Women studies faces budget crunch

Additional reporting by Clint Page Henderson & Cari Folks

Juggling resources is common for SF State departments, but for many, the resources have begun to hit the floor. For the women studies department, the act may end next fall.

The department, like others, is facing a budget crunch in trying to balance funds between tenured and lecture faculty positions.

It may cut almost half of its undergraduate lecturer positions by fall, according to reports from a meeting Tuesday between women studies faculty and the Dean of the College of Humanities Nancy McDermid.

The department needs about $16,000 in order to offer its current undergraduate courses next semester, but doesn't have the money according to Fabienne McPhail and Merle Woo, both lecturers who were at the meeting.

Sabbatical leaves by tenured professors over the past few years have left funds to keep all six lecturers, but Woo said those days are over.

Lecturers teach 10 of the undergraduate courses offered this semester. All four tenured professors will be working next year, which means funds to keep lecturer courses will dwindle, she said. One tenured professor may be the equivalent to three lecturers because lecturers get hired at a cheaper rate and don't have to advise (advising counts as one class for permanent faculty).

Susan Shimanoff, acting chair of the department, would not confirm or deny that undergraduate courses or jobs could be cut next year. She said the final budget is not in, and she will not comment until that time.

McPhail, a lecturer since 1991, said the department has been trying to save classes since last semester.

She said McDermid has been supportive in trying to find a solution. If money isn't found, McPhail fears she could be out of a job.

"Dean McDermid painted a realistic picture of what could happen in the fall," she said. "I have the lowest seniority so I'd rather know now if I have to look for a job -- I'm a single mom."

McDermid could not be reached for comment.

Woo said she feels a bit betrayed by the possible cuts.

"What I don't understand is that when the last tenured faculty member was hired, Vice President Boxer promised she wouldn't take any money from lecturer courses," Woo said.

Marilyn Boxer, vice president of Academic Affairs, said she never made guarantees about university funding to women studies lecturers.

"I never spoke to the lecturers. I never promised that lecturers would not be affected," she said. "This is (happening) because a tenured faculty member is returning from sabbatical in the fall and will resume teaching her courses. As you hire more tenured faculty members, fewer lecturers are needed."

If women studies lecturer positions continue to be eliminated it may be the end to a long tradition for the department.

"Women studies has its anchors in community activism," McPhail said. "Our department was built politically on having people from the community come in and lecture. The curriculum is going to be affected by these undergraduate cuts."

Rowena Derobles, a senior in anthropology who is taking the course "History of Women in Japan and China," (listed as both a history and women studies course), agrees.

"I'm already unsatisfied with the way things are. There are already too few classes offered in women's history and women's studies. I think that the students suffer. It's too bad," she said.

McPhail said university President Robert A. Corrigan's commitment to affirmative action will also be tested by the decision because the majority of women studies' faculty members are people of color.

She added that a trend of having African American lecturers, like herself, is campuswide. "The Black Faculty Association said there are only 87 African American faculty and half of us are lecturers," she said.

The Black Faculty Association could not be reached to verify those statistics.

Marisol Ruiz, women studies graduate, said she agreed that the possibility of losing teachers of color is detrimental to the whole department.

"Most of the women who teach here are women of color. We get to hear other perspectives. Unlike other schools, these classes not only deconstruct sexism, but racism and classism too."

[ Golden Gater Online February 29, 1996 ]

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