A furlough progress report at Cal Poly shows furloughs are hampering education. Many faculty are concerned because furloughs have resulted in a pay reduction while their workload has increased due to larger class sizes and fewer available lecturers.
At Cal Poly alone, there were 41 fewer lecturers this fall quarter from the previous year when there were 427 total lecturers. Across the entire CSU system there were 2,000 fewer lecturers from about 12,000 total lecturers. According to Cal Poly provost Richard Koob, there were 92 fewer courses offered this fall. The result of the reduction means that many introductory courses enrolled larger sections than in previous years.
While lecturers and courses are in shorter supply, faculty and students continue to adjust to the changes brought along by furloughs and cuts.
After one quarter of furloughs, some faculty are altering their approach to the implementation of furloughs. Some faculty are now placing furlough days on instruction days, while others are deciding to place them on days when they do not teach. However, days without instruction are often research days for most faculty.
Here at Cal Poly, President Baker decided against campus closures which were implemented at other campuses in the CSU system. Instead, faculty at Cal Poly propose their furlough days per quarter and these proposals have to be approved by the department chair and dean.
Jane Lehr, an assistant professor in both Women’s & Gender and Ethnic Studies, has decided to change her furlough days around. She said during fall quarter two of her furlough days fell on instruction days but she had assignments for students who were responsible for knowing the material on those days. However, she decided to change her approach on furloughs this quarter.
“I was disappointed … since students weren’t seeing the furloughs as a detriment to education,” Lehr said.
This quarter Lehr will hold her furlough days on Fridays, which are her non-instruction days, since students were not accountable for their work. She said that her change in approach to furloughs is cutting into her research and often wonders if she can remain at Cal Poly due to the pay decrease.
“It is difficult to imagine staying here because of the economic pinch,” she said. “I enjoy teaching here and Cal Poly students but don’t know if I can afford it.”
Many non-tenured faculty are feeling the economic bind along with Lehr as their pay has decreased by up to 25 percent of what they expected to make.
In response, the California Faculty Association (CFA), the union representing Cal Poly faculty, is advocating that Cal Poly faculty members partake in a faculty walk-out on March 2 in which faculty would not report to work on that given day.
Richard Saenz, CFA president professor for the San Luis Obispo chapter, said that the walk-out day is designed to demonstrate the impact that furloughs can have on education if all faculty did not show up to teach. He said that it’s difficult for faculty members who are getting paid less and often end up doing more.
The future of furloughs for the 2010-2011 school year is still up in the air. Saenz said that he believes no decision will be made regarding furloughs until the new budget is decided upon the summer of 2010 to see how much money the CSU system will be receiving.
“Furloughs are preferable to massive lay-offs and pay cuts, while another potential option could be to increase class sizes,” Saenz said.
Whatever decision comes down next year, faculty and administration encourage students to become more involved in the decision making process with regards to their education.
“ASI student government and all students should demand more accountability from the administration and understand more about how the university works,” Koob said.