In response to the Brooklyn Campus Faculty Senate action strongly urging the creation of a 9 credit teaching load, the University Faculty Senate supports this action with the remarks that follow.

The University Faculty Senate supports a nine-credit teaching load for teaching faculty across Long Island University. Accordingly, the Senate also supports the equivalent 26-hour per week workload for library faculty across the University. The text below is a summary of issues related to teaching load as an issue in the quality of academic life-that is, as a catalyst for research productivity and intellectual prestige-and as an issue in the quality of the academic product-teaching leading to high quality graduates and research that makes a high contribution to the society at large.

 Long Island University has set its corporate sights on a self-categorization as an Independent Research University (the LIU website welcomes visitors to "the nations eighth largest private university"). In line with that objective is the rigorous application of research and publication qualifications for promotion and tenure of faculty across the institution. Further, the institution has begun to grow intellectually with the institution of new doctoral programs, including a Doctorate in Psychology and a Doctor of Philosophy program in Information Studies at the Post Campus, a Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Brooklyn, and the Doctor of Pharmacy and Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutics at the Pharmacy campus. All of this is appropriate in a university that hopes to contribute new knowledge to the society in which it is located, and in a school that hopes to foster an aura of research and intellectual endeavor among students and faculty alike.

In such an institution the quality of teaching is correlated with the quality of academic life. In fact, such an institution should hope to find itself stocked with many researcher-professors who constantly bring newly discovered ideas to the classroom (particularly to the doctoral seminar) and who, likewise, find their research is constantly fed by interaction with colleagues and students. A nine-credit teaching load will enhance course and program development, such as integration of the Internet into curricula. Students are attracted to a school by programs and courses offered.

In order for such a scenario to develop, faculty have to live in a culture of intellectual stimulation in which the constant exchange of ideas is an ever prevalent fact of academic life. Further, faculty need to have intellectual space (that is, time away from the classroom or the meeting room) sufficient to allow the fermentation of ideas and the pursuit of new knowledge via research and writing. Finally, a rich research and academic life among the faculty enhances and enriches the classroom experience for both faculty and students.

According to the 1997 Factbook on Higher Education, faculty in independent research universities report a work distribution as follows:

Notice that in this distribution research and teaching receive roughly equal, and collectively the majority of the faculty member's time. A clear majority of these faculty (83.6%) teach 4-9 hours per week. Interestingly enough, the same table reveals a teaching load for liberal arts colleges of 63.7% and public two-year colleges of 68.8%. The majority of faculty in these institutions (78%) teach 10 or more hours per week. Note that the latter categories are more in line with the current distribution of work for faculty across Long Island University. According to the AAUP, faculty typically work 48-52 hours per week.

The percentages reported here are borne out by an examination of area universities and colleges. A few colleges (Dowling, Marymount, Pace, St. John's) report a 12-credit teaching load. More colleges (Adelphi, Fordham, Hofstra, Polytechnic, and Bard) report a 9-credit teaching load. Research universities (New York University, Rutgers University, Columbia University, Wesleyan University) report a six-credit teaching load.

A high quality of academic life is essential for research productivity of a faculty. Research productivity brings prestige to an institution, not only for the research product that its faculty disseminates but also in terms of reputation of individual faculty members, schools, departments, and degree programs. A highly productive research faculty in a university blessed with prestige attracts a large number of highly qualified and highly motivated students at all levels. Prestige not only enhances current tuition revenues but also secures future applications (and tuition revenues).

An academic community of high quality is highly collegial, exists in an atmosphere of intellectual and artistic stimulation, provides faculty with the ability to be involved in creative teaching (particularly at the graduate level) and advising of dissertation research, and assists faculty in gaining access to external grant funds for research. In such communities faculty teaching and research commitments are evenly balanced at roughly 35% of the faculty member's time, or a teaching load of approximately 6-9 hours per week. A 1994 article in Academe states that:

Long Island University, with its 12 credit teaching load, has a long way to go to reach the level of a research institution with a high quality of academic life and a highly productive, prestigious faculty.

 The academic community can be seen as producer of two important products, both of which are equally important to the prestige and future security of the institution and of the society at large. These are (1) teaching leading to high quality graduates, and (2) research that makes a high contribution to the society at large. Reports suggest that faculty with higher teaching loads are forced to compromise in their allocation of time to individual duties, thus shortchanging both preparation for the classroom and research and publication. The AAUP 1994 report asserts:

Thus it seems that the potential benefit to the university in the reapportionment of faculty workload seeking a balance between teaching and research will lead directly to an improvement in the quality of education and of the graduates from degree programs. This in turn will further enhance the prestige and reputation of the university, helping to secure the future of high-quality admissions and admission-driven tuition revenues.

The same report notes the importance of high quality research and intellectual endeavor among faculty:

Research of high quality brings prestige to the institution, makes a major contribution to the society at large, and contributes directly to improved morale among teaching faculty.

Again, this is evidence that a balance between teaching and research must be sought so as to contribute to the quality of the research output of faculty at Long Island University-research must have intrinsic value to the faculty who produce it. This will directly contribute to enhanced prestige of the faculty individually and of the entire university at large.

 Conclusion: A University Faculty Senate Resolution

 Whereas, Long Island University has set its corporate sights on a self-categorization as an Independent Research University , and has instituted the rigorous application of research and publication qualifications for promotion and tenure of faculty across the institution;

Whereas, in an independent research institution the quality of teaching is correlated with the quality of academic life;

Whereas, faculty in these institutions nationwide teach an average of 10 hours per week;

Whereas, the academic community produces two important products, both of which are equally important to the prestige and future security of the institution and of the society at large--(1) teaching leading to high quality graduates, and (2) research that makes a high contribution to the society at large;

and Whereas, a balance between teaching and research must be sought so as to contribute to the quality of the research output of faculty at Long Island University;

Now, therefore, be it resolved, that The University Faculty Senate of Long Island University supports a nine-credit teaching load for teaching faculty across Long Island University;

and, futher, be it resolved, that the Senate also supports the equivalent 26-hour per week workload for library faculty across Long Island University.