"Size matters: Simpson calls for hike in UB enrollment, faculty"

To compete with peer institutions and become a top-flight university, UB needs to increase both its enrollment and faculty by significant numbers in the coming decade, according to President John Simpson.

Simpson's call to hike the student population by at least 5,000 and faculty by 250 has received both positive feedback and skepticism over whether such expansion can be done properly.

Simpson addressed the subject this summer in an issue of the Reporter, where he compared UB to the universities of Washington and Ohio State, which enroll about twice as many students but have a similar range of academic programs. Between undergraduates and graduates, UB enrolls about 25,000 full-time students. Ohio State enrolled 58,365 students last year.

"We are a very small public research university," Simpson said in an interview with The Spectrum.

Simpson said he doesn't see UB reaching, or even aiming, for Ohio State-like numbers, but increasing the full-time student body by 20 percent is within reason and would benefit both faculty and students in the long run.

"In public university the ratio of faculty to students is very tightly regulated, unlike private universities that have a different resource base," Simpson said. "So if we want to grow the faculty and the overall breadth and depth of our programs, you need a slightly larger university."

Many on campus, from students to professors and administrators, said they agree expansion would benefit the UB community, but the proposal has its share of obstacles.

"There are several problems that I see, in that we can't expand the faculty without expanding the physical plant," said Gerald Koudelka, chair of the chemistry department.

Koudelka cited a need for more research space, classrooms and instruction labs, among other things, necessary to support more professors and students.

"I don't see how this is really going to work," he said.

Despite the logistics, Koudelka acknowledged a need and desire to grow.

"The university suffers in larger measure because it is such a small place," he said. "This is felt acutely in the sciences."

According to Koudelka, UB's sciences annually get high marks for quality in national rankings, but smaller size keeps the programs from rising to the upper echelons.

"More people means more money into the university for research grants, hopefully, and more education opportunities for the students," he said.

Like the sciences, UB's arts and humanities would benefit from expansion. Mark Shechner, chair of the English department, said it's been decades since his department had world class-sized faculty.

But unless UB is ready to house students on the Alumni Arena basketball court or set up tents in parking lots, Shechner said he doesn't see such an increase happening.

"If it can be done without putting incredible stress on the faculty and facilities, sure, but I haven't heard any planning to do that," he said.

Simpson said there is no deadline to reach a certain enrollment, and UB will not expand unless it can support its students. The next step is to bring his enrollment proposal into the UB2020 planning process and to coordinate with SUNY for the proper financial support.

Simpson said UB officials have talked to SUNY about increasing enrollment and the state is now "digesting" the idea.

Barbara Ricotta, dean of students, said that like so many administrative proposals, this one will come down to time, effort, money, and planning.

I think it's very feasible," she said. "It will mean an increase in housing though, and it will mean an expansion of services to accommodate those students."

Plus, these days, building more housing doesn't just mean erecting generic dorms, Ricotta said. Meeting student needs means building apartments, suites, new recreational facilities, health services, and parking lots.

Whether North Campus has enough room for all that, "it would be tight, but it would be doable," Koudelka said. "Last thing we need to do is bring it 5,000 new students and create logjams."

John Meehan, a junior communication major, said housing would be his first concern.

"The more kids the better, but kids are already cramped together and there's still overcap," he said. "They better build enough dorms for the extra kids."

Dan O'Hare, a junior mathematics major, said he'd be concerned over lowering standards to add more students.

In Ricotta's opinion, there's plenty of space. Her optimism, she said, comes from watching the way UB has grown since she got here in 1984, when there wasn't even a Student Union.

"We've grown so much that I'm not sure I could have envisioned where we are today back then," she said. "It's not as daunting a task ahead of us as it would have been 15 years ago. I'm more encouraged because I see the potential."

While being small "does in fact compromise our ability to mount a high-quality competitive program," Shechner said, "thinking big can lead to overcrowding."

"I do give this administration high marks for being ambitious, and all of this signals ambition," he added. "They're not just treading water. It's better to be ambitious than to lower your sights."