Resolved:
The Academic Senate charges its standing committees and their sub-committees to review policies relevant to faculty workload to ensure that they are in keeping with the guidelines and the spirit of the current CSU/CFA MOU. Policies which shall be reviewed for this purpose include: RTP, Advising, Program Review, Assessment and any other policies that committees consider to be institutionalizing faculty volunteerism.
Academic departments and programs should avoid scheduling classes for any full-time instructor in such a way that his or her total enrollment exceeds an average of 24 FTES per 12 WTUs by more than 10% in a given semester (that is, an average class size of 30) for a full-time instructor. Proportional adjustments should be made for instructors teaching fewer or more WTUs. While the Senate recognizes that this is a broad statement of acceptable limits and does not address the unique work situations of many faculty members, it nonetheless expresses its sense of what defines an “overload” for instructors teaching typical 12-unit teaching loads. Instances where instructors are assigned student enrollment in excess of this figure should be rare, and should be matched with assignments in subsequent semesters with proportionally lower enrollments. Individuals assigned to teaching workloads in excess of these guidelines shall be experiencing excessive workload as defined by article 20.3.c in the current MOU between the CSU and CFA. Departments not adhering to article 20 in their scheduling practices shall be in violation of the spirit of this resolution.
Individual faculty members are encouraged to “work to contract.” A teacher/scholar’s workload calls for a minimum of two hours of time outside the classroom for each hour spent in it, in order to ensure quality educational experiences for students. Such activities include but are not limited to: scholarly preparation for classes, evaluation and response to student work, record keeping and data input, and development of course materials. At a proportional rate, three units indirect teaching time allows nine additional work hours for faculty to support the university mission, including such tasks as governance, advising students on requirements, and mentoring students in discipline-based learning and career development.
The Academic Senateurges the Sonoma State Administration to endorse this resolution and to respond to the concerns expressed herein.