Written By: Dorette Dayan
The Brooklyn College Faculty Council, which is the legislative body of faculty, held a meeting last week over Zoom, where faculty addressed concerns of work overload and a number of overdue resolutions.
“There was some concern about class sizes with the switch to all distance learning and the increases,” said lecturer Douglas Cohen of the Conservatory of Music. “Because pedagogically, online classes should have fewer students and of course we’ve increased to deal with the current situation.”
According to Cohen, CUNY colleges were being funded about 80 percent and since payroll is 87 percent of the budget, the current budget cannot be sustained, although faculty feel they are working twice as hard. Additionally, they have expressed concern that classes will remain remote permanently after the pandemic, which will not alleviate their workload.
“The steering committee wishes to express its concern and dismay at the lack of active stated meeting this semester,” Professor Yedidyah Langsam said.
The council meeting was overdue, according to the Brooklyn College Faculty Bylaws, which state that “faculty should meet at least once a semester.” President Anderson admitted later that the council has rarely followed the bylaws to a t, but the faculty’s unusual workload hardly helped the council stay on schedule.
Among documents brought to the council for approval was the Modern Languages course Writers Workshop in Translation. Previously denied by the department, the course brought for resubmission to the Faculty Council, but the majority of the faculty voted in favor of scrapping it from the curriculum.
In addition, a resolution to create a database for faculty members to share research equipment was unanimously approved.