On Dec. 3, 2024, Miami University professors were told their course load would be restructured. Tenure-track and tenured faculty will now be required to teach four classes per semester. This is a jump from the average two or three that many professors, regardless of standing, have taught.
This is terrible news for Miami students.
With increased workloads, professors will have less time to devote to their students. Less time for office hours. Less time to dedicate to undergraduate research. Less time to create collaborative projects and intellectually challenging material. Less time to devote to each class. Less time to form genuine connections with us.
A kind, caring professor who is invested in your academic success can completely change your Miami experience. Professors are already swamped, and those who carve out extra time for students do it because they love their work. They love investing in us, and we cannot lose that.
Miami is not taking care of the people who are the foundation of this institution, the people who truly reflect its values to the world. Professors are being disregarded and forced to cram in more classes which will take away from their inherent mission to pursue academic exploration. As a result, students now and in the future will not receive the same quality of education as those who preceded them.
That is unfair to those paying tens of thousands of dollars to further their education. As students, we should be vocally and unequivocally against this decision.
It does not matter if this was made for financial reasons. If student learning gets put on the back burner, the whole university will crumble.
Recently, the university senate formally requested a halt to this decision. We sincerely hope that the administration considers reversing course. Students and faculty are the fabric of Miami, yet going in this direction would paint a very clear picture that our needs are not presently valued by the administration.
Professors' contracts are not being renewed, while multi-million dollar construction projects are approved. Humanities majors are being erased while marketing material continues to promote our liberal arts values. This is not right.
These paradoxical decisions do not reflect well on Miami. Academic institutions are meant to promote academic excellence and the pursuit of knowledge, opportunities that students and professors need to continue attending these universities.
Now, these opportunities are disappearing for the student body. So that raises an alarming, but increasingly relevant, question: Who does Miami serve?
Because right now, it’s not us.
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The Miami Student’s editorial board is made up of Editor-in-Chief Kasey Turman, Managing Editor Olivia Patel and Opinion Editor Sam Norton, and reflects their beliefs. The contents of this staff editorial do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the entire editorial staff.
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