Instructors rally in opposition to budget cuts in education
By Audrey Kuo
April 29, 2009 11:21 p.m.
Generally, scenes of college classes being taught outside are associated with laid-back professors and liberal arts educations.
However, UCLA faculty are borrowing the cliche today to draw attention to what they call threats to undergraduate education.
Some lecturers and graduate students will be teaching their courses outside of Powell Library today to draw attention to their own positions, outside of tenured safety. University Council: American Federation of Teachers, a union that represents University of California lecturers, librarians and out-of-unit academic members, organized the event. There will also be a rally at noon.
Robert Samuels, a lecturer with the Writing Programs, said the rally will focus on the quality of undergraduate education at UCLA, as well as draw attention to the faculty who do the bulk of that teaching.
“We’re just trying to defend undergraduate education, because most of the people who teach undergraduates are graduate students and lecturers,” he said.
Samuels said potential budget cuts could negatively affect the Writing Programs by increasing class sizes, and he is concerned university officials may also cut undergraduate requirements.
“A lot of these decisions are made up high with really no faculty involvement,” Samuels said. He said because decisions will be made over the summer, when most of the UCLA population is not around, it is important to draw attention to concerns now.
“Undergraduate education is just not a priority for the university; it’s only 10 percent of the budget.”
Most of the instructors at the rally will be from Writing Programs, Samuels said, though the protest is also meant to draw attention to other departments that rely heavily on lecturers and graduate students as instructors.
Samuels also hopes to shed light on the situation of librarians on campus, who have been negotiating a contract for a year and a half.
The Writing Programs are not a department, but offer courses including English A, English 2 and English 3, which are requirements for all students within the UCLA College.
Bruce Beiderwell, director of the Writing Programs, said that along with those courses, the programs also offer a few courses that meet GE requirements and are catered to students who are interested in additional writing instruction.
In the past, Beiderwell said, writing programs also offered some upper division courses but because of past budget cuts those courses have not been offered in recent years.
Courses offered by Writing Programs are taught by about 30 full-time lecturers, as well as by graduate students from other departments. Faculty also fill a consulting role for all Writing II classes offered on campus.
Lecturers cannot gain tenure; instead, they are hired under three-year contracts, then undergo a major review after six years with the university, after which they teach under “continuing appointment,” a status similar to tenure.
Samuels said the Writing Programs are particularly vulnerable because all lecturers are paid from temporary funds, which are generally the first hit during university-wide budget cuts.
He called the potential cuts part of a trend away from writing instruction for undergraduate students.
“Just look at the pattern ““ first they suspended the GE seminar requirements, so that’s the small classes, then they suspended writing tutors,” he said. “And now they’re going to cut the Writing Programs. … They’re trying to save money by really targeting the people that need the most help.”
Samuels said the attitude about education on campus also needs to change, that students should expect more from their experience here: “People are saying, “˜Well, it’s a public institution; you can’t expect very much, and the important thing is to get a UCLA degree.'”
Beiderwell said it is too soon to be sure what cuts will have to be made or whether the programs will have to increase class sizes.
“There’s a lot of talking and negotiating, all the way down through the system, from the chancellor to the students,” he said.
“I know there’s going to be cuts. I just hope we do it in a thoughtful way,” Beiderwell added.
He said the rally will create room for more discussion of what changes will be made.
“The idea behind the rally is to demonstrate, to make a statement about the size and proportion of the teaching that goes on, not just at the undergraduate level, but across the university in nontenured lines.”
