Christopher Newport University

Proffessors: Most of the teachers here are very good. They have at least a masters though most have PHDs, and all have had experience in their field. A good many will personally help you or talk with you out of class. They are very personable and quite a few will go out of there way to help you. However, due to recent budget cut backs they are now teaching 6-9 classes as opposed to the normal 4-5. This makes some of them a little stressed. Overall though, the teachers are excellent. With the exception of Prof. Jim Cornete. He is a jerk and a very biased jerk at that. Anyway.

Academics: I can't stress this enough so listen carefully, if you are interested in LIBERAL ARTS then this is an ok school for you. If you are interested in anything relating to SCIENCE, RUN! Why might I say this? Good question, here is the answer. The administration, especially president Trible, is very hostile to this department. They have fired people who disagreed with company policy, tried to (and in some ways succeeded) in shutting down science programs, cut funding, killed contracts, driven away students, over-burdened faculty and generally done everything in their power to kill the sciences. Now, I don't mean that they perfer Liberal Arts over Science, I mean they do everything they can to completely remove it. If we could some how stay accredited and not teach any math, physics, biology etc. then those departments would be gone by the end of the week and by next the theater geeks would be holding rehersals for their next play. Its that bad.

Campus Life: There are two types of people at CNU, those who have time for all of the clubs (read Liberal Arts Majors) and those of us working our asses off in a desperate attempt to finish our work on time. So, if you decide that getting an Art History Major (yes, we actually have one of those) is your thing, then you will have plenty of time to join the equestrian club, rowing club, frats, anime club, tennis club, sports, PLP or any number of other useless clubs. As a computer engineering major with a minor in physics I barely had enough time to do all of my work and hold down a job. But thats me. Oh, and L.A. majors on average have to only complete something like 115 credit hours, I graduated with close to 140. Keep that in mind when you choose your major.Administration: Now this is where it all falls down. Despite everything else, had the administration been neutral I could have recomended CNU. But, sadly, this administration is the most hostile one I have ever heard of. If you are a teacher and you buck the system or criticise the president then you get fired. It happened to the Dean of the Computer Science department, it happened to the Chair of the department and it doesn't look like it is going to stop any time soon. In 2002 we had a budget crisis, what did the administration do? Fire ALL of the adjunct proffessors. That same year president Trible gave himself a $100,000 raise. Ouch. It boils down to this, if you are a commuter student or you are a science student your life will be made miserable. Your buildings will not be renovated, your computers will be sorely out of date, your teachers will be teaching twice as many classes as they should be and in general you will not enjoy yourself. The main reason for tension is that the president has made it his personal crusade to eliminate as many of the sciences as possible. That means every time there is a budget cut he whittles away more and more of our departments. My fiance had her program cut mid year. When asked what they should do president Trible responded "Go to ODU." Damn. Thats harsh. Anyway, that gives you an idea of what kind of school this is. If you play ball and kiss up to Trible then you are in. If you decide to get a degree with which you can get a job, well, go to ODU.