State faults CSULB reports

Cal State Long Beach administrators have agreed to stop tampering with faculty workload reports in response to a recent investigation by the State Auditor.

The State Auditor's report, released in September, states that CSULB and two other California State University campuses "routinely credit faculty members for supervising students they did not actually supervise."

In interviews Monday, administration officials downplayed the seriousness of the investigation's conclusions, explaining that the workload reports are seldom used. Switching back to accurate accounting of faculty work will make little difference, they said.

Reform of workload accounting procedures, recently ordered by Provost Karl Anatol, "won't change the work faculty are actually doing," said Gary Reichard, associate vice president of academic affairs for academic personnel.

The State Auditor's report delivered a stinging rebuke to San Diego State, accusing administrators of falsifying faculty assignment reports in order to reduce faculty workloads.

At CSULB, however, reports were altered only when faculty members were found to be supervising more students than their maximum workload required, according to the Auditor's report. The extra workload credits were attributed to the department chair.

Campus administrators understated faculty workloads as part of an "informal understanding" with the California Faculty Association, said Keith Polakoff, associate vice president of academic affairs.

If administrators had accurately documented faculty work overloads twenty years ago, when state legislators first requested workload reports, crucial low-enrollment classes might have been cut, Polakoff said. Now, he said, no one uses the workload reports.

"[The CFA] agreed that preserving the integrity of our graduate programs was more important than preserving the letter of the law as far as workload was concerned," Polakoff said.

Some departments have long documented faculty members' excess supervision credits, which are earned mostly by teaching thesis and independent study classes, said Mike Hassul, president of CSULB's chapter of the CFA. But Hassul said reports of overloaded teaching schedules in other departments could lead some teachers to rethink the amount of time they, in effect, volunteer.

Full-time CSU faculty members are required to teach 12 units, or the equivalent by developing curriculum, conducting research or supervising and advising students. CSULB averaged 12.37 units for each faculty position.