FIG program to end this year

Freshman Interest Groups, a program put in place 11 years ago to help freshmen adjust to college, has been cut from the 2010-11 school year.

Eric Nichols, director of the groups, said the program is no longer fully addressing the needs of the students. During the past few years the student body has been changing, and FIGs are no longer needed, he said.

“The fact is the program has lived out its life,” he said.

FIGs are groups of 10 to 15 freshmen who took two to three classes together and lived on the same residential floor. The goal was to create small learning communities for new students to network based on shared interests.

The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education has several new initiatives for students that they want to give more attention, Nichols said. General education as a whole is becoming more important and is what the office wants to focus on, he said.

“I am very disappointed about the program being cut, but knowing the situation it was in, I am not surprised,” Nichols said.

FIG peer mentor Renee Szostak said the vice provost’s office told the FIG staff that because of budget cuts, the program is no longer seen as necessary.

As a senior, Szostak said she knew it was not going to affect her, but it was still unexpected. She said she thought the program was doing well and that it was a great retention program for students.

“I have always thought FIGs had a high success rate,” she said.

Szostak said she thinks students in FIGs are more involved with campus activities and do better in classes. Staff members are upset and hope their work can be continued.

“We work really hard for FIGs,” Szostak said. “I feel like people are getting cut short.”
The program will continue as normal for the remainder of the year, Nichols said. FIG leaders will continue to do their jobs, and students will participate in the normal curriculum, he said.

All together, Nichols said, about 40 students will be losing their jobs. Counting Nichols, there are three professional staff members that will no longer have their positions, he said.

Nichols said he has worked with FIGs since 2008 and thoroughly enjoyed it. He said they have done many great things and he is sad to see it end.

“We made the changes we could, but in the end it just didn’t help,” he said. “FIGs is just at the end of its life.”