The recent budget proposal from Ohio Governor John Kasich included language to the effect that college professors would be required to teach the equivalent of 1/2 class additional each year**. Needless to say, this didn't go over well on campus. Looks like the uproar was premature:
House Republicans have proposed doing away with Gov. John Kasich's plan to require professors to teach more classes.
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Ohio State University leaders don't mind the tuition cap but are concerned about Kasich's plan to increase the teaching load of full-time professors, including those who do research, by one class every other year.
During budget testimony last month, OSU Provost Joseph A. Alutto told lawmakers that the school's research professors contribute mightily to the university's $4 billion annual economic impact and would be most hurt by having to take on more classes.
"To give you an idea of the accelerating pace of research by faculty at Ohio State, in 2010, our total research expenditures were $756million," Alutto said. That's nearly double the $400 million in research expenditures in 2001. Meanwhile, fewer faculty members than nine years ago were responsible for teaching a greater number of students, he said.
House Republicans agreed to take out the workload provision because "most of us believe that kind of decision should be made on the college campus, as opposed to legislators specifically mandating workload," said state Rep. Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green, chairman of the higher-education subcommittee of the House Finance Committee.
*A nod to the standard question I get from neughbors every summer (even though I am never home during the summer--they seem to think I still have the summer off).
**At OSU there is no standard courseload. It varies by College and department based on need, research demands, extension demands, numbers of students, number of faculty,... My reaction to the 1/2 courseload increase proposal was "What is 1/2 plus 3ish ?"
