Although faculty and administrators said the University does not have an immediate physical classroom shortage, officials are beginning to plan for the possibility of a future space crunch.
Once construction for the new School of Business and Public Management begins, most of Funger Hall will be closed during part of the project. The University plans to break ground on the building once it receives approval from the Board of Trustees later this month, and the structure is scheduled to be completed by fall 2006. Renovations to the Hall of Government and Monroe Hall are also planned in the coming years.
“Classes (held in those halls) will be held in existing classrooms (when the SBPM project begins),” said Craig Linebaugh, vice president for Academic Planning and Special Projects. “What has not yet been determined is whether or not additional classrooms will be needed in order to schedule all of the classes that will be offered during the renovations.”
Although the three halls will not be closed simultaneously, GW will lose 26 general purpose classrooms at the peak of construction, according to a classroom inventory released in April by the Faculty Senate’s Fiscal Planning and Budget Committee. The University currently has 123 general purpose rooms.
If more classrooms are necessary during the project, the University is considering adding more 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. classes or using “offset scheduling,” by which students could take a class held at different times twice per week, Linebaugh said. This semester, the University has already scheduled more 8 a.m. classes to accommodate a shortage.
Construction will not inhibit classes in the halls this semester.
“There are a finite number of classrooms, and the majority of classes are 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Thursday,” he said. “If the number of classrooms is finite, you have to expand the available time bands.”
Linebaugh said the University could add 200 more classes if it switched to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule, with classes set at 50 minutes rather than 75.
Although GW has enough physical classroom space now, some professors said classroom availability is still tight. Philosophy professor William Griffith, chair of the Faculty Senate’s Fiscal Planning and Budget Committee, said he had to cut two electives from his department this fall because of a space shortage.
But GW has been able to alleviate some of the pressure by holding classes at the 2020 K St. building. He said 18 classes are now meeting there.
Most classes are currently held between 6:10 and 8 p.m. Linebaugh said the University scheduled a greater number of classes at 8 a.m. and during other “less utilized” time slots this year.
He also noted that the opening of the new Elliott School for International Affairs has “helped with scheduling classes and meeting faculty desires to use instructional technology.” But the opening of the building has not added any classrooms because formerly undergraduate rooms in Lisner and Stuart halls were given to the law school this fall.
Griffith said the University has little choice but to move more classes into less favorable time slots, but he said he opposes increasing the number of 8 a.m. classes. Linebaugh said holding more classes at early hours may be unfavorable but is preferred over other alternatives, such as more Friday and Saturday classes. He said hypothetically there could be a scheme where classes were offered Monday and Thursday, Wednesday and Saturday or Tuesday and Friday. He said such a plan is “not inconceivable,” but that the administration does not see a need for it right now.
Another alternative to use classroom space would be to implement the mandatory summer session for rising juniors, which is currently under consideration by GW.
Chair of the Faculty Senate Committee Lilien Robinson said increasing enrollment, moving departments and the displacement of classes once held in the new law school may have contributed to the pressure for classroom space. But she said she does not know if this is an immediate problem.
–Elizabeth Chernow contributed to this report.
