California State University, Long Beach
Policy Statement
02-11
June 11, 2002
POLICY ON SCHEDULING AND STAFFING SUMMER
TERM WITH YEAR ROUND OPERATION
This new policy was recommended by the Academic Senate on May 16,
2002 and approved by the President on June 4, 2002.
The intent of year-round operation (YRO) is to increase access of
matriculated students to high priority courses such as general education,
foundation, and remedial courses and critical major requirement courses
(bottleneck courses) by decreasing the cost of summer term attendance
to a level comparable to the two regular terms. Without YRO, increasing
numbers of students could potentially experience difficulty in getting
courses required for graduation during the fall and spring terms.
Hence, the following set of guidelines shall be considered when scheduling
Summer Term courses: 1. Courses that have the greatest demand during
the fall and spring terms for which there is more demand than seats
available, and courses that are essential for graduation or progress
toward a degree for a significant population of students, have first
priority in scheduling for summer term.
2. Schedules shall be made with a view toward student needs rather
than faculty preferences. Courses should be scheduled so students
will have the greatest possible access to the largest number of
courses. For example, a department should not schedule all morning
courses or all evening courses. Nor should it schedule all courses
in just one of the three summer sessions. Likewise, efforts should
be made to avoid overlapping of course times.
3. For faculty, summer term employment is not an entitlement. Under
YRO, departments and colleges shall hire faculty members who are
best qualified to teach the classes for which there is the greatest
demand or need.
4. As in the fall and spring terms, departments are given budgets
and enrollment targets for summer term. To meet these targets inasmuch
as possible, there should be a cross-section of faculty in the summer
term that is similar to the mix of faculty in the spring and fall
terms.
5. Department chairs have authority and responsibility for scheduling
courses in their departments for summer term, just as they do for
the fall and spring terms. Department chairs shall make recommendations
to deans regarding the assignment of courses. Final authority for
those appointments rests with the deans.
6. Colleges, departments, and faculty alike have the obligation
to ensure that the quality of summer term offerings is commensurate
with the fall and spring terms. The fact that the course time frames
are compressed is not a justification for
diminishing the quality of the educational experience.
7. Chairs shall have discretion when scheduling courses that would
not be suitable in a compressed time frame. However, chairs should
also keep in mind that it is possible to schedule courses during
the summer term for more than six weeks duration. The appropriate
department faculty shall be consulted about the duration of any
class.
EFFECTIVE: Summer 2003 |
