Hard Part of Computer Science? Getting into Class

Why the emphasis on recruiting new faculty to teach undergraduate level computer science courses ? Does the material genuinely require the input of a professor? It seems that universities/colleges are experiencing short-term shortages of teaching personnel that can readily be recruited from other sources without necessitating hiring new faculty.

At my school almost all of the electives where taught by people in industry.

They either taught a 2 course long elective and offered internships at their company during the second course (Hey you spent the last 5~ months training these people and no you know who is a good worker), or they taught one elective and offered internships to the students they liked at the end.

Their companies paid them to do this for... obvious reasons.

While the article bemoans these programs becoming restrictive, it is ignoring a major reality. Let's take a person. This is the person that might end up getting 'weeded out' before they've even gotten their foot in the door. They probably have 0 or near 0 background in anything related to computing. They similarly likely have negligible background in anything related to science/engineering/mathematics. And keep in mind we now live in the era where there are a million free resources online (as well as compilers/etc) meaning the cost of doing any of this is practically 0, so they've generally chosen to never pursue any of this.

Let's take this person, John Doe, and imagine he gets accepted to a computer science program at a well regarded university. The majority of people in his class will fail/drop out of the program before graduation, regardless of background. How likely is John Doe in particular to make it through the program? I don't know the exact number, but it is going to be extremely low. What these 'barriers' do is not only save people from wasting their time, but also make room for people who stand a better chance of making it through the program.

And furthermore rejection is hardly some death sentence. If somebody genuinely wants into the program then they could take independent classes at a community college, take remedial non-major classes and demonstrate excellence, or any of a wide array of other options that could then be segued into acceptance next year/semester. And this doesn't even necessarily have to slow them down. There are so many core non-major classes required that you can get those out of the way and ultimately end up graduating in about the same time as if you were accepted to begin with. Imagine getting your calculus, linear algebra, physics/chemistry/... pick, etc stuff all done in your freshman year. That would've actually been AWESOME to have been able to have your schedule packed with nothing but CS classes and maybe a few softball liberal arts requirements for your later years.

That's so strange. If there's room in the classes (as appears to be the case), why limit the number of majors?

My school (UVA, in the late-90s) already had recently converted Computer Science as a limited enrollment major to get around this problem. Declared CS majors had preference for CS courses. It wasn't quite so bad that others were completely locked out, but if you weren't declared, you had to be quick to register and might not always get into fun electives (the core courses were usually larger and easier to find a seat).

Since that time, they've actually added a second CS major. They now offer the original BS in CS through the engineering school. And a BA in CS through the college of arts and science. The two primary differences being a foreign language requirement for the BA students, and a heavier emphasis on math and general engineering in the BS program.

If CS is so popular right now, how can it possibly command high pay by the time these people hit the job market? Do they all expect to compete against each other for high paying positions? How is that a good bet? Do they expect that there will be a ton of jobs that will all pay well?