The budget crunch has taken its toll on NIU’s faculty once again and the students are paying the price.

The number of students who want to take an English class is greater than the number of faculty available to teach the courses. In turn, mostly English majors are filling the courses.

Sue Doederlein, assistant dean of the English department said there isn’t enough money to adequately fund the positions the English department has.

“Students are returning to the study of disciplines for intrinsic values,” she said. “They are now studying what interests them, but the interest comes at a time when budget cuts are being made.”

Doederlein said the increase in the enrollment in humanities has been increasing steadily for a number of years, reflecting a national trend.

“English, like every department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been down-sized by one position,” said James Miller of the English department.

“That position is frozen for the current year and will be eliminated next year,” Miller said.

The budget cut also affects the number, diversity and the accessibility of courses offered through the English department, Doederlein said.

“We have a limited resource and a heavy demand,” said Charles Tennel, director of undergraduate studies for the English department.

“There isn’t enough money available and there aren’t enough teachers to teach the courses,” he said.

Tennel said until about five years ago the English department had room in the courses. “Now we have the same number of courses but the number of students has quadrupled.”

A permit system was instituted to better deal with the increasing number of students who register for English courses.

Tennel said classes are packed to the limit and permits are used to ensure the students who need specific courses are able to get them. As a result, people who are not English majors are suffering the most.

“We want to be able to offer what we value to all students, but it is becoming increasingly impossible,” Doederlein said.

Tennel said the department received about 500 requests for one class which had only 35 spots.

“We need to offer more sections and we just can’t do it,” Tennel said.