Letter to the Editor

To The Editor: In a Sept. 28 Tripod opinion piece I posed a question: "Is Trinity trying to reduce its dependence on adjunct [instructors]...?" Here is a quick answer: No. Instead it is busy inventing new reasons for taking regular faculty out of the classroom and replacing them with adjuncts. A 1999 case in point: Two new "Fellows Programs" sponsored by the ironically-named Trinity Center for Collaborative Teaching and Research (TCCTR). These will permit twelve full-time professors to pursue research projects during the spring 2000 term. Each faculty Fellow will name a student Fellow to work with her. The deadline for applications was September 20; awards were scheduled to be on September 30. The big prize for faculty Fellows is that each will be relieved of teaching one of the spring-term courses she is currently scheduled to teach. This means that twelve spring 2000 courses announced in the August 1999 "Schedule of Classes" will suddenly lose their announced instructors. Presumably these courses will either be cancelled or‹guess what?‹taught by adjuncts. And these adjuncts will have to be hired very quickly, because they will begin playing their fill-in roles in January. So if you've been doing what you (and your adviser) are supposed to do, planning ahead for spring courses, you may be in for a surprise. That particular course you counted on may be crossed off the books, or go forward with a freshly hired temporary instructor in place of the continuing Trinity professor you assumed would lead it. Box score for TCCTR Fellows Programs: 12 professors do more research and less teaching 12 student Fellows have wonderful experiences 120 or 240 or 360 students get gypped. An inquiry about the Fellows Programs addressed to the TCCTR director and the academic deans drew no response. Theirs is a "Don't ask, don't ask" policy. However the TCCTR associate director tells me that the foundation that puts up the money for one of the Fellows Programs insists on faculty getting time off for their research. If that's so, perhaps the TCCTR ought to be seeking money from funders whose values are more in synch with the spirit of a liberal arts college. The fact is, however, that the Fellows Programs are business as usual for TCCTR. It sponsors collaborative research aplenty, but what it does for "collaborative teaching," or for any kind of teaching, is a mystery. In this TCCTR can hide behind a much-beloved academic cliche, that research activity is essential to good teaching. This proposition is not itself the product of research. To the contrary, research studies show almost no correlation between professors' scholarship and their teaching effectiveness. But the "research equals teaching" mantra isn't about students' learning. It's about professors' careers. Believing that "research equals teaching" is like believing in the magic of Adam Smith's market, where an "invisible hand" supposedly harmonizes the private interests of individuals with the public interest. Keep taking regular professors out of the classroom (while replacing them with less experienced instructors) and‹it's magic!‹students learn more. Honest. It's a myth. At a time when the College claims to be reducing its dependence on adjunct instructors, it's a contradiction, too. If research is to complement teaching, teacher-scholars have to work to make it happen. If the College is to cut back on part-time and temporary instructors, TCCTR has to stop inventing programs that call for hiring more of them. In academic policy at Trinity, left hand and right hand don't seem to be collaborating. Sincerely, Eugene E. Leach

Letter to the Editor

To The Editor:

In a Sept. 28 Tripod opinion piece I posed a question: "Is Trinity trying to reduce its dependence on adjunct [instructors]...?" Here is a quick answer: No. Instead it is busy inventing new reasons for taking regular faculty out of the classroom and replacing them with adjuncts.

A 1999 case in point: Two new "Fellows Programs" sponsored by the ironically-named Trinity Center for Collaborative Teaching and Research (TCCTR). These will permit twelve full-time professors to pursue research projects during the spring 2000 term. Each faculty Fellow will name a student Fellow to work with her. The deadline for applications was September 20; awards were scheduled to be on September 30.

The big prize for faculty Fellows is that each will be relieved of teaching one of the spring-term courses she is currently scheduled to teach.

This means that twelve spring 2000 courses announced in the August 1999 "Schedule of Classes" will suddenly lose their announced instructors. Presumably these courses will either be cancelled or‹guess what?‹taught by adjuncts. And these adjuncts will have to be hired very quickly, because they will begin playing their fill-in roles in January.

So if you've been doing what you (and your adviser) are supposed to do, planning ahead for spring courses, you may be in for a surprise. That particular course you counted on may be crossed off the books, or go forward with a freshly hired temporary instructor in place of the continuing Trinity professor you assumed would lead it.

12 professors do more research and less teaching
12 student Fellows have wonderful experiences
120 or 240 or 360 students get gypped.

An inquiry about the Fellows Programs addressed to the TCCTR director and the academic deans drew no response. Theirs is a "Don't ask, don't ask" policy. However the TCCTR associate director tells me that the foundation that puts up the money for one of the Fellows Programs insists on faculty getting time off for their research. If that's so, perhaps the TCCTR ought to be seeking money from funders whose values are more in synch with the spirit of a liberal arts college.

The fact is, however, that the Fellows Programs are business as usual for TCCTR. It sponsors collaborative research aplenty, but what it does for "collaborative teaching," or for any kind of teaching, is a mystery.

In this TCCTR can hide behind a much-beloved academic cliche, that research activity is essential to good teaching. This proposition is not itself the product of research. To the contrary, research studies show almost no correlation between professors' scholarship and their teaching effectiveness. But the "research equals teaching" mantra isn't about students' learning. It's about professors' careers.

Believing that "research equals teaching" is like believing in the magic of Adam Smith's market, where an "invisible hand" supposedly harmonizes the private interests of individuals with the public interest. Keep taking regular professors out of the classroom (while replacing them with less experienced instructors) and‹it's magic!‹students learn more. Honest. It's a myth. At a time when the College claims to be reducing its dependence on adjunct instructors, it's a contradiction, too. If research is to complement teaching, teacher-scholars have to work to make it happen. If the College is to cut back on part-time and temporary instructors, TCCTR has to stop inventing programs that call for hiring more of them. In academic policy at Trinity, left hand and right hand don't seem to be collaborating.

Sincerely,
Eugene E. Leach