciences, science/math, and liberal studies -- students can develop their own academic program as long as it does not parallel an existing major, he said. They can take a minor program and, by adding other courses, change it to a major, he added.

Still, GNAS students' freedom to create their own course of study is hindered by closed classes in some departments.

Lynn Gallagher (junior-general arts and sciences) could schedule only one marketing class she wanted on Monday and Wednesday nights. She was told to take the class now because she may not get another opportunity, she said.

Gallagher said the scheduling problems were too late to influence her decision for a GNAS major but if they had occurred earlier, she probably would have changed majors.

The GNAS major provides "freedom to develop my own major. It's a great idea," Spangler said.

A grandfather clause that gives the classes needed to GNAS students already in a marketing program could be an option, she added. The GNAS marketing programs then should be discontinued, Spangler said.

Other departments have solved similar problems related to GNAS programs. After closing classes to students outside the School of Communications last fall, the School's administrators agreed to admit GNAS students who had been following communications-oriented curricula the longest and needed the classes to graduate, Miller said. GNAS students with less need for the courses were steered into other directions such as speech communications, liberal arts and English, he said.

Although the College of Business Administration and the School of Communications have closed some of their classes to outside students, most programs in the GNAS major have not had that problem. Students in a pre-med program do not have to worry about closed classes, said Robert Mitchell, pre-med adviser. He said any student in general who wants to go to medical school has to fulfill certain requirements. Because the classes required are basic courses, they are not closed.

Likewise, Ginny Struble, a secretary in the political science department, said that all political science classes are open. There has not been a problem with GNAS students getting the classes they want but some 400-level classes have been overcrowded because not as many students dropped them this semester, she said.