The following appeared as part of a recommendation from the financial planning office to the administration of Fern Valley University: “In the past few years, Fern Valley University has suffered from a decline in both enrollments and admissions applications. The reason can be discovered from our students, who most often cite poor teaching and inadequate library resources as their chief sources of dissatisfaction with Fern Valley. Therefore, in order to increase the number of students attending our university, and hence to regain our position as the most prestigious university in the greater Fern Valley metropolitan area, it is necessary to initiate a fund-raising campaign among the alumni that will enable us to expand the range of subjects we teach and to increase the size of our library facilities.”

The following appeared as part of a recommendation from the financial planning office to the administration of Fern Valley University:

“In the past few years, Fern Valley University has suffered from a decline in both enrollments and admissions applications. The reason can be discovered from our students, who most often cite poor teaching and inadequate library resources as their chief sources of dissatisfaction with Fern Valley. Therefore, in order to increase the number of students attending our university, and hence to regain our position as the most prestigious university in the greater Fern Valley metropolitan area, it is necessary to initiate a fund-raising campaign among the alumni that will enable us to expand the range of subjects we teach and to increase the size of our library facilities.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

While free tuition at Fern Valley University is an attractive option for many prospective students, the ‘poor teaching and inadequate library resources’ that students cite as reasons for not attending Fern Valley are questionable. Students’ dissatisfaction with their classrooms should be viewed within the context of their educational expenses, which have risen by 50% in the last 10 years. If students choose to attend Fern Valley because of the low tuition, then it is reasonable to assume that they are taking other scholarships into account that pay for their living expenses. Fern Valley is currently funded by a $100 million endowment, so it is unlikely that students’ poor classroom experiences are the result of insufficient funding. Students’ complaints about the library, however, seem justified. Fern Valley only has a 10,000 volume library, so students must incur the additional costs of borrowing books from other libraries or purchasing copies from the university bookstore. Fern Valley’s library is woefully inadequate for an academic institution, and its limited collections have led to the denial of a degree program in linguistics. The university’s library collection began because Fern Valley was an agricultural college that lacked sufficient educational resources to support students interested in agriculture. It’s understandable that students would complain when the university fails to live up to its promises of academic rigor and excellence, but they should keep in mind that the university received a $100 million endowment in 2011, so it has the resources to expand both its library and its enrollment. The amount of money needed to rectify Fern Valley’s shortcomings is relatively modest, and it should be possible to raise the funds through private donations. The alumni, whose interest it is to see the university thrive, should support Fern Valley’s fund-raising effort

The proposed fund-raising campaign by Fern Valley University’s administration is weak. It assumes that the alumni are willing to support the university, and that the university’s administrators are smart enough to determine who the alumni are and how best to contact them. If Fern Valley’s alumni are as unpatriotic as the administration thinks, it is unlikely that they will support the university’s fund-raising efforts. However, if Fern Valley’s alumni are willing to support the university, then the administration should devise a detailed plan that includes details about what the university intends to do with its increased revenue. For example, Fern Valley could expand its campus to accommodate more students, or it could enhance the curriculum by adding new degrees in subjects that appeal to the local community. If the administration fails to prepare a detailed plan, the alumni will view its fund-raising campaign as self-serving and fail to support it.