Furman's Big Incoming Freshman Class is a Big Opportunity
It is time to establish a new first-year writing seminar focused on the First Amendment.
Announcements:
🎉 Furman held its annual Bell Tower Ball on April 18, honoring alumni and community members for professional achievement, generosity, and service to the university.
⚠️ Furman has announced plans to phase out its education major and elementary certification program in favor of a revised Educational Studies program.
We will have a deeper look at this development later this month. Stay tuned.
🎓 Commencement is this Saturday, May 9. Broadway conductor and Furman alumna Mary-Mitchell Campbell ‘96 will deliver the keynote address. Congratulations to the Class of 2026!
Furman Trivia:
Which living U.S. President has delivered a commencement address at Furman University?
A) Bill Clinton
B) Donald Trump
C) George W. Bush
D) Barack Obama
*Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter!*
A Growing Class Is a Golden Opportunity
Last week, we argued that reversing Furman’s decade-long enrollment decline is one of the most important things the administration can do for the university. Specifically, we said that increasing enrollment was an essential first step in the broader project of improving Furman’s intellectual diversity and free speech climate, because more students mean opportunities for more faculty hires, new ideas, and a more intellectually vibrant campus.
This week, we have reason to be encouraged.
Rumors are circulating that Furman has recruited an uncommonly large incoming freshman class, with more than 670 students from the Class of 2030 having made deposits toward enrollment next fall. To put that in perspective, last year’s incoming class had 571 students, and the year before had only 621. If the deposit numbers hold, this would be one of the largest freshman classes at Furman since 2014.
Deposits are not guarantees — incoming freshmen can still change their minds — but they are among the most reliable indicators available at this stage. Anywhere near 670-plus would represent a dramatic and welcome reversal of Furman’s troubling enrollment trend. We congratulate President Davis and the admissions team. If these numbers hold, it deserves to be celebrated.
This growth will create opportunities almost immediately. A larger student body means more classes and — if Furman is serious about maintaining its 10:1 student-faculty ratio — more faculty.
We are already hearing that one of the first practical consequences of this larger incoming freshman class will be the need to add new sections of the First-Year Writing Seminar, one of the most distinctive features of a Furman education.
According to Furman’s website, Furman is one of only five colleges in the country to cap seminars like this at twelve students. Each class is built around a topic chosen by the professor to develop analytical thinking, research skills, and clear writing. Topics are not limited to any particular discipline. They are meant to spark genuine intellectual curiosity.
In light of this opportunity, we are calling on the administration to dedicate at least one of the new seminar sections to the topic of free speech and the First Amendment.
This is not a radical suggestion. The First Amendment is one of the most critical areas of American law and civic life. Debate around it is full of genuine disagreement and difficult cases. It is a perfect topic for a first-year writing seminar.
Establishing this seminar would also send a signal to incoming students that Furman takes free expression seriously.
President Davis has spoken publicly about wanting Furman to be a place where students learn how to think, not what to think. A First Amendment writing seminar would be an easy but concrete way to make that vision real on campus.
In sum, the tide may be turning on enrollment, and if it does, it will create new opportunities for free speech at Furman. Establishing a First-Year Writing Seminar focused on free speech and the First Amendment would be an excellent way for Furman to show that it intends to use its enrollment growth to prioritize free expression on campus.
The opportunity is here. It is time to take it.
CLPs of the Month:
Furman students must attend 32 Cultural Life Programs (CLPs) to graduate.
CLP offerings slow down significantly over the summer while students are away, but there is one worth noting before the month is out:
On Thursday, May 21, the Lakeside Concert Series kicks off its summer run with Sounds of Summer, a free outdoor concert at the Furman Lake Amphitheater from 7:30 to 8:30pm.
Trivia Answer:
C) George W. Bush — President Bush delivered Furman's 2008 commencement address in Paladin Stadium. The visit was not without controversy. More than 200 professors signed a petition opposing Bush's visit and 31 professors were granted "conscientious objector" status, allowing them to skip the ceremony entirely.
Biggest concern is lowering admission standards to admit more students--then the quality of student declines, as does the commitment of the student...more likely to transfer after 1-2 years, leaving hole in the tuition revenue, etc. It's a self-perpetuating cycle: higher admit rates, lower "exclusivity," poor retention, lower scoring opportunities for the ratings game.