Why would Rutgers University officials undermine a highly regarded foundational program that teaches undergraduate writing skills? What Rutgers University officials, and everyone at Rutgers University, must continue to make a top priority? That's what I'm thinking. In the fall of 2024, there will be significantly fewer writing classes at Rutgers than in the more than 10 years I have taught in the Rutgers New Brunswick Writing Program.
Each fall, New Brunswick's writing program teaches up to one-third of all 40,000 undergraduate students enrolled at Rutgers University. These cuts will negatively impact students' ability to learn the critical writing skills they need to succeed in both their academic and graduate careers. It also affects students' ability to graduate on time, as it becomes more difficult for them to find classes that meet all of their invaluable writing requirements.
Writing is increasingly becoming a means of doing business. Students need to know how to communicate in order to build connections and excel at work. At a time when we are all at risk of losing competency in these skills with the rise of AI bots like ChatGPT, it's important not to neglect student writing education.
By reducing the number of classes we offer, the writing program will be forced to increase the number of students per class to 24. Industry standards say the ideal number of students in a writing class is 15, and it should be no more than 20. A writing instructor can spend 30 to 45 minutes grading each draft of a student's work. With 24 students per class, grading per class will take a minimum of 12 hours per week. When she has three or four classes, she is unable to do all the grading and fulfill other obligations to students, the university, and her family.
Are you sacrificing the time you spend planning your lessons? Giving up office hours and other time you might meet with students? Do you skip writing letters of recommendation? Do we turn our backs on our families when they need us? Will we abandon committees that work to improve the education of our students? Or are you simply not spending as much time providing written feedback that helps students build these essential skills?
Not only will full-time faculty have to do more work than they are physically able to do, but more importantly, part-time faculty will lose their jobs. Some popular instructors who have taught at Rutgers University for more than 40 years will soon run out of income. Some of our excellent instructors teach only one or two classes per semester due to family obligations or other work reasons. Why would the government throw away such resources?
Overall, the changes planned by the Rutgers administration will mean that undergraduates will receive a worse education than graduates receive, and may take longer to graduate because they cannot find classes that meet their demands. There is sex.
This has happened most noticeably in writing programs, but across universities class sizes have increased and the number of sections has decreased. In order to save money, there is no need to save as there is a strategic reserve of nearly $900 million, but the government is choosing to offer students a low-cost education. With 11 employees, most of them athletics-related, who earn more than $1 million a year, President Jonathan Holloway and Chancellor Francine Conway have found it difficult to fulfill the university's educational mission. There is no need to impose these budget cuts or class size increases.
Please email Holloway and Conway and let them know that you do not oppose cuts to the quality of education available to New Jersey students.
Julie is an assistant professor in the Writing Program and a member of the Rutgers University AAUP-AFT.