**EMAIL BULLETIN - January 19, 2010**
To: All KFT Membership
From: James A. Castiglione, KFT President
Date: December 16, 2009
Subject: Council of Deans announcements on syllabi, office ours, etc.
Faculty recently received several announcements from the administration via a memo from the Council of Deans and reiterated in a meeting of chairpersons with Provost Mark Lender. These administrative announcements include that faculty must post office hours for SP 2010 by December 18, 2009, that syllabi for SP 2010 are due by January 8, 2010, that faculty must include the cost of course textbooks on their syllabus, etc.
The announcements also state that faculty not posting their office hours by December 18th would receive a letter from Human Resources. In a conversation with Interim Provost Mark Lender I confirmed that this letter is simply a reminder and not a letter of reprimand as some had understood.
Members have noted numerous problems with these guidelines. For instance, many faculty members’ schedules will change as classes are canceled necessitating new syllabi and changes in office hours that will only sow confusion among students. The administration does not appear to have fully thought through the unintended consequences of these changes. But the Interim Provost wanted to be clear that these new practices were not punitive.
The administration also wants to include the cost of textbooks on syllabi to be in compliance with the requirements of the Higher Education Reauthorization Act. But the Act actually says: “Institutions should convene a group consisting of the dean of faculty, the registrar, the bookstore manager, and the publication manager to discuss the implementation options…” and that the textbook prices should be, “…disclosed on the institution’s on-line course schedule…”, not on syllabi. Why doesn’t the administration just convene the committee the law calls for and have the bookstore post the information on its website, instead of shunting its responsibilities onto the faculty?
When asked by faculty how they should deal with poorly conceived and implemented guidelines such as these, the KFT’s position is always that members should use their professional judgment and expertise to do what is in the best interests of their students, academically and otherwise. The KFT believes that its members know best from their day-to-day interactions with their students what their students needs are and what approaches work best and represent sound academic practice in their classes. The KFT trusts in the professionalism of our members.
