Middlebury Suffering with larger class sizes and enrollment

[Anonymous]

Here’s my unpopular opinion: does it really matter than an Econ seminar course or topology class have 10 kids in it? If the college limits enrollment in these courses, the students will complain next that they can’t finish their majors or there’s limited course availability. Students deserve to take the courses they want to, and if that means a few students may have to move a few chairs from one to the other, that’s a much better alternative to shutting students off and keeping 8 students in the class because of some desire for intimacy about a subject as mundane as econometrics.

[Anonymous]

"Professor of Political Science Jessica Teet’s Authoritarian Politics class. The class had 18 students when it was taught in fall 2021, and last fall taught 54 students, nine greater than its target capacity of 45. It is common for professors to allow more students into classes than allotted by the original enrollment cap."

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025/10/large-class-sizes-impact-faculty-student-experience

Moving from 18 to 54 students for that class is a HUGE jump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Professor of Political Science Jessica Teet’s Authoritarian Politics class. The class had 18 students when it was taught in fall 2021, and last fall taught 54 students, nine greater than its target capacity of 45. It is common for professors to allow more students into classes than allotted by the original enrollment cap."

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025/10/large-class-sizes-impact-faculty-student-experience

Moving from 18 to 54 students for that class is a HUGE jump.

Fad course that will be unpopular in a couple years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unsurprising with the recent issues pertaining to a deficit, but this is still sad to see by an elite liberal arts college with the competitive advantage of an intimate educational setting. Potentially this could affect higher-tier LACs like Amherst, Pomona, or Swarthmore?
Source:https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025/11/save-small-class-sizes

Does Pomona or Swat have a deficit? Pomona's endowment is double the size of Mid despite having roughly half as many students.

Here's an interesting article about administrative bloat at Pomona that also touches on cuts to academic programs:

https://tsl.news/opinion-the-real-cost-of-administrative-bloat/

More on cuts to academic departments:
https://tsl.news/budget-backlash-how-pomona-college-budget-shortages-have-affected-major-departments-and-student-organizations/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s my unpopular opinion: does it really matter than an Econ seminar course or topology class have 10 kids in it? If the college limits enrollment in these courses, the students will complain next that they can’t finish their majors or there’s limited course availability. Students deserve to take the courses they want to, and if that means a few students may have to move a few chairs from one to the other, that’s a much better alternative to shutting students off and keeping 8 students in the class because of some desire for intimacy about a subject as mundane as econometrics.

Agree with you.

Based on my high school and flagship experience a class size of 30-ish is acceptable with motivated, interested learners.

What I got out of this article, bottom line, is that Middlebury needs to invest in new stackable chairs.

When I got my first dorm at a flagship, I flipped my wooden chair over and it had a name plaque on it that proved the chair was at least 40, if not 60, years old. My first government office in the 90s had old blond wood furniture that a government colleague of mine amusingly referred to as the "LBJ Great Society furniture".

Midd needs chairs. Cheaper than remedying bad p.r.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s my unpopular opinion: does it really matter than an Econ seminar course or topology class have 10 kids in it? If the college limits enrollment in these courses, the students will complain next that they can’t finish their majors or there’s limited course availability. Students deserve to take the courses they want to, and if that means a few students may have to move a few chairs from one to the other, that’s a much better alternative to shutting students off and keeping 8 students in the class because of some desire for intimacy about a subject as mundane as econometrics.

Agree with you.

Based on my high school and flagship experience a class size of 30-ish is acceptable with motivated, interested learners.

What I got out of this article, bottom line, is that Middlebury needs to invest in new stackable chairs.

When I got my first dorm at a flagship, I flipped my wooden chair over and it had a name plaque on it that proved the chair was at least 40, if not 60, years old. My first government office in the 90s had old blond wood furniture that a government colleague of mine amusingly referred to as the "LBJ Great Society furniture".

Midd needs chairs. Cheaper than remedying bad p.r.

you can't compare the value proposition of a large, public school with a small liberal arts college. people pay vastly different prices for public college versus small, private LAC. you are essentially paying in part for the guarantee of mostly small seminar-style classes at middlebury. just like you are paying for larger seats and more leg room in business class versus economy when you fly. public school has the expectation of economy seating. you get to the same destination as business class, but with economy class you pay less and it's slightly more uncomfortable journey. same with LAC versus big state school.

[Anonymous]

I had to counter program every tour's narrative on small class size. Small class are great. But so are large classes. Do you want a rock star professor to teach you about the fall of Saigon or do you want to hear the lax bros thoughts who is sitting next to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unsurprising with the recent issues pertaining to a deficit, but this is still sad to see by an elite liberal arts college with the competitive advantage of an intimate educational setting. Potentially this could affect higher-tier LACs like Amherst, Pomona, or Swarthmore?
Source:https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025/11/save-small-class-sizes

Does Pomona or Swat have a deficit? Pomona's endowment is double the size of Mid despite having roughly half as many students.

Here's an interesting article about administrative bloat at Pomona that also touches on cuts to academic programs:

https://tsl.news/opinion-the-real-cost-of-administrative-bloat/

More on cuts to academic departments:
https://tsl.news/budget-backlash-how-pomona-college-budget-shortages-have-affected-major-departments-and-student-organizations/

Not really the same thing at all. The budget cuts basically amount to students not being paid to throw events for their department...that's an unnecessary expense.
One of the complaints is American history lack of offerings, but the school currently has 2 visiting faculty and a tenure track faculty member teaching American history. And while the student tries to dramatize, I don't find walking 10 minutes up to scripps (or 5 to CMC) to take a history course particularly oppressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had to counter program every tour's narrative on small class size. Small class are great. But so are large classes. Do you want a rock star professor to teach you about the fall of Saigon or do you want to hear the lax bros thoughts who is sitting next to you?

Professors talk to you in small classes though...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had to counter program every tour's narrative on small class size. Small class are great. But so are large classes. Do you want a rock star professor to teach you about the fall of Saigon or do you want to hear the lax bros thoughts who is sitting next to you?

Professors talk to you in small classes though...

Exactly. And lax bro recruited athletes don't take the really challenging or stimulating courses anyway. If they do, they stay silent with their mouth open.

[Anonymous]

Middlebury is currently shrinking the humanities: "With several English Department faculty on leave, on associate status or recently retired, the department is facing staffing concerns, and no replacement positions have been approved by the Educational Affairs Committee (EAC). According to Professor of American Literature Brett Millier, who retired last spring, the department’s proposal for her replacement was denied.

These vacancies are occurring at a time when the value of an English degree is being questioned more broadly, a concern that Millier and Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing Jay Parini share as they retire alongside Professor of English Cates Baldridge. In the past two decades, many U.S. liberal arts colleges and universities have shifted focus towards STEM subjects."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middlebury is currently shrinking the humanities: "With several English Department faculty on leave, on associate status or recently retired, the department is facing staffing concerns, and no replacement positions have been approved by the Educational Affairs Committee (EAC). According to Professor of American Literature Brett Millier, who retired last spring, the department’s proposal for her replacement was denied.

These vacancies are occurring at a time when the value of an English degree is being questioned more broadly, a concern that Millier and Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing Jay Parini share as they retire alongside Professor of English Cates Baldridge. In the past two decades, many U.S. liberal arts colleges and universities have shifted focus towards STEM subjects."

I wonder if that will flow through to the admissions process, where the humanities kids will have a harder time getting admitted vs STEM kids. On our tour of NESCACs over the past 12 months, we were surprised at the emphasis on STEM and the investments being made. When I attended a SLAC in the early 1990s, the sciences were a side show. English was more or less the default major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s my unpopular opinion: does it really matter than an Econ seminar course or topology class have 10 kids in it? If the college limits enrollment in these courses, the students will complain next that they can’t finish their majors or there’s limited course availability. Students deserve to take the courses they want to, and if that means a few students may have to move a few chairs from one to the other, that’s a much better alternative to shutting students off and keeping 8 students in the class because of some desire for intimacy about a subject as mundane as econometrics.

Agree with you.

Based on my high school and flagship experience a class size of 30-ish is acceptable with motivated, interested learners.

What I got out of this article, bottom line, is that Middlebury needs to invest in new stackable chairs.

When I got my first dorm at a flagship, I flipped my wooden chair over and it had a name plaque on it that proved the chair was at least 40, if not 60, years old. My first government office in the 90s had old blond wood furniture that a government colleague of mine amusingly referred to as the "LBJ Great Society furniture".

Midd needs chairs. Cheaper than remedying bad p.r.

you can't compare the value proposition of a large, public school with a small liberal arts college. people pay vastly different prices for public college versus small, private LAC. you are essentially paying in part for the guarantee of mostly small seminar-style classes at middlebury. just like you are paying for larger seats and more leg room in business class versus economy when you fly. public school has the expectation of economy seating. you get to the same destination as business class, but with economy class you pay less and it's slightly more uncomfortable journey. same with LAC versus big state school.

Please do not equate the privilege of being able to bow out of class discussion when you feel off or skip lecture without it being analyzed as "more uncomfortable" by LAC grads. I sat up front in plenty of big classes, said hi to the prof, read all the readings, raised my hand and asked questions when I felt like it. I've always preferred to hear more from the profs/experts vs. bloviating peers. In my pricy MBA classes the section sizes were about 70, and we did a fair bit of case method discussions. This is not an economy class marker. It's an instructional delivery difference.

Maybe the sad thing is, just like business class these days, LACs are lower quality than they used to be at higher real prices.

Still think they need chairs. Kids shouldn't have to move furniture for class to start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had to counter program every tour's narrative on small class size. Small class are great. But so are large classes. Do you want a rock star professor to teach you about the fall of Saigon or do you want to hear the lax bros thoughts who is sitting next to you?

+1

Good point. This is another reason to consider state flagship honors colleges where all students are admitted based on academic factors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had to counter program every tour's narrative on small class size. Small class are great. But so are large classes. Do you want a rock star professor to teach you about the fall of Saigon or do you want to hear the lax bros thoughts who is sitting next to you?

Professors talk to you in small classes though...

Exactly. And lax bro recruited athletes don't take the really challenging or stimulating courses anyway. If they do, they stay silent with their mouth open.

LOL !