A letter sent to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences department chairs by LA&S Dean James Norris detailed departmental evaluations and future suggestions on faculty workload.

The letter, which was sent out earlier this month, was a follow-up to a discussion held by LA&S higher-ups on the possible increasing of faculty workload and other suggestions to help ease the college’s tight budget during its annual retreat in October.

The letter is also the response to a recommendation of the NIU Provost’s Office and a reaction to the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s Priorities, Quality and Productivity initiative.

The letter detailed the American Association of College Professors’ statement on faculty workload. In its definition of faculty workload, the AACP includes course load, which is generally measured by hours per week, out-of-class research and responsibilities such as student advising and other community and administrative responsibilities.

Each department received an evaluation of its program in regard to the AACP’s guidelines on faculty workload. In addition, each department was given suggestions on how it could better meet expected standards.

“About half of them (the letters) said ‘you’re doing a good job and keep up the good work,'” Norris said, “and about half of them said ‘here’s some areas on which you could improve and here’s some suggestions on who you could do it.'”

The letter specifically noted that “there are serious inequalities in the faculty workload policies and practices in the college.”

“I didn’t do this to point the finger at anybody,” Norris added. “All I’m doing is saying that there are inequalities in the college.”

Norris said there is an ambiguity in the definition of faculty workload. He said that he hoped to clear up some of the misconceptions about it by using the AACP’s statement. In addition, he argued for the necessity of faculty research and class-preparation time when considering workload.

The letter also detailed the need for departments to provide correct and accurate measurements of their faculty’s workloads.

“We need to be much more careful of the image we are giving the students about our teaching,” Norris said. “One of the things I’m saying is that we describe our work load by the amount of time we spend in class—that is not an accurate description.”

The letter also suggested that faculty activities such as student advising and counseling as well as other services should be considered more as an expectation of faculty and result in far fewer course reductions.

“More specifically, I think we should expect regular faculty to do student advising as part of their normal workload,” the letter said.

“What I’m saying to the departments is that all faculty should be advising because it is important for the students,” Norris said.

Several LA&S departments currently employ a centralized student advising and counseling system as opposed to a department-wide method. This centralized system is staffed by department faculty members holding either temporary, permanent or rotating positions.

Norris said he could not yet speculate what results the evaluations and suggestions contained in the letter would have upon the college’s departments.

“I do expect that there are going to be some very upset faculty because of this,” he added.