Over the past month, major changes have been proposed on the Yeshiva College campus. These include the cutting of the First Year Writing Seminar (FYSM) down to one semester and a reduction to the number of Judaic Studies requirements. The cut to FYSM, after a vote of 80% in favor, has been implemented. While the change in Judaic Studies requirements is still under discussion, according to President Joel’s comment at Town Hall on March 19th, it is expected to go through. These changes on YC’s campus have given rise to speculation that there might be similar changes on the Stern College campus. However, according to Dean Bacon, no such changes to the SCW curriculum are currently being considered.
One reason for the lack of change on the SCW campus may be the general structure of its curriculum, Bacon suggests. The YC CORE curriculum requires students to take courses in eight different categories across different disciplines, as well as courses within the Judaic Studies department. These categories are independent of the different majors offered at YC and cannot be taken towards a student’s major. By contrast, students at SCW fulfill their general requirements by taking courses within the different majors.
For example, Professor Douglas Burgess is currently teaching Atlantic World under the History department at YC and SCW. On the YC campus, Atlantic World only counts towards a History major requirement. Burgess is teaching a separate course, History of Law, under the CORE category, Cultures over Time. On the SCW campus, Atlantic World can count either toward the major or as a general requirement. In effect, in contrast to YC, SCW gets two classes for the price of one, making its curriculum model more financially efficient. According to Bacon, the “distributive approach” of SCW’s curriculum model makes for “robust majors and a robust education.” Additionally, in recent years, SCW’s enrollment has exceeded YC’s, perhaps a sign that YC’s curriculum model is designed for a larger student body.
As of March 30th, two YC tenured economics professors have been let go, however, students had been under the impression from student meetings with President Joel that only contract professors were going to be cut, creating further apprehension as to whether tenured professors on this campus will be let go as well. Addressing concerns about cuts to SCW faculty, Bacon dispelled rumors that there will be a major letting-go of professors on the SCW campus. As it currently stands, she said, SCW’s faculty is appropriate for its size. However, this does not mean that there will be no cuts. According to Provost Botman in a March 13th meeting with the YC student body, three contract faculty members are expected to be cut from Stern.
Students and professors have also expressed concern about increases in class size. According to Bacon, class size will continue to be largely determined by student interest. Dr. Linda Shires, Chair of the English department, while noting the benefits of small classes, also suggested that, in some cases, “there can be pedagogical benefit to medium-sized and large literature classes (15-30, say), especially that of hearing many points of view in class discussions.” Rather than viewing larger class sizes in only negative or positive terms, however, she suggested that class sizes be evaluated according to “the topic and level of the course, whether it is classroom or online based, the talents of the faculty member teaching, and the responsibilities per term of the faculty member in question.”
As for increases in teacher course loads, Bacon said that most teachers are teaching three courses per semester, which is the maximum that they can be asked to teach. Any additional courses, she said, would simply be too taxing for teachers and “lower the academic quality” of courses.
In addition to dispelling rumors, Bacon also addressed the lack of communication between the administration, faculty, and students that has allowed these rumors to proliferate.
Dean Bacon acknowledged that the current communication system “isn’t the best.” However, she also defended the administration’s seeming lack of transparency on certain issues, explaining that while the administration’s silence might seem like “obfuscation,” it is more often a sign that things are still in development and that any public announcement would be premature.
This applies to the recent announcement about the merging of the two faculties under the leadership of Dean Bacon, who was appointed the inaugural Dr. Monique C. Katz Dean of the Undergraduate Faculty of Arts and Science at YU. The merger, set to take effect over the next three years, raises many logistical questions, including: whether the budgets of the two undergraduate programs will be merged; how, when creating a department’s course offerings, department chairs will determine which courses currently being offered on one campus should also be offered on the other; whether the current chairs of each department will become co-chairs and to whom professors on either campus will report; and whether the university will cover added travel expenses and travel time for professors to “bounce” between campuses.
According to Bacon, at this time the logistics are still being ironed out and the administration does not have answers to the above questions. However, Bacon pledged to be in communication with the student body as soon as details are finalized.