Well we do not hear Governor's every day comment on the work load of our nation's university faculty members. Governor Walker do so yesterday. He also proposed a 13% budget cut for his state's universities and told them to tighten their belts and to get more efficient. Now we have heard some Governor's criticize university faculty tenure, so now combined with this comment by Governor Walker we might be seeing the beginning of a national trend. Will state's begin more closely looking at university tenure, benefits, work schedules, curriculum, etc., etc.. Let's see what happens with this proposal in Wisconsin and what other state's begin to do on higher education budgets and public policy.
Below is an article that appeared today in the Milwaukee newspaper:
"When Gov. Scott Walker remarked this week, while discussing proposed budget cuts to the UW System, that faculty and staff should be teaching more classes and doing more work, it bared one of the most enduring sources of friction in higher education.
To listen to many university critics, the primary function of faculty members is that of a teacher in a classroom — someone who educates students in a model that is, in many respects, a continuation of high school. Working with students whose families may have saved for years and taken on significant debt to afford higher education is primary; everything else is ancillary.
To listen to many in academia, the primary function is to advance themselves and their field through research and — yes — share their knowledge, but in ways that go far beyond the classroom. At the higher levels, that may mean competing for grants and running laboratories that employ and educate students; at lower levels, that may mean facing relentless pressure to publish while making sure students are exposed to cutting-edge knowledge in their field.
The governor's proposal of a two-year budget cut of $300 million for the University of Wisconsin System — and his comments accompanying it — seemed to be rooted in the perception that faculty members are either misdirected or underemployed.
On campuses, the reaction has been incredulity.
"Most faculty members I know are working 60, 70 hours a week. I'm not sure what else they can do," said Jo Ellen Fair, a journalism professor and chair of the faculty University Committee at UW-Madison.
Preparing for and teaching classes, working with students during and outside of office hours, writing letters of recommendation for students applying for jobs and further education, advising students and grading assignments and exams "take an enormous amount of time and energy," Fair said. Faculty who teach labs spend additional hours in the lab working with students and preparing for experiments.
"When teaching looks easy, that's because it's been well-prepared," she said.
"Students come to UW-Madison because they get to work with some of the finest scholars, researchers and teachers in the world," Fair said. "If it's not the best place for students, we're going to have students leaving the state. The University of Minnesota is going to start looking a lot better. And we know we're better than Minnesota."
Depending on the academic field or department, faculty run tutorials for individual or small groups of students; supervise internships and training on and off campus; plan course schedules; coordinate those schedules among members of the department, school and university; and provide career counseling and placement, added Margo Anderson, a history professor and member of the faculty University Committee at UW-Milwaukee.
"We also have research obligations in our specialized fields, discovering new knowledge and promulgating it nationally and internationally. We solicit funding from foundations, the federal government to support research, and thus bring in significant additional revenue to the campus, much of which goes to support students as research assistants,"."