Free market timetabling

Using principle of supply and demand, Queen’s could ensure more students get the courses they want

Alexandra Schwenger
Alexandra Schwenger

“Please sir, can I have some more?” is no longer just a famous line from a Dickens novel but a reality for many Queen’s student. Three weeks ago, third- and fourth-year politics students were given a reverse lesson in economics when they learned that, unlike in the real world (or Econ 110), in academia, supply doesn’t always equal demand.

Despite the overwhelming popularity of a number of third- and fourth-year politics courses, students were informed they were only allowed to take enough politics credits to graduate as a politics major, medial or minor. If they were caught taking more courses that they needed, they would be kicked out of some. Why was department head Kim Nossal not overjoyed that he had instilled such a love of politics into his students that they were opting to take their electives in their chosen disciplines?

The answer is one we’re used to hearing: budget cuts. They’re all over campus and they’re not going anywhere. While it’s easy to blame the ever-expanding white elephant that is the Queen’s Centre, we also need to take a closer look at departmental budget breakdowns. Currently, about 70 per cent of a department’s budget goes to professors’ salaries.

While I have a great respect for academia and believe that professors make invaluable contributions to the life of a university and should be fairly compensated, the reality of it is that I was called “piggish” for taking an extra politics course by a man who is in an income bracket which, at its upper end, extends to more than $140,000 a year. Knowledge may be free, but education is going to cost you.

I believe firmly that you need to offer the financial incentives to retain the best and brightest staff. But, like an overweight mother chastising her scrawny son for taking a second cookie, the message the administration seems to be sending us is do what I say, not what I do.

With 70 per cent of a department’s budget going to staff salaries, one might assume that this would be enough to ensure that students get to take the courses they need. After all, what does a course really need to run besides a dedicated professor?

Larger courses typically need TAs, who need to be properly compensated, and a room large enough to fit everyone in the course without breaking fire code regulations.

Besides giving more money to the departments, which at this time is not feasible, I propose we solve the problem using the laws of supply and demand. Give more money to the departments with more students and less to those, which are smaller and have less demand for their courses.

Take for instance, the electrical engineering department. Electrical engineering used to be the one of the most popular engineering options but is now one of the smallest engineering disciplines. But the Faculty of Applied Science payroll does not represent this decrease in student enrollment because the department is still paying the salaries of far more (tenured) electrical professors than are needed while other faculties are making due with fewer instructors than they need to meet demand. However, due to tenure, there is very little the administration can do about this, besides having tenured professors teach classes in subjects or disciplines other than their specialization.

One thing the administration can do however is do more with the money they have by better prioritizing and allocating resources. Let supply equal demand, at least in the short term, and give money to the disciplines whose supply is not meeting demand, not vice versa. Let students take as many politics or German or philosophy courses they desire, and cancel classes that not enough students enroll in, thus making room for more of the more popular classes.

With each individual department acting as a free market, things will even out and the University administration will have a far clearer idea of what’s its departmental priorities should be.

As my mother always tells me, you can’t do everything, so you should focus on your strengths and leave the rest to everyone else. While bigger schools such as UBC or U of T have the resources to offer hundreds of majors, Queen’s is a mid-range university and should act as such. Developing the most popular departments at Queen’s will strengthen them and make them more desirable to incoming students. Universities are free markets too, and enrollment will reflect the strength and popularity of Queen’s courses.

While in the short term, not being able to take another politics course this semester is not a big deal, the inability to run the courses students want, or have enough spaces in them to meet demand, is part of a far bigger problem. Drastic times call for drastic measures and tried and true solutions like capitalism.

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

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