Faculty oppose the restructuring of departments

Illustration by Paul Jones
Illustration by Paul Jones
Illustration by Paul Jones

 

By Steven Ho
The Guardsman

Faculty members are opposing a new plan by the City College administration to reorganize departments in fall 2015.

The reorganization plan was announced in 2013 by the City College administration to make departments more manageable, according to Alan D’Souza, Vice President of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 2121.

The plan involves merging smaller departments together and splitting larger departments throughout the college. City College currently has 60 departments and the number of departments will decrease, according to a document by the Department Chairperson Council (DCC).

The administration has said that they are making data-driven decision for changes and improvements at City College, according to D’Souza. He believes that the need for a department reorganization is not backed by any data.

Department chairs are upset with the administration over the reorganization, because the proposal was developed without any discussion with the faculty.

Several department chairs believe that the reorganization will have negative impacts on students and faculty members.

The English as a Second Language (ESL) department will be split into two separate departments, non-credit and credit, according to the reorganization plan.

“They want all the departments to be the same size. How is that an educational decision,” said Greg Keech, ESL Department Chair.

City College administration has said that the ESL department is unmanageable because it is too big, according to Keech. He added that the administration had cut their coordination time by 50 percent.

“They say there is a problem with management, but they are creating more confusion. Now we have two department chairs dealing with paperwork for instructors that teach in both non-credit and credit,” said Keech.

The ESL department has set up pathways between non-credit and credit. Currently, students can start in non-credit and transition to the credit program within the same department, said Keech. He believes that the reorganization will have a great impact on Asian and Latino students in the ESL program.

“I am not seeing enough rationale to make me feel that is an improvement for the students,” said Keech.

The administration wants to merge smaller departments, including the Photography Department and the Visual Media Design Department.

“The Visual Media Design Department and the Photography Department work well collaboratively; however, we do not feel that we are a good fit to be a combined department,” said Erika Gentry, Photography Department Chair.

“I can’t find anywhere at a community college where a photography department has been merged with a graphics department and how that is managed,” said Gentry.

“It makes no sense to me and the Visual Media Design Department why the two departments would be combined. We have nothing in common,” said Gentry. She added that we only share lab facilities in order to save the college money.

“We recognize the district’s right to reorganize the departments; however, we feel that this was not done thoughtfully and it certainly was not done collegially and openly,” said D’Souza.

The DCC is currently handling negotiations between the City College administration and department chairs.