UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, April 12, 1995
9A
Ax might fall on small classes
Classes with fewer than 12 students may not be offered
By Matthew Friedrichs
Kansan staff writer
Classes with fewer than 12 undergraduate or six graduate students might soon disappear from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
A draft of a policy addressing teaching loads dated Feb. 21, reads:
"As of Fall 1995, all tenured and tenure-track faculty of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will teach at least four or five courses per academic year with a minimum of 12 undergraduates and six graduate students in each."
James Muyskens, dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences, said budget cuts were behind the new policy.
Muyksens said that the draft policy would standardize teaching distributions across college departments and would provide the college with an opportunity to determine which courses should be dropped.
"We've got a budget crisis," Muyskens said. "We can't afford small classes."
"We're trying to make us all look at the kinds of courses in the curriculum," he said.
While some students benefit from smaller classes, students who take a larger section about a more popular topic would benefit if class loads were distributed equally, Muyskens said.
"Some of our best faculty are
teaching primarily small classes," he said.
Muyksen said some professors were concerned because the college's policy might diminish their opportunity to teach classes in their sub-specialty. But the college has a responsibility to students, he said.
"The curriculum should be driven by student needs, not faculty research needs," he said.
Faculty members and department heads are discussing the draft policy. Muyskens said more refined
guidelines based on departmental discussion would be issued in the fall.
"We endorse the college's desire to, in a sense, seek equity across faculty and departments," said Kim Wilcox, chair of the department of speech language and hearing.
Terry Weidner, associate director of the center for international programs, works with KU Languages Across the Curriculum, a program that offers classes at KU in a foreign language for credit in either the language or another course of study.
Wilcox said.
But, he said, "We're a little concerned about the implications for flexibility."
Wilcox said faculty in his department had concerns about the policy's potential effect on new courses. New courses that have an initial enrollment of 10 students might grow in future semesters, but the new policy would call for their end — almost before they begin.
"We've got a budget crisis. We can't afford small classes."
Collaborative courses also could be casualties of the draft policy,
The classes, which do not have high enrollment, would not be affected now because they are funded by grants.
But they might face pressure when they are funded by the University.
James Muyksens dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences
"I think that inevitably, special considerations have to be made for vital but not popular areas," Weidner said.
Michael Johnson, chair of the English department, said the policy would have only a slight effect on his department. "It's a perfectly defensible position, as long as due account is taken to special circumstances," Johnson said.
He said that the department would conform to the policy but that the college should be reasonable in allowing exceptions for courses that might fulfill special requirements or provide special opportunities.
Still, students might feel the cuts in smaller classes.
"It's conceivable that some students here or there might be disappointed," Johnson said.
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