Concern rises as courses are canceled with little notice
By Lucia Peveto
Last-minute course cancellations at Lane Community College are derailing the preparation of students and staff who have built excitement surrounding their upcoming courses.
As budget cuts rise, faculty express concern over the possibility of their departments being diminished. Dr. Jeff Harrison, a writing instructor at Lane Community College, emphasized both the importance of prioritizing education and the threat facing part-time teachers following cuts to literature courses. “Part-time teachers are only getting paid for the courses they teach. So if they can shift all of us full timers away from literature courses into writing courses, then they don’t have to hire part-time teachers,” Harrison said.
LCC literature and writing instructor Dr. Anne McGrail further discussed the treatment of Humanities courses in the budget. “I have witnessed over time, in maybe the last decade, a serious underemphasis on these important classes being supported,” McGrail said.
“I don’t know how an English major would be able to complete an associate’s degree in English literature this year,” she added.
According to Harrison, a faculty meeting revealed that five humanities courses have been cut for winter and spring term, despite high enrollment in some of these classes. He said that the pressure comes from the fact that, “if we want enough money at the school to pay for the programs that we know we need, we need to either raise tuition or get the Legislature to come up with more money.”
Jenna McCully, senior advisor for strategic communication at LCC, explained that because of the recent ability for students to schedule for courses in advance, the schedule adjustments were not able to happen naturally.
McCully explained how the college has addressed the budget cuts in terms of the effect on courses, “Because we can only spend what’s been allocated, the academic teams have come together with the deans and the different departments and done their best to make schedule adjustments to ensure that we’re not overspending our allocated budget and that we’re doing the least amount of impact.”
She continues, “So we’re going out of our way to make sure that we’re identifying courses that have low enrollment or that there is another course offered that fulfills the same credit requirements,” she said.
McCully addressed the students who have been impacted by these changes. “My hope would be that students would connect with the advising team, identify potential alternative options that meet the same requirements, and then if there really isn’t [any], we encourage them to meet with the deans and also submit a concern,” she said.
According to the LCC Board of Education’s policy 4350, any major cuts to a program have to first go through the board of directors.
Austin Fölnagy, board chair, has provided clarity as to what students can do with their concerns. According to Fölnagy, the two best ways a student can reach the board is to either show up to a public meeting, where students are the first to speak, or express their concerns to the student government, who have representation on the board.
Fölnagy stressed the importance of student advocacy, “the stance toward any budget decision should be a student-first focus.” he said.The next Board of Education meeting is on 6 pm Dec. 3, on LCC’s main campus, Building 3, boardroom 216. Office hours for Student Government Association representatives are posted outside Room 201 in the center building. Visit LaneCC.edu for more information.
