University of Virginia Library

Increased Enrollment

University Requests Funds

By PHILIP KIMBALL

Photo by Lovelace Cook

The Corner, too, reflects a changing University

Coeds now compose approximately 10% of the University community

An estimated 11,909 students will
enroll in the University this fall as growth
continues with the addition of
approximately 957 students. This
increase is in accordance with the
enrollment projections developed last
year which indicate a total enrollment of
18,088 by 1980.

The major increase of students is
centered in the first year class which has
grown to 2,162 from last year's size of
1,750.

To accommodate the influx of
students in the future a "Master Site
Plan," first designed in 1965, is being
updated. At its June meeting the Board of
Visitors agreed to retain the firm of Sataki,
Dawson, DeMay Associates Inc. of Boston,
Massachusetts, to review its earlier plan to
include the Birdwood tract, which was
purchased in 1967. The firm is also to develop a
site plan for Lambeth Field.

In making its capital outlay requests to
Governor Linwood Holton and his budget
advisors earlier this summer, the University
announced that it plans to build six residential
colleges on a portion of the 550 acre Birdwood
tract. The University also plans to build
apartments on the 16-acre Lambeth Field site,
which is designated as a housing area in the
original master plan.

The board's decision to engage the site
planning and landscape architecture firm to
develop specific plans for the two areas was
based on the recommendations of the
student-faculty Lambeth Field committee
appointed last year by President Shannon

The apartments to be built on Lambeth
Field will be designed to accommodate four to
six students. Particular attention in the site
planning will be given to integrating the
Lambeth Field area with University and city
areas.

In announcing the plans for the Birdwood
residential colleges, University officials stated
that they would seek from the state legislature
planning funds for the first two residential
colleges this year and the bond issue
authorization to finance dormitory and dining
facilities.

3,000 at Birdwood

According to the University's enrollment
projections, 3,000 of the 9,000 students
expected to be enrolled in the College by 1980
would be enrolled in the six proposed
residential colleges at Birdwood.

To deal with the many facets of growth, the
Future of the University Committee has been
reactivated this year at the request of the
faculty. Alarmed at the complexities of the
growth issue, the faculty of the College called a
special meeting last spring to deal solely with
growth.

David Shannon, newly appointed Provost
and chairman of the committee, stated this fall
that the committee would concentrate on
enrollment projections and plans for the
Birdwood tract. "We must decide how to
develop Birdwood to the best advantage for the
students who will be living there," he said.

Medical Building

Meanwhile other building throughout the
University is nearing completion. The new
medical education building, to be known as the
Harvey E. Jordan Building, in memory of a
former dean of the School of Medicine, will
house the departments of anatomy, physiology,
pharmacology, biochemistry and microbiology.
Costing $10 million, the building is a major
factor in the University's plans to increase the
medical school enrollment to 450 by 1973.
Only 350 students were enrolled in the school
last year.

Still under construction, the new nursing
building, when completed, will allow that
school's enrollment to increase from 300 to
500 students. A new building, housing
offices, classrooms and research facilities in
mechanical engineering, will also be ready for
use this fall. The Department of Mechanical
Engineering will share the new facility with the
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
division of graphics for undergraduate courses
common to both engineering majors.

Two trailers have also been constructed
behind Monroe Hall School of Graduate Business
Administration. The trailers were built after it
was realized that classroom space for the
school's increased enrollment was severely
limited, especially with the increased
enrollment in other schools of the University.

Although the buildings are
"temporary", they will not be taken down until
1975 when the whole school moves to its newly
proposed site on the Birdwood tract.

New Education Building

A new addition to the Education School,
being constructed beside Emmet Street is to be
completed by November 1972. Linked to the
main grounds by an overhead pedestrian bridge
over Emmet Street, the new building will allow
the School of Education to bring together
instructional units related to that School
presently scattered throughout many areas on
the Grounds.

"During the coming year we will be making
major efforts in both Richmond and
Washington to secure the support that is vital to
the University's future development," stated
University President Edgar Shannon in a recent
report to the University Committee. He
continued to say that "the University
community can offer strong incentive for this
support with a united commitment to the
continuing responsibility of educating the
qualified students who seek admission to this
institution."