Faculty from programs deemed 'low-producing' speak up

The 75 programs must submit written appeals to the Department of Higher Education by Oct. 21.

By Stephanie Ebbs

Published Oct. 8, 2010

In its meeting this week, Faculty Council discussed the results of a list published by the Coordinating Board for Higher Education which contained 75 degree programs at MU deemed "low-producing."

The board defines a "low-producing" program as one with less than 10 graduates from a bachelor’s degree program, less than five graduates from a master’s program and less than three from the PhD program.

Faculty Council Chairwoman Leona Rubin said every four-year university in Missouri received a list of "low-producing" programs and that the goal of this is to make higher education in Missouri more efficient and cost-effective.

“Ten percent of university funding comes from the state,” said Victoria Johnson, MU American Association of University Professors vice president. “(MU) generates the other 90 percent.”

As a result of the list's release, defenses must be written for each department explaining why it produces so few graduates and submitted to the Department of Higher Education, Rubin said. After these justifications are written and presented, Faculty Council will also review whether changes are necessary in each of these programs. Members of the council are still concerned about the rights of faculty in these departments.

“Sometimes faculty go out of their way to do something good, either from a teaching perspective or research, and we end up getting punished for it," Department of Mathematics professor Stephen Montgomery-Smith said.

Several members of departments targeted in the list have expressed disapproval of the proposed process. Nicole Monnier, a professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, said writing the justification requires assembling a lot of data and that the deadline of Oct. 21 is "offensive" and unreasonable.

“Things have stopped in my department over the past three days because we have to gather this information,” Monnier said.

Rubin said the move to cut departments and programs isn't meant to remove faculty positions.

“This isn’t about faculty lines or staff lines or anything else,” Rubin said. “It’s about reevaluating programs.”

The single criteria in determining which departments made the list was another cause of concern.

“The list they’ve given us is just not a good place to start,” Montgomery-Smith said. “The criterion just don’t make any sense at all.”

Using only the number of graduates from each program does not take into account the total number of students enrolled or the number of faculty that department has, both of which have direct influence of the number of graduates from that program.

Another significant point of discussion was the recent UM system Board of Curators meeting, held in Springfield at the Discovery Center. At this meeting, student and faculty representatives were invited and able to converse with the curators in a more informal setting.

Betsy Rodriguez, UM system vice president for human resources, spoke to the board about faculty benefits. The benefits program is under review, as the UM system is hoping to make it more cost-effective. Most faculty members indicated in a survey they would like an increase in salary.

“If we’re ever going to come up with an increase in salary, we’re going have to come up with the money someplace else,” Rubin said.

Rubin said the review hasn’t made progress since Rodriguez spoke to Faculty Council on Sept. 16 and the presentation was mostly informational.

Both of the main issues discussed at this week’s meeting will continue to appear on the agenda.