20,000 JMU Students by 2012
By SAMMY EICHENKO
HARRISONBURG, Va. -- On a typical day, JMU student Brooke Darlington budgets 30 minutes for what should be a five-minute commute to campus, and her morning ordeal isn't likely to ease in the near future. Instead, the crowding in parking lots, classes and dining halls, which frustrate many JMU students, may get worse.
President Linwood Rose announced recently that JMU will grow to at least 20,000 students by year 2012, as long as the state provides adequate funds. And new budgeting has already begun to support the hiring of new faculty, said Andy Perrine, Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communication.
To maintain a student to teacher ratio of 17 to 1, JMU will have to hire between 100 to 200 new faculty members each year to support the growth. Meanwhile, Perrine said, the physical geography is more “flexible and nimble” and, as a result, perfect for expansion. He said that JMU is surrounded by untouched land that it owns and can use to expand.
Increased interest in JMU stems in part from the so-called echo boom, the children of baby boomers, who have swelled the ranks of college-age people. Applications are up at many universities, and JMU has received at least its share. Perrine said that the number of applications to JMU has been increasing for the past ten years. The “word of mouth” from students has been the greatest force in attracting new students, Perrine said, adding that JMU has been among top-ranked universities worldwide for 14 years.
It's in the “University’s best interest” to grow in sync with the increase in the population of students, said Michael D. Walsh, Director of Admissions. He said that to make room for the echo boom generation, JMU needs to expand and that President Rose has promised state funds will follow.
He (President Rose) has been quoted as saying “over my dead body” will we expand without the funds to support the growth, said Perrine.
Still, students are skeptical. Darlington recalls finding off-campus living to be a daunting task. At some apartment complexes, students camp out over night to make sure they get leases. Other complexes fill up early in the first semester and can't allow more applicants past November.
Even though there are 14 advertised places to eat on campus, students still wait in long, restless lines for their meals. “ I just go to the shortest line possible and get whatever is offered there to avoid waiting in long lines,” Darlington said.
And students are constantly late for classes because they are delayed while trying to cross campus by bus, walking, riding a bike, or driving. The many traffic lights slow traffic, and parking often is a disaster, students complain. “I waste most of my time driving up and down the aisles,” Darlington said. She believes that problems will only get worse, if more students are trying to get on and off campus.
Under JMU’s expansion plan, growth is expected across the board. The number of graduate students is expected to increase along with growth in the undergraduate population. A new engineering major may bring more male students to the university, promoting gender diversity among a student body with a ratio of 60 females to every 40 males, said Walsh. The “capitol plan,” designed to predict what types of infrastructure buildings must be built, includes planned construction of a 600-bed dormitory to be built on the east side of campus, said Perrine.
The use of Memorial Hall has provided more teaching spaces and is promoting expansion within campus, said Perrine. With the purchase of Rockingham Memorial Hospital, JMU will gain not only the use of the hospital as a teaching facility but also gain the parking that goes with it, he said. The new library and dining hall will provide extra space and facilities, while new apartment complexes are expected to be constructed to house more students.
Walsh said new bike trails will be built to allow safer, easier travel for bikers, and the bus schedule is being made more efficient so that students can arrive at their classes on time.
The university will expand as much as possible to accommodate the students, keeping in mind that we “don’t want it to become an urban campus,” said Perrine.