One of UNC’s greatest assets is its status as a world-class public research university. This status, however, has been threatened by proposed Senate Bill 593, which would require that “all professors teach a minimum of eight class courses per academic year,” significantly more than the current average of 2.5 courses per term for tenured professors at UNC.
While the bill has many flaws, its most egregious mistake is that it would completely backfire in its aim to improve education at state universities. By threatening professors’ abilities to conduct research and mentor students, the quality of instruction at UNC would suffer greatly if this bill were passed, especially in the natural sciences.
One of the main sentiments driving the proposal of this bill is that professors are not teaching enough and that mandating more class time would increase interactions between students and professors. This line of reasoning fails to appreciate a fundamental fact of research universities — the best teaching and learning occur outside of the classroom.
In the natural sciences, students who have conducted lab research will tell you they learned more there than in any class. I, for one, would not be half the student I am today if not for the guidance of my faculty mentor.
But mentoring is time-consuming, and a higher course load for professors would mean less time available for this critical function. SB 593 is a dangerous response to a nonexistent problem: If professors were given credit for the time they spent mentoring students, eight courses per semester would be a laughable reduction in their teaching responsibilities in most cases.
Beyond their roles as mentors, professors who conduct research at the cutting edge of their fields bring unique benefits to the classroom. Drawing from their research experiences, professors in the natural sciences can teach students about current scientific literature and discuss knowledge that won’t make it to textbooks for years.
By imposing unrealistic classroom expectations that would divorce professors from their research, SB 593 would hinder the teaching of higher-level thinking that is critical to the development of the next generation of scientists.
Finally, when it comes to conducting research, SB 593 would put professors at a competitive disadvantage within their fields or push them to seek opportunities elsewhere.
At a university already plagued by low faculty retention and budget austerity, this would virtually guarantee a brain-drain of the most talented professors and students.
