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Prepare to Hear a Lot About the Budget Cuts

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Clarissa

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To offset the budget cuts to our university, the administration is discussing the possibility of increasing the teaching loads of people who are not active in research.

I don’t even want to imagine the kind of intolerable environment this will create in the departments, especially the small ones.

The problem is that I recently realized that I want to work at this university forever because I love it. Yes, the region is sucky, and the climate is shit, and the state is among the most broke in the country, and the dog obsession is even worse than the driving obsession, and it’s extremely hard to find tolerable food or a place to walk.

But I love the university. And love cannot be explained. It happens on a level that stands above reason.

This is not the first time I love a university. I loved McGill before. But it has been destroyed, and now there are no more Hispanic Studies at McGill. The university has repeated the story of the Roman Empire in miniature.

It’s like you keep falling in love but the people you love keep dying.

46 responses to “Prepare to Hear a Lot About the Budget Cuts”

  1. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    “To offset the budget cuts to our university, the administration is discussing the possibility of increasing the teaching loads of people who are not active in research.”

    So, some tenured professors are not active in research now?

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Nobody has given us a definition of what “active in research” means. It might mean “brings in huge grants.” This will immediately disqualify everybody in the Humanities.

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      1. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        That’s why I afraid of.

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      2. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        what I afraid of.

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  2. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    I didn’t know about the dawg obsession. Jeez…

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  3. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    http://www.tdg.ch/monde/europe/L-armee-aurait-precipite-la-chute-de-Jerome-Cahuzac/story/14281085

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  4. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    “I loved McGill before. But it has been destroyed, and now there are no more Hispanic Studies at McGill.”

    This is ludicrous, especially when you consider the fact that this university is overfinanced, like almost all english institutions in Québec.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      The destruction of my department at McGill had nothing whatsoever to do with money. I really wish it did, that would have been easier for me to accept.

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      1. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        You’re absolutely right.

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  5. Spanish Prof Avatar
    Spanish Prof

    You know where I did my PhD. The legislature cut the budget every year I was there. At the same time, three Hispanic literature professors retired, and two passed away. End result: they can only offer graduate degrees in Hispanic linguistics, because they only hired 2 professors to replace the 5 that are not there any more.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      This is exactly what we are being promised: early retirements for profs and closing down the teaching lines. 😦 And all this while at least 5 brand-new positions of ultra-well-paid bureaucrats with ridiculous titles are being opened.

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    2. David Gendron Avatar
      David Gendron

      Again, this an authority plan, not an austerity plan.

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  6. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    “the climate is shit”

    This is paradise compared to Houston or Oklahoma…

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  7. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    “extremely hard to find tolerable food”

    Another reason why it’s relevant to make his own food.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      I don’t think I can grow cows around here. 🙂 🙂

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      1. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        No, but no go to restaurant until they serve some real food is a good idea.

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      2. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        to not go…

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  8. charlesrowley Avatar
    charlesrowley

    It makes good sense to increase the teaching loads of non-publishing tenured faculty. That is standard policy at George Mason University. Because the university is a research university, most faculty teach two classes per semester and many advise a number of doctoral students. Those who do not publish over a three year period go to four classes per semester. They have to perform well at such teaching in order to secure merit pay. Some non-publishing, poor teaching faculty have not received a pay increase in 10 years.

    Incentives matter if an institution is to live with tenure and secure high-quality performances.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Does this system create resentment and intrigue among people? I dread intrigue.

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    2. David Gendron Avatar
      David Gendron

      “Those who do not publish over a three year period go to four classes per semester. They have to perform well at such teaching in order to secure merit pay. Some non-publishing, poor teaching faculty have not received a pay increase in 10 years.”

      I would have no problem to be a professor with that kind of policy. In Québec, this is non-existent.

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      1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
        bloggerclarissa

        I can’t imagine not publishing in 3 years, so this part of the policy is not what concerns me. I’m afraid of the intolerable environment of gossip and intrigues this might create. No budget cuts and no administration can destroy a department better and faster than gossip and intrigue.

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      2. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        Why teaching incentives should create gossip and resentment?

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        1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
          bloggerclarissa

          Because somebody will have to make the decision as to what counts as a publication, whose teaching loads will grow and whose won’t, etc. I’ve witnessed several merit reviews and they always cause drama. For one person, a publication is rated as excellent in research, for another person it is rates as unsatisfactory in research. So then people get resentful and suspicious, etc.

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      3. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        I don’t think this policy is about evaluating publications.

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        1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
          bloggerclarissa

          But this will be an unavoidable aspect. Besides, today nobody knows who published what or who published nothing. With this policy everybody would know.

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      4. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        How tenure procedure can work if nobody knows…

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      5. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        How the tenure procedure can work if nobody knows?

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        1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
          bloggerclarissa

          The tenure committee knows and the personnel committee knows. But those are just two committees.

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    3. David Gendron Avatar
      David Gendron

      I like the idea of “teaching incentives”. This is non-existent here in Québec. Many very bad teachers are tenured here.

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      1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
        bloggerclarissa

        “Many very bad teachers are tenured here.”

        – People don’t get any training in pedagogy and have no idea how to engage with students. In my literature course, the walls shake with laughter and discussions. I just laugh at people who are so inept that they have to prohibit the use of cell phones in class because they have no idea how to keep the students interested.

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      2. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        It’s not only about training, it’s about teaching skills.

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  9. charlesrowley Avatar
    charlesrowley

    In a department where the large majority of professors publish several papers each year in highly-cited journals, the policy is appreciated. Each year a committee of three senior professors evaluates all performance and grades it. This report goes to the chairman. If the chairman changes an evaluation he must justify that change to the committee. The ranking of economics journals is fairly well-established so there is little reason for controversy there. Papers in non-refereed outlets are given little weight, but everyone knows that ahead of time. Regarding teaching, student evaluations are used but are supplemented by evaluations by faculty who sit in on occasional classes, especially in the classes of those with poor past teaching records..

    There is little complaint. Those who receive poor evaluations can leave if they can find another suitable position – which invariably they cannot.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Thank you, Charles Rowley. It makes me feel better to know that there are departments who have organized this process in a reasonable, civilized way.

      Blogging is great because I now feel a lot more hopeful.

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      1. Z Avatar
        Z

        Your place doesn’t do that?!?

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        1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
          bloggerclarissa

          No, we have the same teaching loads for everybody except administrators. This is the first time I hear of this.

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    2. David Gendron Avatar
      David Gendron

      Okay, I missed this.

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  10. Evelina Anville Avatar
    Evelina Anville

    These types of measures infuriate me. I hate when universities institute these punitive measures in order to ensure that faculty “work.” It’s insulting and perpetuates the myth of lazy and overpaid faculty. Not all faculty are perfect of course. But I have been involved with quite a few universities and by and large, faculty are very hard working. Further, these types of measures, as you suggest, create this terrible culture in which faculty compete against one another and are always suspicious and paranoid. All the while administrators, who spend their day in unnecessary meetings and are never held to any sort of standard, are making 3-4 times what faculty make. Fire three administrators and the budget problems will be solved.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Our alternative is not firing administrators – which I obviously welcome – but firing all the contingent faculty. If we do that, our department will only achieve a 5% cut instead of a 25% cut. Given that 96% of our departmental budget is formed by the salaries of TT and T faculty, you can imagine what the next step will be.

      The useless bureaucrats in HR and all such services are unionized and nobody can touch them. And anyways, the entire burden of the cuts is currently placed exclusively on the departments. Nobody is asking the auxiliary services to cut even a dime.

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  11. Ol. Avatar
    Ol.

    TT unproductive professors will retire b/c they will not want to teach a 4/4 load. They will not be replaced. Junior faculty and TT prof who want to stay will then face the following options: 1) cap your classes at 40, 50, 75, 100, and more, or 2) refuse students in your program for a lack of space, and thus limit growth.

    Where I work languages classes capped at 16 in 2010, now it is 25. 2 prof. retired during these years. 1 was not replaced and the other was replaced by a VAP. So we have demand but the administration limits our growth.

    But at the same time the university payed an insane amount of money to hire a firm to assess our assessments.

    Finally, and because I am optimistic, I am happy that you felt in love with your university. You will achieve great things there.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      We just had to raise all enrollments in language classes from 25 to 30. I don’t need to tell you how “effective” this kind of teaching will be. 😦 😦

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  12. Ol. Avatar
    Ol.

    The semester I have the luxury of teaching an Intermediate Spanish section with only 10 students. My friend… you would not belive the things I did with these students because of that. In their midterm ‘placement exam’ (this is our assessment tool for the U) they score almost as high as 400-level students in Spanish.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      I don’t even want to imagine something so great. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by allowing these measures to solve some invented and inflated crisis du jour. Idiocy, idiocy, idiocy.

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  13. Z Avatar
    Z

    We haven’t had cost of living or merit for anyone in 5 years. And you have to look at teaching range not just number of classes, to determine how much people are working.

    Most undergraduate classes here are taught by instructors with 5-course loads. Now, to make up for the lack of raises and lack of funds to hire more, they will be allowed to tach 7 per semester, for extra pay. You can see where quality of non mechanical teaching will go in this situation.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Seven courses?????????????????

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  14. Z Avatar
    Z

    “TT unproductive professors will retire b/c they will not want to teach a 4/4 load. They will not be replaced. Junior faculty and TT prof who want to stay will then face the following options: 1) cap your classes at 40, 50, 75, 100, and more, or 2) refuse students in your program for a lack of space, and thus limit growth.

    “Where I work languages classes capped at 16 in 2010, now it is 25. 2 prof. retired during these years. 1 was not replaced and the other was replaced by a VAP. So we have demand but the administration limits our growth.

    “But at the same time the university payed an insane amount of money to hire a firm to assess our assessments.”

    Yes, this is where it is going. It is no longer really about producing good research. It is about generating funds with tuition dollars (large class size) and pulling in external funding of the type that allows the university to take a lot of it for overhead.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      If we were given the tuition money we get, we’ll be fine. But we don’t have access to it. It all goes back to the state and the state decides how much we get. And it’s the weirdest system because the state creates all these different pockets of money that don’t communicate. If there is a huge amount of money assigned for, say, supplies, we cant move that money to an area that needs it more. There is a huge disconnect between people who actually make the university work and those who manage the budget. At this point, they are nit even telling us what we are to expect. The Chancellor and the Provost are clueless and through no fault of their own.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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