Daniel Inman, Staff Writer 

A canceled fall semester class nearly disrupted a May 1998 graduation for Michael Ackerman. 

Ackerman was originally signed up for a special topic class titled “Early/Modern Europe” to be taught by Assistant Professor of History Dr. Janine Lanza. 

According to a source within the registrar’s office, the class was canceled in July. 

Ackerman was not notified until the beginning of the semester. “I would not have known of the cancellation, except that a friend who was also registered for the class checked his schedule and noticed that the class had been canceled,” he said. 

According to a letter Ackerman received from Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Harvey R. Durham, “The unexpectedly large freshman class compelled the university to redirect its scarce financial resources so as to accomplish the greatest good for the greatest number.” 
Durham also wrote he regretted that Ackerman was academically inconvenienced by the cancellation and that he was not notified in a timely fashion. 

It was stated in the letter that it is unfortunately inevitable that such occurrences will occasionally take place at an institution of Appalachian’s size and complexity. 

According to Chairman of the Department of History Dr. Michael Wade, this was one of three special topic classes affecting 17 students. 

Wade said that this was a situation that resulted from an unprecedented number of freshmen being admitted without any additional resources (more professors) to cover them. 

He also stated that the three special topic classes were replaced by World Civilization classes that were added to meet the demand of the number of freshmen. 

“This was the first time that one of my classes has been canceled in my three years here at Appalachian State,” Lanza said. 

In place of the canceled class, she is teaching a World Civilization class which is normally a freshman level course. 

Upon being frustrated with his lack of notification, Ackerman inquired who was responsible to tell students that their classes have been canceled. 
He also asked if the university or the individual department informs students of alternatives. 

Additionally, Ackerman remains concerned with the small number of upper level classes offered. 

History major and senior Brian Kingbird said, “I feel that there are never enough courses offered, and offering them only at one time does not work because we all have other classes to take and other things to do.” 

According to a source within the registrar’s office, the standard operating procedure concerning canceled classes is to inform the affected department of the cancellation. It is then left up to the individual department to inform the students. 

The registrar’s office also tries to fit students with appropriate additional classes if possible. 

The source within the registrar’s office said that there are several reasons for canceling a class. 

Professor resignations and meeting the demand that the tremendous increase in freshmen enrollment has put on freshman level courses are some issues that affect which classes are canceled. 

Wade said that currently there is no departmental policy concerning the cancellation of special topic classes. 

“This is the first time that the department was short for freshman enrollment,” Wade said. 

Ackerman says that the university is too reactive when they need to be proactive. 
 
Wade warned that a student should not rely on special topic classes to fulfill requirements in order to avoid the situation that Ackerman experienced. 
 
Ackerman needed the class to fulfill a European history requirement for his graduation and is fulfilling the requirement by doing an independent study under Lanza, he said.