UCLA faculty’s overwhelming desire to stay with the
quarter system was announced Tuesday during the third Legislative
Assembly meeting of the year.
Forty-six of the 57 departments that submitted reports voted to
keep the current academic calendar while only six voted to change
to semesters.
Departments that voted to convert included French, Spanish,
Slavic languages, music, mechanical engineering and the School of
Dentistry.
Academic Senate chairman Duncan Lindsey said at the meeting he
was concerned about the senate making a decision without sufficient
faculty input but commended the departments on “thoughtful
and compelling” analysis.
Chancellor Albert Carnesale was present at the assembly meeting
but declined to comment on the reports at the meeting. He said he
will read them soon.
In a letter, the chancellor asked the senate to investigate a
possible calendar change. Despite the departmental input, the
chancellor’s letter included a clause reminding everyone that
while he wants advice, in the end, the decision rests with him.
“While establishment of the calendar will ultimately be an
administrative decision, it has profound consequences for our
academic programs. Accordingly, it is essential that I have the
advice of the Academic Senate,” the letter read.
In their reports, many departments gave similar reasons for
staying with the current academic calendar.
One of the most common arguments is that there are no documented
advantages to being on a semester calender, so there really is no
reason to change.
Though some have argued that operational costs will be lower
with a switch to semesters, another deterrent for many faculty was
the huge resource costs of switching to semesters.
“We are concerned about the academic transition costs of a
switch and would much, much rather put the time and energy such a
change would require into contemporary forms of curriculum
development,” said the philosophy department’s
analysis.
The physiological science department’s report predicted
the switch would be “costly, painful, and prolonged”
and would cost not only money but valuable professor and staff
time.
The English department said it likes things the way they are and
was frank in its reason for not switching: “If it ain’t
broke, don’t fix it.”
No-Hee Park, dean of the School of Dentistry, noted his school
felt differently and was in the minority with its recommendation to
change to semesters. He said almost all medical schools use them
and that a conversion would provide better continuity with other
research institutes.
“A lot of our scientists are taught by medical school
faculty, and they have to teach sometimes during breaks. I
don’t think that will make our faculty very happy,”
said Park.
Park said he sees why departments in the college voted against a
switch ““ because they would lose some small courses ““
but said medical school is different in that the curriculum is
standardized so everyone takes the same classes.
Five departments had their vote designated as
“other” in the report, which includes departments
neutral on the issue or undecided for some other reason.
The UCLA School of Law, which currently uses a semester
calendar, was one such “other” department.
Law school dean Barbara Verritt said the law school faculty does
not want to go back to quarters but at the same time does not want
to impose its view on others who might want to stay with quarters,
as the law school will probably be unaffected regardless of the
decision.
“We want to stay where we are, and let others decide where
they want to be,” Verritt said.
A final town hall meeting on the issue has been added and will
take place on May 1 to present the collected information to the
public and allow them to ask questions.
The submittal of the reports is the latest in a six-step process
for faculty discussion the senate approved in response to the
chancellor’s request.
Two town hall meetings, the departmental reports and a period of
discussion at the recent Legislative Assembly meeting are steps
that have already been completed.
The next three steps include the senate committees’
individual comments, set to be delivered on April 25, and the
senate membership vote, May 5-16. On these dates the 3,200 senate
members will vote on the calendar issue in addition to electing
next year’s board.
The submission of the senate executive board’s
recommendations is the last step in the process and is due by the
end of spring quarter. At that point Chancellor Carnesale will
review all the information and forward his final decision to the
Office of the President.
For more information, visit the Academic Senate Web site at
www.senate.ucla.edu.