Restore the Writing Program Class Offerings and Class Size Caps!
Chancellor Conway, President Holloway, and Executive Dean Wade
Petitioning: Chancellor Francine Conway, President Jonathan Holloway, and Executive Dean Juli Wade
Chancellor Francine Conway and the Rutgers administration will inflict irreversible damage on our Writing Program in New Brunswick if they continue with their current plans!
The number of Writing Program sections being offered this fall is dramatically lower than last year—and the maximum class size has been increased, in spite of all the research proving that smaller class sizes are especially critical to writing instruction. Many adjunct lecturers would lose their regular classes if these cuts go through, and the burden of larger class sizes would fall on the full-time faculty who remain.
Please add your name to this petition from Writing Program faculty members from both unions, so we can make it clear to the administration that this is unacceptable!
To:
Chancellor Conway, President Holloway, and Executive Dean Wade
From:
[Your Name]
We, the undersigned faculty of the Writing Program at New Brunswick, strongly object to the draconian cuts in the number of classes being offered this coming fall. The reduced offerings from last fall’s schedule will result in Lecturers losing their jobs and fewer classes available for our students who need to graduate.
We also take exception to increasing the maximum class size to twenty-four students from the current twenty-two, which is already too high, according to experts. Every department at Rutgers depends on our program to teach students writing competency. If these changes are imposed on the Writing Program, tens of thousands students will lack the skills needed to succeed at this university and in their working lives.
It is therefore essential, for the sake of our students, our colleagues, and our university, that you immediately restore the number of classes being offered to fall 2023 levels and limit maximum enrollment to twenty-two students.
Maintaining class caps at twenty-two students and the fall 2023 level of course offerings is essential because:
1) Writing Program classes have been proven to aid in freshman retention rates. Freshman retention will decrease as a result of less individual attention.
2) Time to degree will be increased. Less flexibility and fewer class options will result in students having to delay their writing requirements (WCr and WCd requirements), wreaking havoc on our scheduling system.
3) Increasing class sizes is the opposite of what our External Review Committee recommended. The 2022 committee recommended that the Writing Program both decrease NTT faculty course loads and reduce class sizes in order to provide optimal instruction.
4) Rutgers will fall behind peer institutions who adhere to CCCC guidelines for our field, which stipulate: “No more than 20 students should be permitted in any writing class. Ideally, classes should be limited to 15. Remedial or developmental sections should be limited to a maximum of 15 students. No English faculty members should teach more than 60 writing students a term.”
5) Gen Z needs more writing instruction, not less. In an era of ChatGPT and deep fakes, students need the skills to create and discern well-reasoned arguments. Students have only gained back about one-quarter of the learning loss for reading accumulated during COVID-19. This learning loss can only be combated with smaller classes.
6) We just unveiled a new curriculum in fall 2023—a huge undertaking that requires extra time, energy, resources, lesson planning, prompt modification and innovation.
7) Using a standard academic Workload Assessment Model, we have determined that an increase of two students in each WP class, with a 3/3 course load, would correspond to a 4.3% increase in teaching for each NTT professor.
8) Adjunct lecturers will be fired as a result of fewer WP classes offered! This is unacceptable.
9) Finally, an increase in class size and a reduction in course offerings are not necessary given the university’s continuing strong financial position. While it is true that Rutgers ran an operating deficit last year (although its net financial position increased, according to the latest financial report), this came after two record years of operating surpluses—all while unrestricted financial reserves nearly doubled to $897.1 million.
Save Writing at Rutgers!