State Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater says Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office is looking into University faculty workloads to see if students are getting the best return for their tuition.
“It’s important to make sure resources are focused on the classroom and the students and taxpayers get the most value from investments,” Rainwater said.
Rainwater said instructors in the LSU System are teaching 77 percent more credit hours than tenured professors. Instructors at the Baton Rouge campus teach 133 percent more, he said.
One area where faculty members do less teaching than instructors is in sabbaticals — a leave of absence to focus on research, writing or acquiring new knowledge. Rainwater said tenured faculty earn the right to have a sabbatical but not during a budget crunch.
“At a time when we’re facing a very large deficit, I think it’s important that we justify what sabbaticals are taken,” Rainwater said.
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Stacia Haynie said tenured faculty have different responsibilities from instructors. While instructors’ primary job is teaching, professors generate new knowledge and research dollars.
Haynie said faculty members work on articles, books, research agendas, technology transfer or the development of patents during sabbaticals.
“Sabbaticals provide a concentrated period for faculty to make significant progress on their research agendas,” Haynie said.
Haynie said the process to earn a sabbatical must be approved by a number of individuals on campus.
The University currently has 19 faculty on sabbatical, a number Haynie said is average with peers. Unlike other four-year institutions in the state, the University has a different role, scope and mission, especially in research.
“The fact is, I understand — and the governor obviously understands — the importance of research, and we support it,” Rainwater said.
Rainwater said some Louisiana universities have come to him with plans to increase faculty classes so everyone is “maxed out on workload.”
He said some administrators are already making adjustments based on the Division of Administration’s guidance.
Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope said the governor’s evaluation of the faculty workload shows naivety or malice.
“If it shows naivety, it shows he’s not qualified to be governor,” Cope said “If it shows malice, it also shows he’s not qualified to be governor because he’s not observing his duty to care for his people.”
 
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Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected]