But faculty representatives worry such a system gives an advantage to universities with greater access to external funding — typically, major research universities — at the expense of the rest of the system.
“The new teaching load requirement has the potential to exacerbate inequalities in educational opportunities within the UW System, preserving more hands-on learning and career building opportunities for students at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee while making it harder for faculty and students to collaborate on research at the regional comprehensive universities,” UW-Oshkosh English professor Douglas Haynes said.
“Furthermore, if the only way permitted to gain teaching release time for research work is to procure external funding, this would disproportionately impact faculty, staff and students in the arts and humanities.”
UW-Green Bay professor and chair of Democracy and Justice Studies Jon Shelton echoed that concern and questioned what the requirement would do to the regional universities’ ability to conduct research.
“It’s quite possible that this is going to prevent Green Bay from internally being able to fund course reassignments for research,” Shelton said, adding that faculty were particularly frustrated the deal was reached without their input.
“This just shouldn’t have been negotiated behind closed doors without actually determining what the impact of this would look like for people doing the work.”