The College of Liberal Arts (CLA) has seen several of its foundation courses cut this semester due to the current budget. As a result, some first-year students have had a harder time finding the general education classes they need.
English, communications, philosophy, history and psychology courses were some of the classes that were cut, which are classes that incoming freshmen and first-year students are required to take.
Along with class reductions, there has been a reduction in staff across the university. The faculty reductions have been primarily focused on part-time instructors and staff who taught first-year foundation courses.
Sharon Downey, chair of the communications department, noticed the department alone had to cancel 14 of its lower division classes for the spring.
“Trying to find the right staff, how many classes to offer, finding class space and paying for the instructors themselves have become annual challenges,” she said.
Some CLA departments experienced cutbacks in staff and classes, while others did not encounter any. William Babcock, chairman of the department of journalism, reported stricter hiring requirements for part-time staff but experienced no faculty reductions.
According to Downey, these class reductions should be expected every spring semester. When the university divides up the budget every year, more resources are focused on the fall semester than the spring because more students, specifically first-year students, attend the university in the fall. Since the fall semester is the main concern, the spring semester tends to receive whatever is left of the school’s yearly budget after the fall semester has already been determined, she said.
“[It was] a more noticeable imbalance this year. It felt last minute, like an emergency,” Downey said. The class and faculty cuts were made during the winter session, though the “first clues” of cut backs were seen as early as November.
Downey said there has been some concern that the possible California Faculty Association (CFA) strike will have a serious impact on the university’s available teaching staff. While much of Cal State Long Beach’s current staff is part of the CFA, she said department administrators are confident that teachers will make their own decision whether or not to take part in the strike.
It is unclear right now if there will be any further cuts or even more staff hirings over the next year.
Most departments see regular growth as the student body involved in a department grows every year, and Downey said that since CSULB’s CLA remains committed to providing its students with the classes they need, it is confident that the fall 2007 semester should provide ample courses for all incoming freshmen and new students.
“It’s really unfortunate because communications is so important. It provides the foundation for so much in society,” said Jeanne Hart, a communications major.
Gerry Riposa, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, declined to interview.
