Classes to Begin for Many of the 14,600 Students : On-the-Grow UCI to Open Today

The thoroughfare outside the UC Irvine student center had an expectant, almost carnival air Thursday as many of the university’s 14,600 students prepared for the first day of classes today.

There were balloons and barbecued delicacies, a young lion in a cage and a rock band, and information tables for campus groups ranging from ROTC to Anteaters for Christ. Among those pressing the flesh at noontime were Vicki Nakaji, dressed as a frosty root beer and greeting people on behalf of the Navigators Christian Ministry Club, and UCI Chancellor Jack W. Peltason.

The chancellor was undismayed by the fact that this fall’s enrollment is about 500 students more than expected, a jump of more than 7% from last year.

UCI, Peltason said, is “an international class university,” and “in terms of our growth, we’re on target.” When the university opened 20 years ago, the chancellor said, plans called for a student body of about 30,000.

Incoming freshman represent the largest increase, from 2,450 to 2,800, according to Jim Dunning, UCI’s admissions director.

“I would like to think it has something to do with our doing a good job,” Peltason said of the increase. “It is a sign of a vote of confidence.”

The Irvine campus also is one of the most ethnically diverse in the University of California system. The Caucasian percentage of this year’s freshman class dropped to 45% from 51% in 1985. The Asian percentage rose this year to 37% from 34% in 1985. Black and Latino percentages remained the same at 3% and 8%, respectively.

“As Orange County is picking up steam, this campus is picking up steam,” Peltason said.

Not far from the array of organizational tables and food stands, in the bookstore and housing and financial aid offices, students did their best to cope with some of the problems inherent in the record-breaking enrollment.

Trouble Finding Housing

“I’m a transfer student, so I had a lot of trouble finding housing,” said Steve Burns, 21, of Ventura. With a transfer’s low priority, Burns also had trouble getting into two of the classes he wanted.

Roxanne Armstrong, one of 2,700 freshman, didn’t get into any of the classes she wanted, and the off-campus apartment she found with another UCI student didn’t work out. The 18-year-old’s mother came down from Olympia, Wash., to help her move out and find another place to stay. Although Armstrong was on the waiting list for campus housing, her best prospect Thursday was a room with a Japanese family in Irvine who wanted someone to tutor their children in English.

According to James B. Craig, UCI’s housing director, Armstrong would be wise to accept the family’s offer.

“We recommend it,” Craig said, so that students can move quickly in the event there is an opening on campus. Throughout the school year, dormitories and apartments are full.

“We’re obviously in a growth phase at UCI,” he said. “I think the institution can handle it and handle it well.”

Hope to House 40%

The university’s goal, he said, is to provide on-campus housing for 40% of the students. By the fall of 1988, Craig said, he hoped that there would be an additional 700 to 800 beds for undergraduates and apartments for 150 to 250 graduate students.

“This is a vibrant, growing community,” Craig said. “I don’t see us being in a housing crunch in the next two to three years.”

Apart from housing, said Sanjay Saint, a peer adviser, “the big effect on freshmen is getting classes.”

“As a senior, you don’t have trouble getting classes,” said Dave Cheaney, 21, a drama major from Ohio. However, he added, “crowding in classes is a real problem.”

Peltason acknowledged that at an expanding institution such as UCI, “space comes slower than the students arrive.” A number of classroom buildings are under construction, and some trailers to be used for temporary classrooms did not arrive until Thursday.

Two theaters at the Edwards Cinema complex, across Campus Drive from UCI, will be used for some large lecture classes.

“We have 40 more teachers than last year,” the chancellor said. “We’ve been able to recruit and bring first-class teachers.”

Other alterations, Peltason said, include operating the library and food facilities for longer hours and keeping the computer center open 24 hours a day. “Those are the kind of adjustments you always make in a growth environment,” he said.

Book Lines Shorten

At the campus bookstore, the long lines at the checkout counter--which at times on Monday and Tuesday snaked from the front of the store to the rear--were much shorter Thursday.

“This was a very smooth rush,” said Richard Barca, manager of the book department. “All of the staff maintained their sense of humor. There were the usual complaints about the cost of the books, but not complaints about standing in line.”

Like many upperclassmen, Adrian Justice, 21, a music major from Union City, had his own strategy for avoiding some of the long lines associated with the opening of school. He looked for a place to live before June, pre-registered for his classes and shopped for his books just before the store closed.

“You learn from experience, “ he said.

Diep Vo, 23, a computer science major from Fountain Valley, took similar precautions. She enrolled in more classes than she needed to be certain that she would get the ones she wanted. But Vo’s efforts didn’t keep her from wasting an hour and a half in a line for financial aid on Monday. Although she had called the office 10 days before to make certain that everything was in order, when she got to the front of the line, she ran into some problems. Another half an hour in the “problem line” didn’t help. By Thursday, she said, everything was straightened out, and the wait in line was only 15 minutes.

“I think the sense of excitement in building a new institution is shared by freshman and senior professors,” Peltason said, noting that a number of faculty members had entertained students in their home Wednesday evening, a custom begun some years ago. “Lots of people are going out of their way to make going back to college a personal, warm experience.”