A capacity crowd filled the Union’s Atchafalaya Room Thursday to hear Chancellor Mark Emmert and other University officials discuss the proposed instructor cuts in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Emmert used the opportunity to clear up some misconceptions about the cuts.
“The proposal is still under development,” Emmert said. “It has not been finalized.”
Emmert stressed that the proposal came about because the University was given the opportunity to add resources to University departments, and English and math were seen as the places to make improvements.
William Demastes, College of Arts and Sciences associate dean, said the proposal is to cut 45 English instructors and 30 math instructors. In addition, the plan is to add 16 new professors in the English department.
Demastes said the college hopes 15 of the current 85 English instructors will be re-classified or re-assigned as Writing Center workers or coordinators for larger classes.
Emmert said the proposal is not “an assault on instructors,” but rather an attempt to create a better ratio between instructors and professors.
“This is an investment of money from the University in these departments,” Emmert said.
Emmert said he wants University faculty members to be nationally known and active in scholarship, while at the same time working with students to create “new knowledge and scholarship.”
In addition, Demastes said the courses English 1001 and English 1002 will not be eliminated.
While the University currently teaches 160 sophomore-level general education courses, Demastes said the University hopes to reduce that number to 120 within three years.
Demastes emphasized that not all smaller classes will be eliminated.
“They don’t have to take the large classes,” Demastes said. “Nobody’s going to be stuck in massively large classes.”
Demastes said the courses Math 1021, 1022 and 1023 will be combined into larger sections.
“At any given hour in the semester, there are 20 to 30 instructors in separate sections giving the same information,” Demastes said. “Why not have one large section where all the information is given in one place?”
Demastes said despite the large class sizes, personal interaction between students and teachers would not be lost.
Demastes said there would be breakout sessions, discussions among 20 to 25 students, coordinators to ensure that students do not get behind in classwork, and computerized assignments.
“There will be numerous ways of learning the information,” Demastes said.
A student with dyslexia asked Emmert if any special accommodations or changes would be made for disabled students in larger classes.
Emmert emphasized the plan is to have more, not less, individual attention and methods of instruction.
“Learning occurs in a lot of different formats,” Emmert said. “The proposal is to have a robust mix of these types of formats.”
Despite the uproar over the issue, Emmert remained firm in his commitment to the proposal.
“I am enormously confident that this is the right thing to do for LSU,” Emmert said.