The political science department minor will be suspended for three years beginning next quarter to help the department cope with an enrollment crunch.
The last day to declare the minor is Dec. 9. The suspension will not affect students currently in the minor.
In the past several years, it has become increasingly difficult for political science students to enroll in required classes, said Jeffrey Lewis, associate professor and chair of the department.
The decision will allow a greater number of students access to classes they need to complete the major, he said. It is one of several decisions, such as loosening subdiscipline requirements last year, which the department has made to allow these majors to enroll in the classes they need to fulfill their requirements.
The suspension will also allow non-majors a reasonable chance at taking classes in the department, he added.
The minor had been a popular choice for many students. More than 200 students were enrolled in the minor program as of fall 2010. Applications to the minor have spiked in recent weeks as students have been notified of the suspension, said James Bondurant, an undergraduate counselor for the department.
These students are required to take two lower division classes and five upper division classes in the department, which adds to the number of students trying to enroll in political science classes. Between 1,600 and 1,700 students are majoring in political science this year.
“Without the demand from students in the minor, a larger number of students will have access to a smaller number of political science courses,” said Kathleen Bawn, professor and vice chair for undergraduate studies in the department.
The department has sent out emails to students informing them of the suspension and asking them to tell friends interested in the department about the upcoming deadline, Bondurant said.
Growing enrollment in political science classes has coincided with a decreasing faculty population in the department, consequently resulting in larger class sizes, Lewis said.
Lewis said the decision to suspend the minor was about giving the largest range of students the possibility to enroll in political science classes. He added that it was a choice between offering majors and non-majors the opportunity to take classes in the department that they were interested in or offering classes to enrolled minors who were required to take those classes.
The minor was originally intended for students in scientific fields who were looking at careers in research that would deal with politics, Lewis said.
But in reality, the majority of minors in the department are students in other social science fields, and about half of all political science minors are students majoring in history, Bawn said.
“(Part of the logic) is that for those students, the additional certification for completing the minor would be less important,” Lewis said.
Many minors are also transfer students who came to the university as applicants for another major and are interested in political science, Bondurant said. These students are not allowed to change majors, so some of them choose to minor instead.
Although the minor is being suspended, Lewis said the department still encourages students interested in political science to major in the field.
“The department did not make this decision happily ““ we recognize that the minor was popular, and indeed our classes are attractive to a wide range of students from outside the major,” Bawn said.