The Observer, September 28, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 5
Overcrowded dental school disappoints
To the Editor:
As a student at Case Dental, I am proud of the program yet concerned like many. Class acceptances the last two years have been 75 and 85, respectively, each above the allotted 70 spots of acceptance. Many feel as though Case has no clear plan or focus on how to deal with the extra students and issues that come with them. Questions have been brushed aside and danced around, plans are spoken of to remodel in "the future," and many are uneasy about what the future holds. Anyone who believes otherwise need only ask Dean Goldberg exactly what Case intends to do for students who have no seats in our simulation clinic and who are forced to rotate in a facility with less seats than there are students, what they plan to do in the clinical years for students to practice on patients when there are more students and therefore less patients to fulfill requirements on, and most importantly, what they have done with the extra money from our tuition. Supposedly, new staff members have been hired and things have been "renovated," but at $40,000 extra for 15 students over four years, $2 million worth of changes should be made. Many came to Case for clinical work, a small class size, and our own clinic spaces, which Case advertised heavily at interviews. Instead, we are faced with last minute plans on how to accommodate too many people, a significantly larger class size, and reasons why this is all better for us anyhow instead of an apology for false advertising. People traveled from all over the United States and Canada to come to Case, turning down other schools for things that Case is no longer holding up to. To add insult to injury, there are no plans to cut tuition because of class size or even freeze it for that matter. Dean Goldberg should rise to the occasion and instead of being a man of excuses, view the perspective of students and come up with something to fix the problem.
I do not disclose my name due to the politics of Case Dental, where students often cannot speak their minds without making enemies among the staff.
Anonymous
