The Fall 2024 semester has commenced with another over-enrolled first-year class. This year, the University welcomed 872 new students in the class of 2028, operating at its full capacity. From courses exceeding limits and cramped housing to long lines at every dining place, everyone on campus has felt the implications of over-enrollment.

Keeping in mind the current senior class, infamous for its large cohort, seeing the increased size of the class of 2028 came as a surprise. Yet overcrowding has a long-recorded history at the University, going back to the 1970s.

For the class of 2028, the effects of over-enrollment were apparent with the multitude of double-occupancy rooms in Bennet Hall and the Butterfields being once again converted into “forced triple” setups.

Some students placed into forced triples didn’t even know about such arrangements until they opened their doors on day one. Phoenix Gault-Brown ’28 and Harry Resnik ’28 were among those unaware that their assigned triple was not going to be in a triple-occupancy room, but instead, a double.

“The floor plan said it was going to be a double, but it wasn’t specified to us,” Gault-Brown said.

Amanda Phillips ’28 shares another forced triple that had to adapt to the small space. Furniture is prohibited from being removed from dorm rooms, so bunk beds were the only option for many students.

“It was a long process,” Phillips said. “On move-in day we spent a lot of time rearranging the furniture and none of us wanted to have a bunk bed either, so that definitely impacted the way we rearranged everything.”

Increased competition to get into introductory-level classes is another prominent effect of over-enrollment. For example, “Introduction to Economics” (ECON101), which began with a high enrollment limit of 90 available seats, is currently over-enrolled by 21 students. Even if students manage to get a spot in a high-demand class, many are still disappointed because they chose the University due to its advertised small class sizes.

Looking back into past issues of The Argus, one finds that over-enrollment also presented similar problems for the University’s past students.

In a Sept. 24, 1974 article titled “Intro Courses Hampered By Overcrowding,” Pam Glass ’78, Vicky Gold ’78, Judy Rosenburg ’76, and J.S. Solomon ’78 wrote about the repercussions of over-enrollment on class registration.

“An Argus sampling of a range of introductory courses here reveals a widespread dissatisfaction among students and faculty with the effect on class size of the growth of the university,” Glass, Gold, Rosenburg, and Solomon wrote.

Similarly to the discontent over class registration present today, the surplus of students in 1974 caused increased competition to get into courses.

Another article entitled “Overcrowding: More Than Lines & Large Classes,” written by Ellis Neufeld ’79 and Martin Saggese ’80 on Feb. 3, 1978, reported on the University’s financial concerns on account of over-enrollment.

“Amid the debate over the problems of overcrowding at Wesleyan, an examination of the University documents shows that there are more students enrolled than either the current budget or the Red Book, the University’s long-range plan for financial stability, projected,” Neufeld and Saggese wrote.

In recent University history, over-enrollment once again presented problems with the induction of the class of 2025. In 2021, the class of 2025—the second-largest in University history—and its more than 900 students began their time at the University. The Argus provided continuous coverage about the striking class size and the ways it affected realms of life, particularly in housing and admissions.

In a Sept. 10, 2021 article, “Residential Life Adds New Housing Options to Meet Increased Enrollment,” then-Assistant News Editor Elias Mansell ’24 MA ’25 and then-Contributing Writer Kat Struhar ’25 reported on the University’s new housing options in response to the increased number of students on campus. 

“Some undergraduates are now living in repurposed graduate housing, while Bennett Hall, a first-year residence, now contains triple-occupancy rooms,” Mansell and Struhar wrote. “Around 130 students now reside in the Inn at Middletown, located on Main Street.”

The over-enrollment of the class of 2025 and the low number of students studying abroad at the time caused the University to take extreme measures to provide housing for undergraduate students: the infamous triple-occupancy setups in double-occupancy rooms and relocation to the Middletown Inn.

Audrey Maxim-Rumley ’25 is a senior whose first-year housing was affected by the over-enrollment. In a message to The Argus, she shared her thoughts on living in a forced triple-occupancy room.

“Negative or positive roommate dynamics aside, humans—especially young people trying to figure themselves out and deal with the onslaught of emotions and challenges that come with being a freshman in college—deserve to have at least the semblance of a private space,” Maxim-Rumley wrote. “I know forced triples were accidental when I was a freshman, but I’m more suspicious now and I don’t think it’s fair for the University to pretend that squishing kids into rooms is a sustainable choice that they can continue.”

On April 5, 2022, an article, “Class of 2026 Admissions Results: University Sees Lowest Acceptance Rate on Record,” written by then-Assistant News Editor Sam Hilton ’25 highlighted the lowest admittance rate ever recorded for the University as well as the biggest decline in acceptance rates in a single year. 

“This new low point comes on the heels of both the recent strain of over-enrollment on the University’s community and a long-term trend of increasingly competitive admission cycles,” Hilton wrote.

Besides the growth in application numbers that has been impacting institutions across the country, over-enrollment from the class of 2025 is a major factor that affected admissions for the class of 2026 at the University.

The large class size of 2025 also had a butterfly effect on campus this year. In a recent article published on Sept. 12, 2024, “Return to Campus Clouded by Housing Shortages and Unfulfilled Expectations,” Features Editor Sophie Jager ’25 reported on the many students whose housing was impacted by the extensive number of students on campus. 

“They put people into forced triples in Bennet,” Ava Petillo ’25 said in the article. “And then they continued by messing up the housing for every other grade below us. And now, when they promised independent living in senior houses for our final year, they have failed to fulfill that promise.”

Undeniably, over-enrollment is a repeating theme among University history. Current students describe the same feelings of frustration that were true at the University in the past, going all the way back to 1974.

Maggie Smith can be reached at mssmith@wesleyan.edu.

Lara Anlar can be reached at lanlar@wesleyan.edu. 

Aryana Galdo can be reached at agaldo@wesleyan.edu.

“From the Argives” is a column that explores The Argus’ archives (Argives) and any interesting, topical, poignant, or comical stories that have been published in the past. Given The Argus’ long history on campus and the ever-shifting viewpoints of its student body, the material, subject matter, and perspectives expressed in the archived article may be insensitive or outdated, and do not reflect the views of any current member of The Argus. If you have any questions about the original article or its publication, please contact Head Archivists Sida Chu at schu@wesleyan.edu and Maggie Smith at mssmith@wesleyan.edu.