The financial-planning office at Fern Valley University concludes that it is necessary to
initiate a fund-raising campaign among alumni that will enable the university to expand the range
of subjects it offers and increase the size of its library facilities. Its argument is based on a
five-year decline in enrollments and admission applications together with the claim that students
cite poor teaching and inadequate library resources as their cheif sources of dissatisfaction with
Fern Valley. The conclusion of the financial-planning office is not strongly supported by the
reasons given.
To begin with,this argument depends on the assumption that providing a greater range of subjects
and a larger library will alleviate the students's chief sources of dissatisfaction. However,the
students have not complained about inadequate course offerings or about the size of the library;
their complaint is that the existing courses are poorly taught and that library resourses are
inadequate. Offering more kinds of classes does not improve teaching quality,and increasing a
library's size dose nothing to enhance its holdings,or resources. Accordingly,the recommendation
does not bear directly on the problem as stated.
Secondly,the proposal unfairly assumes that the recent enrollment and application decline was
caused by poor teaching and inadequate library resources. It is equally possible that all colleges,
regardless of reaching quality and library resources,have experienced similar declines. These
declines may have been due to unrelated factors,such as unfavorable economic conditions,or an
increase in high-paying computer jobs not requiring a college education.
Third,the author provides no support for the claim that students are dissatisfied with the
teaching and library resources at Fern Valley. It is possible that the claim is based on
hearsay or on scant anecdotal evidence.Without more information about the basis of the claim,we
cannot be sure that the financial-planning office is addressing the real problems.