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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > February > 05 > Entry
Editorial: WSU faculty too agitated about semester change
The switch over from quarters to semesters at Wright State University suddenly isn’t going well. That’s embarrassing for WSU.
Of the four four-year Ohio universities being required to convert to semesters by the fall of 2012, Wright State is the only one embroiled in a big battle over teaching workload. The union representing professors is so unhappy with the administration’s proposal that it’s urging members to withdraw from a host of committees that are working to fashion courses and schedules to make the change seamless.
That tactic is wrong. The conversion is complex and will require tremendous cooperation among faculty, staff and administration. This is no time to pull up stakes and walk away.
The faculty’s concerns have some merit, but the university’s proposal is reasonable. Forging a workable deal will be tricky, but there is plenty of room for compromise. Both sides are trying to meet important goals. The university has to ensure its new schedule does nothing to drive up costs or reduce revenue. Meanwhile, professors want to be able to juggle their teaching and research.
For faculty, a tension always exists between how much time they spend with students and how much they spend on research and writing. The balance varies among the different departments and schools on campus.
Tenure standards, which require young faculty members to produce important, published scholarship to keep their jobs, are often demanding.
On the quarter system, many faculty now teach two courses in each of the three 10-week quarters during the academic year. (Summer courses make up the fourth quarter). The administration is proposing a maximum teaching load that would appear to keep instruction much the same — three courses for each of the two 15-week semesters.
But, the union argues, that demand is not the same. A professor who is teaching three courses rather than two throughout the academic year must spend considerable extra time planning, grading, teaching and helping students. So the change could lead to less time for other work, raising questions both on broad issues (is the university stepping back from research?) and practical ones (should tenure standards change?).
Still, a three-course maximum teaching load is in line with other institutions of Wright State’s caliber. Administrators are quick to point out that six courses a year is the maximum requirement, not a new standard. But union leaders want more assurance than that.
There are ideas out there — such as designing some new courses to count for four or five credits rather than the standard three credits; that potentially could help make the math work better for professors.
Negotiators for both the union and the administration say they’re optimistic that solutions will be found. But departmental committees doing a lot of the heavy lifting on the new schedule can’t function without the faculty.
The union is wrong to tell professors to drop out of the process. It should back off that strategy.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Education, Scott Elliott
Comments
By Ace
February 5, 2010 7:46 AM | Link to this
I went to Wright State, and this is exactly why it’s such a joke. A bunch of liberal profs that spout a bunch of liberal bs and do as little as possible to work or teach. If they actually wanted to help the students, they could make this quarters to semesters change easy. Standardizing these schools to semesters would make transferring easier on the students, also they will not lose credits.
By Ben
February 5, 2010 8:01 AM | Link to this
Uhh, correct me if I’m wrong but don’t individuals get into teaching to help students? I graduated from WSU in 2006 and articles such as this one don’t sit well with me. If you want to be a full time reasearcher, then just do reasearch. It’s the same idea as a student-athlete….they are students first as it comes before the athlete. Professors are in place to help students get a higher education. So are we to assume that profs at WSU are just ” going through the motions” as far as teaching and putting all their emphasis on researching and writing? What a joke..
By Larry
February 5, 2010 8:27 AM | Link to this
The issue is one of keeping promises. Faculty worked very hard on the conversion process based on a promise to keep teaching load neutral, but the administration has yet to keep that promise. Teaching three courses at the same time is a higher load than teaching two at a time. WSU will not be able to hire good faculty with a higher teaching load, and WSU needs to keep the promises it made to current faculty when they were hired. The AAUP (American Association of University Professors) is asking faculty to suspend work on conversion while the administration wakes up.
By Larry
February 5, 2010 8:28 AM | Link to this
The issue is one of keeping promises. Faculty worked very hard on the conversion process based on a promise to keep teaching load neutral, but the administration has yet to keep that promise. Teaching three courses at the same time is a higher load than teaching two at a time. WSU will not be able to hire good faculty with a higher teaching load, and WSU needs to keep the promises it made to current faculty when they were hired. The AAUP (American Association of University Professors) is asking faculty to suspend work on conversion while the administration wakes up.
By davidss2
February 5, 2010 8:30 AM | Link to this
This is more DDN math that’s bad. If someone teaches two course through three quarters, that’s two courses for 30 weeks. ======Sooooooo, if the change is to 30 weeks divided into two semesters, they should teach 2 courses each semester which means two courses for 30 weeks. Duh. Not three courses. =======No wonder DDN can’t see what’s gone wrong in the city of Dayton. But they think they can FIX that Republican sheriff over $60 and $85 (which is a political game itself). DDN should be exposing the political games and employing relatives in Democrat’s offices as well as the sister in the Sheriff’s office. ———-More bad math. DDN’s editorials just don’t ADD UP most of the time.
By term math
February 5, 2010 8:42 AM | Link to this
Davidss2 obviously hasn’t been to college. The number of hours per class is also a factor in the quarter/semester debate. A typical 4-credit quarter requires 4 hours a week in class…while a typical 3-credit semester requires 3 hours in class a week. Therefore, 2 courses per quarter is equal to about 8 hours a week in the classroom, while 3 course per semester is usually about 9 hours a week in the classroom. It’s one more hour, big deal.
By Suetonius
February 5, 2010 8:59 AM | Link to this
The university’s asking for a 50% increase in the term teaching workload, by going from two courses at a time to three. Would a doctor, lawyer or business owner would accept a 50% increase in billable hours without due compensation? It’s not one more hour per week, ‘term math,’ it’s many hours in prepping the class, writing the lectures, grading the assignments and counseling students. 50% increase in teaching means you can’t do the other things you’re required to do in the contract, the research and the professional service.
By Paul H
February 5, 2010 11:49 PM | Link to this
It seems to me that wherever I’ve worked that when my employer said “here’s the change we’re making” I had two choices. Do it or get a new job. Quit your whining and do your jobs. In an area with 12%+ unemployment you whiny baby professors are disgusting. Be glad you’ve got a job to go to.
By Bob540
February 6, 2010 12:17 AM | Link to this
Paul, I get told that too: Here is more of whatever we tell you to do, so do it or leave (nicer words). And that IS crap! You get hired to do a job, based on a job description. Yes, that description often includes “other duties as assigned”, but that shouldn’t mean, “anything we dream up for you to do”. You agree to a job at a given rate of pay based upon duties identified up front. Loading on more and more work is not part of the deal and shouldn’t be allowed. And that is not whining, that is expecting both parties to abide by the deal made. Want me to do more? — then pay me more!
By Shawn
February 8, 2010 9:20 AM | Link to this
Let me get this straight. They either have a 50% workload increase (2 courses to three course) or an 11% increase (8 hours per week to 8 hours per week). So professors teach 8 or 9 hours per week. Most people that have a job put that in in a day. And we wonder why college is so expensive.
By Fumbwoubs
February 24, 2010 12:39 PM | Link to this
you have a wonderful site!