MinnPost Article : Jeff Kolnick, MSU-Southwest

http://www.minnpost.com/community_voices/2009/03/26/7635/raise_my_taxes_--_us_tried_the_low-tax_way_and_it_didnt_work

A Summary of WSU Department Chairs Assessment of the Effect of Cuts to Faculty Staffing on Student Education

A Summary of WSU Department Chairs Assessment of the Effect of Cuts to Faculty Staffing on Student Education

Prepared by Kurt Hohenstein, WSU Action Committee Chair

As part of an effort to gain information, the WSU Action Committee solicited from WSU Department Chairs their assessment on student education of cuts to their adjunct, fixed term, sabbatical replacement and overload teaching loads for next academic year. The following is a summary of how cutting those positions will affect WSU’s capacity to teach our students.

Where clear estimates could be made, cuts to those positions would create a minimum class space deficit (meaning seats per students) of 3300. Not all of the Departments could provide clear estimates, and their comments appear below. What this means is that there would be at a minimum, 3300 fewer spaces for students at WSU in those course most in demand by new and existing students.

Since each department is unique, there are a number of other consequences to the cuts. Among them are the following:

• There will be a substantial lack of capacity to offer University Studies courses. Most Departments would first take care of their majors, and the classes offered by the affected positions are commonly USP classes. The cuts would devastate the ability to offer those courses across the campus.
• Incoming freshmen and transfer students would be especially hit hard. Seats for them could not be reserved, and they would face an array of issues finding open sections.
• For majors, departments would attempt to deal with the cuts by offering upper division courses less frequently. This is likely to have the effect of delaying graduation because majors need certain courses to graduate, but those courses would not be offered as often as the majors would need.
• In specialized programs, accreditation problems would occur, putting the continued status of those programs in jeopardy.
• Minors would become nearly non-existent in many programs.
• Majors would see a reduction in certain upper division course necessary to complete the requirements for graduation, delaying their academic progression, and costing more in tuition.
• Rochester courses would be cut substantially in those departments who offer them but who are not housed at that campus.
• In the most severe cases, the cuts would result in the elimination of entire programs, or major parts and functions of departments.
• The solution of increasing class sizes to alleviate the cutting of numbers of courses would work in some areas, but would be very detrimental in areas where there are substantial writing, oral communication, performance, or hands-on student-teacher classroom engagement.
• For WSU, the cuts would change the character of the institution. We would not be able to differentiate our university, which now offers a wide variety of programs that appeal to new and transfer students. Cutting the identified category of faculty will substantially change the unique nature and appeal of WSU, which has been a major driver of our increased enrollment and retention of students.
  
  This summary has been prepared by Kurt Hohenstein, WSU Action Chair, based on a survey of WSU department chairs who have years of experience handling curriculum, scheduling, hiring, and student development issues. They are in the best position to assess how cuts to their own programs will affect our institution’s capacity to serve our students, innovate and incubate the best ideas, and develop active, thinking, and productive graduates that will drive the economic development and growth for Minnesota.

Michael Bowler's "A Simple Question": WDN

Check out Michael Bowler's Letter to the Editor in the Winona Daily News.

Faculty Forum on the Budget II

When: 5:00 PM Thursday, March 19, 2009
Where: Winona – Stark 106 Rochester – ST118

We want to share what we know and hear your thoughts and comments on the budget crisis.