2008 Woodie Awards
Summer school: Cut courses and unpaid teachers?
By: Eliana Granados
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: News
It is common for many students to catch up on the academic school year by taking summer courses at California State University, Stanislaus whether they failed a class or are tying to get a head start before fall semester begins.
Although summer courses are offered every year, they are not technically considered a part of the year-round academic school year. CSU Stanislaus Faculty Senate has reviewed the nine-month and ten-month faculty contracts, which state that faculty members teaching summer school courses are technically not being paid for teaching those courses.
"The university offers the contracts to be year round, which is known to start in September and end in June", said Dr. Steven Filling, member of the Faculty Senate. "The contract does not include summer courses, but more of as additional work."
During the summer, teachers are paid about one 30th of what they would get paid for a course unit. Due to the recent budgets, more summer classes are expected to be cut, which means faculty will be underpaid and students will become upset if specific courses are not offered during the summer.
"Faculty teach courses in the summer for their students and they see how upset they get when they see that certain courses won't be offered", said Filling. "With courses not being offered, most students will have to wait longer for graduation and it puts them, our students, in a bad position."
The recent budget cuts are also affecting part-time instructors as well who are being told that they may not have available jobs for upcoming semesters. With classes being cut for all upcoming semesters, instructors are told that there may not be many course offerings. However, that situation is still unknown as the precise budget for the school year is still in debate.
There is no precise information given out yet about the CSU, Stanislaus budget, but Filling says that faculty, students, and staff are trying their best to restore the third of the budget being cut but Gov. Schwarzenegger.
As registration for both summer and fall semesters approaches, students can check the class schedule online for more information about what courses will be offered.
Although summer courses are offered every year, they are not technically considered a part of the year-round academic school year. CSU Stanislaus Faculty Senate has reviewed the nine-month and ten-month faculty contracts, which state that faculty members teaching summer school courses are technically not being paid for teaching those courses.
"The university offers the contracts to be year round, which is known to start in September and end in June", said Dr. Steven Filling, member of the Faculty Senate. "The contract does not include summer courses, but more of as additional work."
During the summer, teachers are paid about one 30th of what they would get paid for a course unit. Due to the recent budgets, more summer classes are expected to be cut, which means faculty will be underpaid and students will become upset if specific courses are not offered during the summer.
"Faculty teach courses in the summer for their students and they see how upset they get when they see that certain courses won't be offered", said Filling. "With courses not being offered, most students will have to wait longer for graduation and it puts them, our students, in a bad position."
The recent budget cuts are also affecting part-time instructors as well who are being told that they may not have available jobs for upcoming semesters. With classes being cut for all upcoming semesters, instructors are told that there may not be many course offerings. However, that situation is still unknown as the precise budget for the school year is still in debate.
There is no precise information given out yet about the CSU, Stanislaus budget, but Filling says that faculty, students, and staff are trying their best to restore the third of the budget being cut but Gov. Schwarzenegger.
As registration for both summer and fall semesters approaches, students can check the class schedule online for more information about what courses will be offered.
Be the first to comment on this story