By now, you must be sick to death of the term “double cohort.” And with good reason. There doesn’t seem to be any upside to being a member. You’ve stressed out over grades, worried about student housing and had nightmares about classes requiring stadium seating.
But allow us to suggest another, very different side to being a double cohort member-one that no one’s mentioned to you so far, because maybe they don’t want you to know: you have influence. You have influence precisely because of your double cohort status.
Demographic bulges are like tidal waves, shaking things up wherever they go. Although crunches like the double cohort can make things more difficult in some ways, they seem to provide unique opportunities for change.
The last time universities saw a sharp increase in enrollment was when the baby boomers came through in the 1960’s. In fact there are a lot of parallels between then and now. Big classes and alienation caused a lot of unrest at the time. But that led to all sorts of positive developments that might not have happened otherwise. Course unions were born during this time, at U of T and other schools to serve as organizing centers for students to effect change. The result is that higher education today looks significantly different than it might have otherwise.
The course unions pushed for better, more personal education in many different ways. The course evaluations that you’ll fill out in December were born in the 1960’s. Initially they were sporadic, but today student evaluations are done for every course and compiled in the Arts and Science Student Union’s Anti-Calendar. The university even takes them into account when it considers hiring and promotion of professors.
These evaluations may seem unremarkable today, but at the time they were almost unthinkable.
You have a similar opportunity during your years here to have some influence on how the university serves you. Before you even got here, the university started reviewing its policies in preparation for your arrival, producing fat volumes like the “Report of the Task Force on Orientation & Transition.”
But don’t let them decide what’s best for you. Make sure your voices are heard, too.
There are plenty of good things about this university. It has probably the widest selection of programs and courses of any university in Canada, from Aboriginal Studies to Zoology. The caliber of research that goes on here is second to none. And all this goes on in the heart of a great city like Toronto.
But there’s plenty of room for improvement in other areas. Recently, U of T had the dubious honour of being ranked number one for “Class Discussion Rare” in the Princeton Review’s rankings of 350 colleges and universities across North America. It was also near the top in other less-than-desirable categories, like: “Professors Make Themselves Scarce,” and “Least Happy Students.”
Don’t think that students can’t make a difference. Student action has led directly to a host of changes at U of T over the years. Undergrads weren’t going to be allowed access to Robarts Library, until students raised a stink over it. Women weren’t allowed into Hart House until pressure from students forced the university to change. And just in the past couple of years, work by ASSU and others has created a 24 hour study space at Robarts, a course refund schedule that’s more favourable to students, and other improvements.
You’ve put up with a lot of crap because of the double cohort. Why not start making your unique status work for you?
