Inside Higher Ed
January 23rd, 2015
Arizona State University angered many of its faculty members last month when it announced that it was upping full-time, non-tenure-track composition instructors’ teaching loads to five classes per semester from four, without any additional pay. The university said it was eliminating a 20 percent-time service and professional development requirement to make up for the change, but instructors said that teaching five courses under any circumstance meant the quality of their instruction would suffer. Others questioned how full-time instructors could keep up with professional standards without participating in service or faculty development – or why their university wouldn’t want them to.
Arizona State, meanwhile, said the changes were necessary to address budgetary concerns within the department. Now it’s is backing down from some details of that plan -- but faculty members say the changes remain detrimental to teaching and learning.