The Chronicle of Higher Education
Date: December 8, 1995
Section: Personal & Professional
Page: A20
By Mary Crystal Cage
Faculty members at Florida A&M University are fighting a workload policy that requires them to spend more time in the classroom than professors at the state's other public universities.
Sixty-five professors at Florida A&M have filed grievances with the university claiming that the policy is discriminatory and violates their union contract. Each week, they are required to spend at least 15 hours in the classroom and on related duties. For professors at the other eight institutions in the State University System, the minimum is 12 hours a week.
Brian R. Nelson, president of the statewide United Faculty of Florida, said "the only basis for this discriminatory practice" was that Florida A&M is a historically black institution.
Charles A. Weatherford, chairman of the physics department at Florida A&M, was among those who filed a grievance. "I'd like to have an equitable assignment," he said.
Patricia Woods Brown, president of the campus chapter of the faculty union, said professors blamed the Florida Board of Regents, which they feel has not given the university adequate financing. "The administration is doing what it can with the resources it's given," said Ms. Brown.
Provost James H. Ammons said that because most of its classrooms are small, the university has had to offer more sections of courses as enrollment has grown. Administrators decided that full-time professors, rather than adjuncts, should teach most of the classes.
Julie L. Sheppard, associate counsel to the governing board, said it was the administration at Florida A&M, not the regents, that set the workload requirement. She said the higher minimum there may reflect a statewide movement to increase teaching loads.