Leloudis said the program helps to bring in top students from around the state and the country. Students of various majors, interests and hometowns are invited to spice up the program, he said.
"You are really looking at the kind of entering class you want to have," Leloudis said. "You want as diverse a mix of students as possible."
But Director of Undergraduate Admissions Jerry Lucido said the Honors Program is not a major focus of recruitment efforts because of the small percentage of admitted students.
"We are not hesitant at all to talk about how the program contributes to intellectual life on campus," Lucido said. "But we have to be careful not to over-promote the Honors Program."
Leloudis said many qualified students cannot be admitted into the program because of space limitations.
"I could double the number of students in the program today and compromise nothing in the way of academic ability," he said. "The big hurdle is being able to provide the classes."
What About the Classes?
The main benefit of the Honors Program is the opportunity to take small classes with top professors, most students and administrators say.
Students in the program get priority registration for these classes, which are available in many departments and fulfill different perspectives. Honors students must take at least two Honors classes each year to remain in the program, and they must maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average. But Warburton said students with a 3.0 GPA or higher who are not in the Honors Program can register for Honors classes on a space-available basis.
"We honestly try to make the Honors Program for the whole student body, not just for a select few," Warburton said.
Honors Program officials do not have much input in what classes are offered, Leloudis said. The academic departments make the final decisions, and most departments do not favor offering classes that count for the majors.
"The Honors Program is focused on the first two years, when the goal is breadth, not depth," Leloudis said. "The assumption is that once people are in their majors people will be taking high-level academic courses within their majors, which pursue many of the same goals as the Honors Program."
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Kunal Nandy, chairman of the Honors Program Student Executive Board, said the board is going to lobby departments to offer more Honors classes.
"We are really trying to incorporate what the average Honors student wants into our classes," Nandy said. "We are hitting some of the bigger departments which do not offer many classes, but we're also targeting some smaller departments which have never offered classes."
But Warburton said he is not confident that the board will have much success. "The students are lobbying for a variety of Honors courses in more departments, but they don't have a say."
What Do Students Think?
A lack of student input and limited course offerings have some students complaining and even dropping out of the Honors Program. Junior Stacy Scarazzo said she cannot afford to take the two required Honors classes each year because they do not complete major or perspective requirements.
"The biggest problem is the class selection and the times," she said. "The class times are always weird, and they conflict with other things."
Such time conflicts arise because many of the seminar-style Honors classes take place once a week for three hours. She also said she feels she missed the opportunity to take other electives she would have wanted.
"I got upset when I realized I had taken random classes that I could have taken in my major," Scarazzo said.
Other students think the program holds them back more than helps them. Sophomore Gali Beeri said her undergraduate experience is going to be limited because of the program. "I don't have room for extra classes that don't count for anything in my majors," she said.
She added that participating in the program does not affect whether students graduate with honors -- students not in the program can still graduate with honors by writing a thesis.
But many students feel the program has enhanced their education. Sophomores Nikki Gallagher and Elizabeth Kistin said they chose their majors because of interesting Honors classes. Kistin said her Honors classes in political science and the personal attention from professors sparked her interest in the subject. She looks forward to future Honors classes because of their varied nature. "As I start concentrating on political science stuff, I think I'll be looking to Honors classes as a relief from it," Kistin said.
Warburton said a lot of students look to the Honors Program for interesting classes with professors they might not have been exposed to and that the program purposely offers some relatively obscure classes.
"We like to think that every Honors course has something of value for people," Warburton said. "They are all bound up in intellectual curiosity."
The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.
