In two years, ASU's School of Justice Studies undergraduate student enrollment has grown 28 percent, but a suggestion to move the school to ASU West could end that growth, the school's director said.
The ASU Design Team suggested in its Sept. 2 report that the School of Justice Studies move to the west campus to tie in with ASU West's criminology program.
Doris Marie Provine, director of the School of Justice Studies, said she believed the team had the wrong idea and that enrollment would go down if the school moved to ASU West.
"We work very hard with undergraduates to show them just how many dimensions of justice there are, so if we went out to West and merged with the criminology program, we would kind of be going back to where we started - and that would be a real disaster," she said. "Everybody in justice studies feels that way."
The number of undergraduates this year in the school is up by 209 since fall 2001. Its enrollment now unofficially totals 962 undergraduates, while in fall 2001 it tallied 753, according to the school and the office of institutional analysis annual enrollment summary.
The University counts official enrollment statistics 21 days after the start of the semester.
"When you have a department that says, 'Look, we're going to focus on justice,' that goes right to the heart of a lot of students' concerns," Provine said.
"The changes in the world, the distress in the economy makes people think about justice issues," she added.
The school, however, houses more than justice studies majors.
Its classes seat interdisciplinary majors, justice studies minors and graduates, as well as non-majors. According to Provine, the school makes room for 2,906 students in its classes, 787 of who are currently non-justice studies students.
Provine also said they get a high number of "volunteer students" for the core classes justice studies majors are required to take.
"That says there's some real draw even when you don't have to take our courses," she said.
Bryan Ruebush, a justice studies senior, said he chose the major because he wanted to work for the Secret Service.
"Ever since I've been 10, I've wanted to work for the government," he said. "The classes are interesting, and I think it's a good program with a lot of good professors."
Justice studies administrators said the enrollment boost might have something to do with the state of the nation and the world after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"I think 9/11 was a wake-up call, and it manifests itself in many ways, some of which are unfortunate and some of which are good. And one of the good ways is that it encourages people to think about a just world and what it takes to get there," Provine said.
She also said students who enroll in the school are usually looking to go into law school, law enforcement, government agencies, graduate programs and forensics. She added that she thought the school's advisers help attract students to the major.
"We talk to students whether they're admitted or not admitted; we talk to students when they're at the community college before they get here; we'll talk to students and his or her parents when they are touring the schools," said Jim Fieberg, academic advising coordinator for the School of Justice Studies. "Our willingness to speak to students doesn't hurt."
Since its debut in 1972, the School of Justice Studies has branched out into social and economic justice, growing from mainly a criminal justice discipline.
Reach the reporter at sarah.muench@asu.edu.
