1. Proliferation (courses could potentially be listed under more than two departments). This would significantly increase the size (and cost) of both the catalog and the schedule of classes. Even listings under only two departments would have this effect.

2. Drastically increased use (waste?) of paper: initial class rosters, final class rosters, midterm grade rosters, and final grade rosters will be produced for each listing of a course (see above).

3. Inconvenience for faculty: a faculty member will have to deal with multiple rosters for cross-listed courses (see above).

4. Confusion for student, advisors and the registrar: a student will inevitably sometimes register for the "wrong" listing of a given courses for purposes of fulfilling a graduation requirement and/or will decide later on she wants to change the listing, because the other listing will "look better" for graduate school or future employment, etc. Students may even sign up for the same course under two or more listings.

5. Difficult to set enrollment caps: could allocate, say, half or a third of the total enrollment (depending upon how many different listings there are) to each listing of a course. The problem occurs when one course listing fills, yet there are still openings in other listings. Who keeps track of this? The Registrar's Office simply doesn't have the staff to do this.

6. On course enrollment lists, cross-listed courses will show as two or three (or however many listings there are) courses with low enrollment instead of as one course with a respectable enrollment.

7. It will be difficult to maintain an accurate and complete list of cross-listed courses for the catalog and the schedule of classes. For example, if one major fails to list a course on its course by time sheet, then that listing won't get in the schedule.

8. Any changes (title, credit hours, description, prerequisites, etc.) made to cross-listed courses will have to involve each major that lists the courses; course "ownership" becomes muddy.

9. What would be the criteria for determining whether, and by which majors, a course could be cross-listed? What if someone wanted his or her course to have, say, five different listings but not all the affected majors agreed?

10. It will be difficult to keep track of changes made to classes after the schedule is printed (i.e., if the time is changed, it will need to be changed for each and every listing of a course).

11. Will cross-listing affect who can teach the course? One faculty member may have the academic and experiential background to treat a topic from the perspectives of both, say, history and sociology, but another may not.

12. Cross-listing makes it difficult to assign budget tracking, since two departments (or majors) actually share the income (if applicable)and expenses.

13. Regional accreditors may require that faculty members teaching a cross-listed course have academic qualifications in all listed areas.

Karla Leybold-Taylor, October, 2001

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