There’s no doubt our university is growing. Adding one thousand students in the matter of a year will take its toll on any institution, especially one that has been designed to cater to 6,000 to 8,000. However, we at The East Texan cannot find any forgiving explanation for A&M-Commerce getting itself into trouble regarding the lack of faculty on campus.
Last semester, in light of the impending state budget crisis, deep cuts were made in some department’s adjunct faculty budgets. This further increased the workload of full-time faculty. Add to this the fact that the university is working hard to add at least 1,000 new students each academic year, and you have a university that is moving in two very different directions.
It is important for a university’s enrollment numbers to grow, and we applaud A&M-Commerce for their strong effort in attracting new students to our school. However, with growth comes need for larger classrooms, more resources and more faculty (both full-time and adjunct). Growth requires not only increased enrollment, but the foresight and communication to plan and prepare for new students.
A&M-Commerce has a chance to learn from this situation and realize that growing too quickly is as bad as not growing quickly enough. The quality of our students’ education is very important and must be carefully balanced with the quantity of students.
The university’s decision to fill existing faculty lines and create new ones is a good one. It should have been made long ago.