Lecture positions valuable to students
When students make the decision to attend a research university like Washington University, they do so knowing that to gain the benefits of having professors actively engaged in their fields, they must make some sacrifices in the standards to which they can expect their professors to teach. While Wash. U. clearly ought to maintain its focus on promoting research, not re-hiring lecturers place too much emphasis on research, at the expense of students.
The discussion of how Wash. U. hires professors has been brought to the attention of the campus, specifically by the situation involving lecturer Jerome Bauer, whose position as lecturer will be eliminated in favor of a tenure track assistant professorship that involves researching responsibilities. Student Life does not intend to comment on this case specifically, because it involves expanding a department, which could ultimately be beneficial to students and the University as a whole. However, the elimination of lecturing positions in favor of research positions is troubling to us.
The University’s obligation is to benefit its students. Wash. U. obviously benefits students through its excellence in research. The contributions professors make to their fields help Wash. U. build a reputation that will foster respect for the degrees it gives to its students. A research climate also provides students a unique opportunity become involved and work with leaders in the different fields of their interests. Finally, making sure that professors research ensures that students are taught by those who are up-to-date with the changes and latest developments within their fields. For this reason, Wash. U. must give professors some incentive to research and requiring tenure track professors to perform research is not objectionable.
It is well known that the best teachers are not always the best researchers, and vice versa. While many lecturers do not research and cannot offer the school the same reputation-building resume or opportunities for students, the fact that their sole focus is on education means they often teach some of the best classes. Many research professors are so focused on the pressure to publish that their concern for the students in their classes is only secondary, and the classes they teach are not as good. For this reason, when deciding whether or not to retain or fire faculty, the University ought to make sure one of its foremost considerations is how that faculty member interacts with students.
Essentially, it is most likely that the best environment for students is one with a combination of professors who both teach and do research and lecturers whose primary focus is teaching. Wash. U. already requires tenure track professors to do research, so it should not consider research when determining whether or not to retain lecturers. Instead, the University’s foremost concern should be how well the lecturer conveys information and helps students relate to the material.
Wash. U.’s letting go of lecturers marks one more disappointing decision within an overall trend of decision-making that focuses on building the reputation of the University without much consideration for the well-being of the students currently enrolled. Though improving the school’s reputation is imperative to its future success, making choices while heeding greater consideration to the school’s standing and reputation than on the effect on current students runs contrary to the school’s most basic educational mission.
Wash. U. should not be firing popular lecturers who do a good job teaching simply because they believe another individual might contribute more to the school’s prestige. Such a mindset neglects the needs of present students in exchange for increased appeal to future students and breaks the trust between current students and the administration by not providing students the best education it can offer. The most important function of a university is to provide education, and this should be foremost factor in making decisions about who will be educating.
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On December 16, 2010 at 3:38 pm Jerome Bauer said
“Student Life does not intend to comment on this case specifically, because it involves expanding a department, which could ultimately be beneficial to students and the University as a whole. However, the elimination of lecturing positions in favor of research positions is troubling to us.”
They did not intend to comment on the case specifically, but they went ahead and did so anyway, in their January 07 editorial, “Put teaching before research” (http://www.studlife.com/archives/Forum/2007/01/22/Putteachingbeforeresearch/} They did not intend to endorse the expansion of a department (technically, Religious Studies is a Program), but they went ahead and did so. Thank you, Student Life!
Please see the Student Union Resolution Advocating Increased Protection of Lectureship Positions (http://www.cfu-lc.com//su_lecturers_policy2.htm#resolution), tabled in Autumn 06 and again in Spring 07. Please let’s reintroduce this and let’s have a real teaching track this year. This was the talk of the campus in the 07-08 academic year, when students mobilized around my case and the case of Olin Business School accounting professor Tzachi Zach. We let ourselves get distracted when the University pulled a rabbit out of their hat, the controversial Phyllis Schlafly honorary doctorate. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize this time.
In Autumn 06 my Freshman Focus seminar student Bharath Mohan, active with Student Union Treasury and coauthor of the resolution on Lecturer’s Policy reform, called a meeting between SU and the Administration to discuss my case specifically, in the context of a reform process. He invited School of Arts and Sciences Dean Edward Macias, who declined and sent ArtSci General Administrator and then Program Chair in Religious Studies Beata Grant, `and Associate Dean Delores Kessler Kennedy, chair of the Freshman Focus program. I did not attend but many of my students did. The WashU CoOp and KWUR were especially well represented. I heard an account of this meeting from several attendees. I hear Dean Kennedy said not a word. Beata Grant reportedly maintained that no University grants tenure for teaching, a very curious claim since the late David Hadas of English and Religious Studies had famously earned tenure at WashU for teaching, having published absolutely nothing as a point of honor. I attended his memorial service and I heard Dean Jim McLeod say this in his eulogy, with admiration. Professor Grant reportedly went on to defend the indefensible, the status quo, maintaining that I had plenty of options and was not being treated unfairly, as Dean Kennedy looked on with a stern face. Finally one of the students asked her if I could reclaim my job if I ever left for even one semester. She had to reply, “No.” When one of the students proposed reform, she reportedly said, “It’s time to take the next step…” I emailed her about this, and she replied, cryptically, “You can be assured that we ALWAYS put the interests of our students first.” This comment was made as I was being prepped for surgery to save my right eye, with potentially deadly high blood pressure and high intra-ocular pressure, clearly attributable to high stress. I was teaching seven classes that semester (five at WashU, two at Fontbonne) and doing political work to expand the Religious Studies Program, as I and my students, and the Student Life Editorial Board, clearly understood. The surgery came too late, and I lost the use of that eye, even as a decision was taken to break a firm promise to keep me teaching in the University College and Summer School (please see my comments on “Students protest removal of lecturer’s job.”) For the record, my students signed a get well card for me. I received not a word of sympathy from any of my colleagues. For the record, I received a very nice Christmas card from Chancellor Wrighton, addressed to “Jerome Bauer, Lecturer.” I was willing to accept this as part of the “play,” because I had been told, and had figured out on my own, that I was being told one thing, and the Administration was being told another. I accepted this lack of transparency out of perhaps misplaced loyalty to my colleagues in Religious Studies. (Please see http://www.cfu-lc.com//su_lecturers_policy2.htm, and also my comments on Students protest removal of lecturer’s job, http://www.studlife.com/archives/News/2006/09/27/Studentsprotestremovaloflecturersjob/)
After the January 07 Student Life endorsement of my continued employment, I sent a message to the Program Chair. She replied tersely, in her role as General Administrator, that the School of Arts and Sciences was grateful for my work but my contract was not being renewed (I paraphrase here, but of course I saved the email). A few weeks later I talked to one of the University College deans, who informed me that he had been listening to the cross-talk, and he was convinced that the decision not to list my University College and Summer School courses, despite a strong verbal promise, was “a Departmental decision.” I heard from others, including my student advocates, that “their hands are tied,” suggesting pressure from above. Later, in Autumn 07, when an attempt was made to rehire me in the graduate program in International Affairs, for whom I had taught quite successfully (“Fundamentalisms East and West”), this fell through and a gag order went into effect. I was told, by one who should have had authority to hire, that he could not say anything about the case, and I was told the same by one of the Vice Chancellors.
Please see http://www.cfu-lc.com/victory.htm for my impressions in August 07. I have not updated this. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Religious Studies had given my Lectureship to a friend and colleague, behind my back. Why was I not surprised when, halfway through the academic year, he was listed as “Visiting Lecturer,” and then he left, and the Lectureship in Religious Studies ceased to exist?
I made the Religious Studies Lectureship a WashU institution, when I worked, as the Program Chair put it, as a “one man Religious Studies Department.” It is still a WashU institution, in absentia. Actually, I have never been absent. I have just taken a very long unpaid college teaching sabbatical, to learn first hand what it is like to be an exploited contract adjunct lecturer, in fulfillment of a promise. Solidarity forever! Forever, not just when it is fun and convenient and a good career move.
On December 16, 2010 at 4:05 pm Jerome Bauer said
Here is the Student Union resolution supporting Lecturer’s Policy Reform, tabled in Autumn 06 and again in Spring 07:
Resolution Advocating Increased Protection of Lectureship Positions
WHEREAS lecturers are defined as any individuals that are not tenured, tenure-tracked, or on the research and are primarily engaged in teaching;
WHEREAS lecturers and professors both play distinct and indispensable roles in students’ scholastic development;
WHEREAS individuals governed by the university Policy on Full-Time Lecturers will continue to receive the same level of benefits as other full-time university employees;
WHEREAS the University administration places a premium on professorship positions for their ability to foster a culture of innovation and progress at Washington University;
WHEREAS students recognize the importance of research to the integrity of a University institution and also indirectly realize the benefits of this research;
WHEREAS students place a premium on the accessibility and availability of their instructors;
WHEREAS the student-focused nature of the lectureship position gives instructors greater freedom to tailor their instruction to the individual needs of students;
WHEREAS job security plays a major role in attracting and retaining exceptional lecturers and professors;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Student Union Senate believes that professors and lecturers play unique, yet equally significant roles in the education of students at Washington University;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Student Union Senate strongly urges the University administration to achieve a reasonable balance in the resources it dedicates to research and teaching instruction;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Student Union Senate strongly encourages the University to offer greater protections to lectureship positions in the interest of attracting excellent instructors and taking greater responsibility in retaining instructors with a demonstrated talent in teaching;
Bharath Mohan Eric Gradel
Treasury Representative Business School Senator
Sponsor Sponsor
Eric Gradel Paul Moinester
Speaker of the Senate Student Union Presiden