Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 9
Texas A&M-Victoria Faculty Resign Over 5-Day Campus Rule and 4-Class Teaching Load
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 9

Texas A&M-Victoria Faculty Resign Over 5-Day Campus Rule and 4-Class Teaching Load

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 9

Summary

  • Six faculty members in one online counseling program, including Le’Ann Solmonson, resigned after Texas A&M-Victoria required professors to work on campus five days a week.
  • The departures also reflect a new expectation that faculty teach at least four classes per semester, a change some professors said no longer fit the jobs they accepted.
  • University leaders said the policy aligns with a Texas law passed last year barring remote work for full-time faculty at public colleges, with limited exceptions such as medical reasons.
  • Texas A&M-Victoria also argues a stronger in-person culture could help revive its struggling campus, while the dispute highlights a broader post-pandemic clash over remote work and faculty workloads.

Insights

When a university forces online professors back to campus and half resign, who actually pays the price for this strict policy shift?
Can a college truly improve its culture by mandating 40-hour in-person workweeks if it empties entire academic departments in the process?
As online learning booms, will strict new campus presence rules ultimately destroy the very distance education programs they aim to regulate?