Semesters vs. quarters/Email exchange between Kevin Baaske and Trinh Pham

From CSWiki

[edit] Message from Trinh Pham

Dear Kevin:

First of all, thank you for agreeing to lead the discussions about the semester conversion issue this past Friday. I think the discussion is important for all of us, and the meeting provided a good opportunity for questions to be asked.

I would now like to make a few comments, and ask some questions that are remaining in my mind after the discussion. I hope that many faculty and staff will agree with my points, and have other inputs to add.

One comment I wanted to make was regarding a particular response you had given several times during the meeting. I realize that you most likely felt under fire throughout the discussions, and therefore responded as such, but I felt it was unfair to imply that I or any other faculty or staff member are ill-informed about the semester conversion process, and that this is true purely because we did not read the items on the website or otherwise do our own research.

I don't want to speak for anyone else here, but for me, I am victim to the reality that as a faculty member (and I am sure this is generally true for staff as well), I have too many different obligations to keep track of, and therefore, despite my best efforts to stay informed, there are obviously going to be some things that I might miss. This has nothing to do with lack of care or negligence on my part. It is just a result of what I am capable of doing while still doing my job as a faculty member, especially as a new faculty member. This is why it is so important that members of the administration help us to clarify any questions we might have, because with so many people involved, it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure that we all understand the true ramifications of the conversion process.

That being said, I think there are still several elements that are missing from the discussion in terms of solid information provided to the university community. If you did not understand what I was asking at the meeting because I failed to express myself clearly, then I apologize, and hope to correct that issue here. I would like to request that the following documentation be generated:

1. Although the website is a wealth of information, for busy faculty and staff, we cannot wade through all the information and be certain that there is no information we have missed. From what I can see, the website contains a collection of information, but no "executive summary" type of document. The specific information I am referring to is the direct impact on three categories of personnel on campus (these are of concern to me, but perhaps there are others to be added?):
   • Faculty
   • Staff
   • Students
     There is some information provided for each of these categories, but no one cohesive document that summarizes the possible positive and negative impacts of semester (or trimester) conversion on each group of people. Perhaps a table of pros and cons as they relate to each grouping would be very helpful. I guess what I am getting at is a short document that provides a clear comparison for each of these groups, with reference to details given in various documents. This would serve as a front end to all the discussions that will hopefully bring us all to the same page.
2. A more comprehensive comparison of existing universities using the quarter and semester system, including UCs and private universities, with actual reasons from each university for selecting their current system as well as any comments regarding whether they are planning to switch and why. I know there is already some information on the website about universities that are on the semester system, but I feel what is lacking is not only whether a conversion has been made, but why, and whether they are satisfied with having made the switch. One question that definitely was not answered for me is: why would almost all UCs be on the quarter system if it is so clearly an inferior setup? I cannot accept that the only reason is that we have different "types" of students, and therefore we automatically cannot be compared to the UCs, or that because of differences in students, none of the reasons that UCs employ to justify their system applies to us.
3. What specific gameplan does the university have to deal with all the resource issues that will invariably arise during and after the conversion? What specific resources can be promised to the faculty, staff, and students to cope with the changes? As was mentioned during the meeting, we cannot make a choice about whether or not the conversion is a good idea if we don't have all the information, and no one can expect us to make an ill-informed decision. Also, although there can be no guarantee given to the university community that all will be well in the end, we do need some concrete budget and support information BEFORE we can make a good choice. The analogy I would like to make is the following: if the university were a company, and all faculty, staff, and students were potential investors in the company, would anyone commit to investing in the company if no sound financial plan was provided? It is like asking us to donate millions of dollars without knowing how the money will be spent.
4. If there are any boundaries on what the faculty have the freedom to do with regards to determining our workload, present those limitations upfront. We need to know what types of decisions we can make. This does NOT mean that we want the workload model spoon-fed to us. We only need boundaries identified by someone with the power to make these determinations. Otherwise, this would once again involve us making assumptions about the new system that could be entirely false, leading to failed plans and frustrated people. If proper boundaries are identified, the faculty can take it from there to determine the specific model that is most appropriate for each department and college.
5. If there is evidence to support the claims that student recruitment and retention will be improved by moving to the semester system, that administrative efficiency will indeed improve for the likely models we would employ, and that student learning and faculty productivity will improve purely due to the switch, please provide that data.

With regards to the students, I think that once this type of information is disseminated and is made readily available to all of us, the students may vote differently. It is not fair to the students to assume that they are making a selfish choice because they are only concerned with graduating when they are really in the same position as faculty and staff, i.e. they do not have enough information to make an educated choice. They can only vote based on their understanding of the situation, and like us, they need to be sure that their needs will be considered if this big change is to occur.

I hope that these concerns can be addressed. I realize that you are a faculty member as well, and that you are divided because you must serve two groups of people with different needs simultaneously, but I would appreciate if these concerns are taken seriously. Please assume we have done the legwork, but just are not satisfied with what we have found. If there are questions that indeed can be answered by just looking more closely at the provided documentation, please indicate that as well.

Thank you for your time, and please let me know if I should clarify or elaborate on anything I have said.

Best. Trinh

--

Trinh K. Pham, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

California State University, Los Angeles

5151 State University Drive

Los Angeles, CA 90032

323-343-4498

tpham4@calstatela.edu

[edit] Reply from Kevin Baaske

Personally, I don't think anyone is being asked to jump off a cliff.

There are 23 CSU campuses. 17 are on the semester system. They are not all that different, although there certainly are some details where they differ, We are being asked do we wish to be something like the other 17 campuses. If we do, then we'll sweat the details. If we think that the quarter system is superior, then it would be a waste of time to work out all the details only to have the faculty then say, "no."

Despite that personal belief, I will continue to do all that I can to get the Provost and President to publicly commit to resources they will make available if we end up converting and I will also pursue some commitments regarding the boundaries of the decision-making on work-load. It is clear that other institutions in the CSU have given their faculty the flexibility to achieve FTES targets with designated resources, while reducing the number of classes taught. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, as illustrated at the fall faculty day talks. We clearly need a commitment from the Administration as to whether or not they will permit us to decide how these will be accomplished or if there are some boundaries that cannot be crossed.

Thanks again for a very interesting meeting and please feel free to join us on November 18 and/or November 25 at the open senate meetings.

All the best, Kevin