CSUF Student Line Was All Business

College students frequently camp out to buy scarce tickets to a rock concert or sports event.

But staying in line all night for a business course?

Yes, Cal State Fullerton officials said Monday. The estimated 250 students in line Monday morning to register for summer session classes in Management 449--Business Policy and Strategy included scores who got a head start by spending Sunday night in line waiting for registration to begin. The class is a graduation requirement for business majors.

“We’ve been registering students for summer session since March 14, and this is the only course we’ve had something like this,” said Patrick Wegner, associate vice president for research and external programs at Cal State Fullerton.

“I came on campus at 1 p.m. Sunday, and there were already five to 10 people, blankets and all, waiting in line to register Monday morning,” Wegner said.

University officials said the long queue was a sign of the academic times. “Business courses are very, very popular,” Wegner said.

“The growth of students in business courses has been substantial, particularly in the 1980s,” said Thomas W. Johnson, chairman of the department of management. “I’m not sure what the reason is. Possibly it’s because economic times toughened in the ‘70s and the ‘80s and forced students to become more pragmatic.

“In the ‘60s, the times were such that if you got out of college, there was a job waiting. But then in the late ‘60s, the baby boom students started coming out of colleges, and in the ‘70s, as their numbers rose, the numbers of job opportunities declined.”

“Rightly or wrongly, people then perceived that a business degree was a better ticket. Also, young people became more interested in material success in the 1980s.”

Whatever the reason, the business of business is booming on most college campuses. Cal State Fullerton’s business school reflects that growth.

“We have a head count of about 6,500 students (of a total campus enrollment of about 24,000 students) in the School of Business Administration and Economics,” Johnson said. He said that only the massive School of Humanities and Social Sciences, which includes departments ranging from Afro-ethnic studies to sociology, is bigger than Cal State Fullerton’s School of Business Administration and Economics.

Jane Hall, chair of the economics department, said: “This campus has a very high business enrollment. We’re now the sixth largest business school in the country.”

While there is usually a heavy demand for all business courses at Cal State Fullerton, campus officials said the popularity of Management 449-Business Policy and Strategy is that it is a requirement for graduation. And most of the estimated 250 in line on Monday morning were senior-year business majors who need the course to graduate.

Ten sections, or classes, of 22 each filled up a few hours after registration opened Monday morning. The remainder of the students were put on a waiting list.

But not to worry. “We are committed to add enough sections so that the supply (of classes) will fill the demand for the course,” said Johnson.

It is a matter of being fair, university officials said. They added that it is also good business.