I remember registering for classes as an incoming CLA freshman: English Comp 1011, English Lit 1905, German 1022, second semester chem. All I needed to choose was a math class. My advisor told me, her voice heavy with disdain, that I didn’t place high enough on my math test; I’d have to petition and take a class in GC. Petition? That sounded like a pain. Furthermore, what the hell was GC?

My advisor explained that GC was sort of the junior primary for grown-ups, for those good enough to graduate high school, yet not quite ready for college — sort of a reduced load. Lighter workload? I didn’t know that students were only supposed to be in GC for about two years, so I began college jealous of all the kids who got do less work than me but receive the same degree.

Eight semesters later, I heard that the General College was going to be shut down. I hadn’t given the issue much thought, but all week long I’ve been asking people what they think about GC closing. As expected, opinions were varied but many. But, to my surprise, many were supportive of the move. Reasoned one newly graduated nursing student, “There are plenty of community colleges for people who aren’t ready or can’t get into the U. They can transfer from there. It’s cheaper anyway.”

Even a GC student who, at this point, has racked up 90 credits through the college (despite the 60 credit “limit”), was unsympathetic. “Call some girls from my class,” he told me. “They get all hyper about this shit. The programs are just getting moved around, not eliminated.”

A Middle Eastern studies/political science major took both sides. He had a few close friends start off in GC, and he feels that it “adds both racially and socioeconomic diversity to the U.” But he also noted that the money from GC could go toward other programs.

While everyone had an opinion on GC getting cut, nobody I asked could even name the other two colleges to be dissolved or in some other way recreated. The College of Human Ecology and the College of Natural Resources were also at the mercy of the regents and this, too, caused scrutiny. A 2004 high school graduate was accepted to the U of M after high school, but decided to spend her first year at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. She maintained an exceptional GPA and community involvement throughout her first year of college. When she requested a transfer to the U, she was denied by the same institution that had welcomed her only a year earlier. She was studying design and merchandising, which is housed in the College of Human Ecology.

The U of M is pushing to become a top-flight research university,so what sense does it make to disband the College of Natural Resources? Since I don’t like questions that I can’t answer, I checked out the CNR website at http://www.cnr.umn.edu/research/index.php. The site lists a number of research facilities, including the Cloquet Center, which, at 3,751 acres, is an impressively large forest used for “research, instruction, and demonstration.” If the University wants to become a competitive research institution, don’t disband the College of Natural Resources — they do research there.

Colleen Hellenbrand is the new Voices editor for the Wake. She welcomes comments at .