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| Title | Houstonian 1998 |
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| Place of Creation (TGN) |
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| Date | 1998 |
| Description | This edition of the Houstonian, published in 1998, is the official yearbook of the University of Houston. |
| Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
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| Language | English |
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| Original Item Location | LD2281.H745 H6 v. 64 1998 |
| Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b1158762~S11 |
| Digital Collection | Houstonian Yearbook Collection |
| Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/yearb |
| Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
| Repository URL | http://info.lib.uh.edu/about/campus-libraries-collections/special-collections |
| Use and Reproduction | This image is in the public domain and may be used freely. If publishing in print, electronically, or on a website, please cite the item using the citation button. |
| File Name | index.cpd |
| Title | Fall |
| Format (IMT) |
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| File Name | yearb1998045.jpg |
| Transcript | C • L • A MARLA RAMOS The University of Houston garnered national attention when The Wall Street Journal's Texas Journal reported Nov. 19 that "dummy" classes were being offered at the university. The original allegations were mentioned in a May 1997 report by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which awards accreditation status to UH and other universities. A dummy class is defined as a class that has no formal expectation of attendance, no specific work required and no stated basis for determining a grade. Students allegedly were required to register and pay for classes that never met but would still receive a grade at the end of the semester. The hours did not count toward degree requirements, but simply satisfied course-load requirements. The university initiated a phone survey of graduate students in December 1997. Of 419 students surveyed, 30.6 percent said they believed they had enrolled in dummy classes at some time during their graduate studies. UH System Chancellor/UH President Arthur K. Smith stated in a news release that the dummy classes were a result of improper record keeping, saying that students had worked on their dissertation for the nine credit hours that were paid for, and the hours were just improperly registered. "And while it is clear that the registrations of some graduate students have not always been properly recorded, it is also premature to conclude that the tuition payments made by these students have overestimated the totality of their academic effort or the workload of their faculty mentors," Smith said. The university receives reimbursements from the state according to the number of credit hours it declares. Teri Flack, spokeswoman for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, told the Houston Chronicle that the state will reimburse the university $ 13 million in fiscal year 1998 based on the number of doctoral hours reported the last three semesters ending Spring 1997. Flack said that they were also looking into the way UH reports those hours. "I couldn't grade 56 papers and read for four classes," Audrey Colombe Doctoral students were required to enroll in nine credit hours to keep their teaching assistant jobs teaching two classes a semester; master s students were required to carry 12 credit hours to keep their TA jobs. The students were allegedly forced to sign up for dummy classes in order to meet this course-load requirement. "I had to take cou^s "skidded 8 -ndidate Audrey Colombe. "I couldn't grade 56 papers and read for four to nine c^K ^T-^t * P°HCy " ^ "^ C°UrSe load for the «"**• level was dropped ^^t^nT K 12^Tl0adSimply WaSt°0he^inm^ca-for teaching assistants'said fZtZlHuZZ ™ r f°r aCademiC affalrS- ^ °raduate En*lish ***«? -q-sted a reduction doctoral coursework requtrement to srx credit hours from nine, but it had not been approved as of April. * October |