Provost’s comments troubling

With reference to the transfer of the general education program to the College of Liberal Arts, WSU Provost Warwick Bayly states that “there was no impact on curriculum” (“Budget cuts rekindle faculty group,” April 11). The few remaining faculty teaching these classes understand that future sections will be substantially larger than current sections. Curricular research is clear that bigger classes are not better.

With reference to laid-off faculty, Bayly states, “they may have been temporary employees, but I don’t know.” I am surprised he wasn’t sure about the status of employees in a major curricular unit under his office. Eight faculty were given reduced positions or terminated.

I am also surprised at Bayly’s dismissive comment about “temporary” employees. Most of the employees in question worked at WSU for more than 10 years. They took pride in their teaching careers, bought homes and had active community lives. The suggestion that they were disposable, and not worth knowing much about, does not capture who these people are. Unlike Warwick Bayly, they were part of a program that did not grant tenure. A better term for them is “nontenure track,” since many of them lasted longer here than have their tenured peers.

Elizabeth Siler

Faculty senator, liberal arts

Nontenure track faculty representative

Washington State University, Pullman