WCC Expects Enrollment Of 6,000

Enrollment will reach 6,000 or more this fall at Washtenaw Community College, about 800 beyond last fall's total, if the early enrollment trend continúes. More than the headcount is increasing. Students are enrolling for an average of 8.53 credit houijs each, compared to last fall's average of 8.26. These data were reported to the WCC trustees Tuesday night by Interim President David S. Pollock and Dean of Student Personnel Services James A. Jones. "It looks as if we'll be buiging out of the buildings," Jones commented. He said after the meeting that about six additional full-time instructors will be called this fall from WCC's waiting list of applicants. This will raise the total past 140. A lecture hall which accommodated classes of about 60 students in WCC's Exact Science Building is being converted into temporary faculty offices. This use of the lecture room probably will continue until fall, 1976, when a major classroom-library-office building providing 37 additional classrooms will be firiished. State approval for construction of that building did not come as soon as was expected when WCC was established a decade ago. The newiiöntract is to provide 6 per cent salary increases in each of its two years, créating a range trom about $13, 000 to $25,000. The college also will begin paying an additional 5 per cent immediately into the Michigan Public School Employés' Retirement Fund. Mandatory retirement at age 65 has been established, with retirement at 64 optional. WCC will continue one year of Blue' Cross-Blue Shield payments for those who take this option. Provisions for a system of "management by objectives," involving "goal setting" by consultation as opposed to the chain-of-command approach, were not carried over intact from the old contract. Instead, a committee of two union members and two WCC administrators is to review the MBO approach and make recommendations by next March 31 to WCC's néw president-designate, Myran A. Gunder. When hired last month, Gunder said that while he has worked successfully with MBO systems, he wishes to review WCC's system after taking office early this fall. Trustees authorized spending $4,000 beyond $60,000 they approved in June for extending WCC's water lines north of E. Huron River Dr. for service at the Athletic Field. WCC's enrollment forecast is part of a Inational pattern. The U.S. Office of EduI catión is predicting that fall enrollment lin the nation's colleges and universities [will go up nearly 4 per cent over last I year. Some campuses that experienced enrollment declines in recent years are reporting increases in applications this summer. WCC enrollment increased each semester in the past few years. This summer, Registrar Alton L. Kleinhenn noted, 950 have registered by phone as part-time students, compared to 235 at this time a year ago. Those who register by phone must pay tuition of $12.50 per credit hour before classes start Sept. 3, or reservations made for them in specific classes will be cancelled. Virtually all who register by phone will pay and attend classes, judging from past experience, Kleinhenn said. WCC Dean of General Studies John P. Wooden said the jump in early registrations holds added significance because the schedule of fall classes which usually appears early each August in The Ann Arbor News and Ypsilanti Press was delayed by WCC until Aug. 19 this year. This was done because WCC officials were waiting to observe progress in negotiations with the WCC Ëducation Association. As reported in The News yesterday, bargainers for WCC and the instructörs' union hope to reach agreement Sunday on a contract to succeed one that will expire that same day. Ratification was voted unanimously by the trustees last night for a new contract with the WCC Professional Administrators' Associati'on, the middlemanagement union, retroactive from July 1 through June 30, 1977. This is necessary because the Ann Arbor Water Department has rejected a plan to run the extended line under lawn areas, and required placing it under a service drive which will have to be partially torn up and repaired. Installation of a fire hydrant north of E. Huron River Dr. is also being required by the city. Trustees also approved installation of an Audio Alert surveillance system in WCC's Auto Service Center on Carpenter Road, within an $80,000 budget previously reserved entirely for anti-theft protection in the classroom-office-library building now under construction. Tool thefts totaling about $16,000 have taken place at the Auto Center in the past year. Sanford Security guards have been checking the center only on weekends. The stolen tools were replaced by WCC's insurance. Dean of Óccupational Studies Joseph M. Miller sa,id after the meeting that Auto Center equipment will be locked up more securely as a result of extensive building renovations now nearing completion. Costs of that renovation, previously budgeted at $150,000, have unexpectedly risen $2,000 because of delay in extensión of a line needed to link the structure into Pittsfield Township's sewer system, Pollock reported. The delay means a septic (tank must be installed for temporary use, so classes can begin on schedule. A septic tank previously serving the Auto Center was removed in anticipation of linking into the sewer system by September. Pollock also informed trustees that a formal agreement has been reached with University Hospital assuring broad experience for WCC inhalation therapy and X-ray students who receive clinical experience there. . '