The Student Advisory Board and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences are sponsoring an online survey to discover the problems Weinberg students face when trying to enroll in classes offered by other Northwestern schools.
“We are investigating the level of ease for students in Weinberg to enroll in classes in other schools,” said Mike Fong, co-president of SAB, a group of Weinberg students who advise college deans on academic and curricular polices. “We don’t know if it is a problem.”
The board posted the five-question survey online Saturday, and will end it in the next few days, said Fong, a Weinberg senior and former Associated Student Government president. Fong did not how many people would participate and what the responses would look like.
Prajwal Ciryam, ASG’s academic vice president, said he believes the poll is a good first step to help the board decide if improvements should be made to open more classes in other schools to students.
“A poll is meant to get information but not make a change in and of itself,” said Ciryam, a Weinberg sophomore. “For fostering a better relationship between schools — it depends on how we react to (the poll).”
Ciryam said he hopes administrators respond to the results of the survey because students deserve a broad education in many subject areas.
“We need to get all the deans to sit at a table and talk,” Ciryam said. “It’s very important to have a cohesive academic environment.”
Economics Prof. Ron Braeutigam, Weinberg’s incoming associate dean for undergraduate studies, said he will address the challenges students face when they try to take classes in other schools, such as the Medill School of Journalism. When his term begins next fall, Braeutigam said he hopes to open a select number of Kellogg Graduate School of Management classes to Weinberg students.
“We would like to give our students access to as many classes as possible,” he said.
More professors from other professional schools at NU could also teach an occasional class in Weinberg, Braeutigam added.
Braeutigam said he believes Weinberg is in a “bargaining position” where professors in the school could benefit another college by teaching a class or offering their insight on a subject.
Besides certain schools being closed to outside students, Braeutigam also said little is done to publicize the option of taking classes outside Weinberg.
“We need to advertise what classes are available and what it takes to get in,” he said. “There is a tremendous informational requirement for students to be aware.”
