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Four course load is gone; complexity to reign in fall by Daniel S. Parker and Jay Rosen of its supporters — has been scrapped, except for a few isolated courses that can justify the extra credit. SUNY Buffalo will thus join most American universities in adopting the three-credit course as aq academic base. “four-for-three” system. But the changeover is by no means uniform. Departments in the Faculties of Arts and Letters and Social Sciences plus the School of Management will devalue their courses to three credits, with some exceptions. The School of Engineering and the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics will continue to grant four credits, but for four classroom hours per week. After a decade of constant challenges to its academic validity, the uniform four course load will vanish next fall as nearly, ail departments in the humanities and social sciences return to three credit courses while others throughout the University adjust their curriculum to varying degrees. Student course loads will be altered in dozens of ways, depending on the major and year in school, but about half the undergraduates will face extra workloads next fall and all students will wrestle with a more complex, less uniform class schedule. Justifiable anxiety But the new system faces a future rigged with uncertainty over its impact on class size, bus schedules, faculty loads and student-degree requirements, many of which will be wrecked in mid-stream by the changeoever. New Division of Undergraduate Education Dean John Peradotto conceded that the switch to three-credit courses will create a “tremendous problem for those who have gotten used to the four course load. They will experience this change with some justifiable anxiety,” Peradotto predicted. While incoming freshmen will have known no other system, they will find a complex class listing awaiting them: Most courses worth three credits, some four, a few six, and so on. And for students already advanced in their academic careers, the Carnegie Unit will alter degree requirements that had been based on the old Mounting pressure Courses in the Health Sciences will remain scattered from two to six credits. Nearly all courses in all departments, though, will conform to the Carnegie Unit (classroom hours equal to credits) except where a special Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) committee approves a different arrangement. The University, following the recommendations of the Faculty Senate, has implemented the so-called “Carnegie Unit” which awards one academic credit for each hour spent in the classroom per week. Since 1969, most undergraduates here have handled four four-credit courses that meet for only three hours a week. That system — which, according to the Faculty Senate and administrators here, never fulfilled the dreams The death of the four course load became imminent when the Faculty Senate Springer Committee, formed to respond to mounting pressure from both educators here and the Division of Budget (DOB) in Albany its report a year ago recommending a return to the Carnegie —continued on page 2— Vol. 29, No. 49 Friday, 19 January 1979 State University of New York at Buffalo Bids exceed estimate for Phys. Ed. complex The search by Kathleen McDonough and David Davidson from within The lowest bid for the steel structure of the new Physical Education complex came in nearly $ 1 million over the State University Construction Fund’s original estimate and has pronpted a shift in building plans for the long-awaited facilty. Originally opened October 25, 1978, the bids were all rejected as too high. The SUCF then decided to combine the steel structure contract with the overall construction pact and accept combined bids for the $12.5 million complex. Those bids will be opened February 6. Natural Sciences and Mathematics beset by budget, Bids received Tuesday for a new lecture hall on the Amherst Campus were also above anticipated costs. The lowest bid was nearly $500,000 more than the State planned to pay. According to Albany SUCF official Charles Segal, original cost estimates for the gym’s steel structure were $2,139 million while the lowest bid received, J.W. Copwer Inc., was $3,078 million. However, Architect Robert C. Coles , whose firm prepared both the design and estimate for the SUCF, claimed the recommended figure was $2.7 million. According to Coles, the lowest bid was $3 million, thus falling within an acceptable ten percent allowance for rising costs of construction. morale woes Steel first Frank Sullivan, a SUCF official in Buffalo, agreed that architect Coles’ estimate was “considerably below the lowest bid.” Other bids, Sullivan said, were $3.2 and $3.7 million. Originally the SUCF intended to award construction contracts for separate sections of the facility; i.e., steel, concrete, etc. The steel structure was the first to be opened for bidding. According to Coles, the decision to construct piece-meal was supposed to speed the fund-securing process. “They wanted to get an early start and needed figures to give to the State,” he said. The hope was that by asking only for funds for a single section SUCF would stand a better chance of obtaining State funds. Once the structure contract was awarded, said Coles, the State would be obliged to provide money for the remainder of the facility. Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles to appear in The Spectrum detailing Deans’ Annual Reports. The University has been bewitched by budgetary problems presumable stemming from the state's fiscal woes, yet some departments have been far more severely affected than others, while a few have curiously managed to flourish and expand. The series will hopefully place into perspective how the University as a whole is dealing with racing inflation and creeping increases by investigating how individual Faculties and Schools are handling this seemingly insuperable problem. The report traces Natural Science and Mathematics’ exacerbating monetary straits over the last few years. Since the 1969-70 academic year, the instructional load has increased more than 50 percent, inflation for supplies had risen from 50-200 percent while total University support has increased by only about six percent during the last eight years, the report states. It claims that, -while the faculty has made remarkable efforts in the face of a desperate monetary situation, it is essential that the University recognize its exceptional accomplishments and make “commitments to the maintenance of excellence.” When this does not occur, Reitan wrote, “everyone feels a pervasive uncertainty and the absence of confidence concerning the future of every one of the units, and this is everywhere destructive of the morale. 1 believe that in not insignificant degree this is happening.” by John H. Reiss Special to The Spectrum Neal optimistic The steel structure represents a quarter of the facility’s cost. The complex will eventually include a 10,000-seat field-house, lockers and administrative offices. Phase I, scheduled for completion in 1981, will be followed by a second phase to include further classroom space, a pool, three gymnasiums and a wrestling room. Phase II is slated to be finished in 1984, although funds are by no means secured. Dean Paul Reitan’s 1977-78 annual report on the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics reveals that the Faculty is beset by budget problems which are destroying morale and may prove to be damaging to its reputation. Mediocrity or worse Chairman of the Chemistry Department Stanley Bruckenstqin told The Spectrum that the University’s fiscal problems have forced his department to maintain obsolete equipment, making faculty less productive significantly. This has engendered a negative attitude leading to an unfortunate self-fulfilling prophesy that the Department is in trouble. “It gets blown out of proportion,” he said, “but people get less interested in University activities. They become more withdrawn into their own personal scholarly shell. They begin to feel that University work won’t be productive, the money isn’t around, so why get involved? —continued on p*9« 26— Vice President for Facilities Planning John Neal is optimistic that the three-month delay will have little effect on the construction timetable. But Neal cautioned that unforeseen difficulties could still hamper the two-and-one-half-year building process. The report, released in June, states that budget reductions have adversely affected every unit of the Faculty. Laboratory sciences have been particularly hard hit by spiraling inflation and budget cuts; and the report indicates that scientists can no longer simply work harder to make up for the monetary losses. The report calls for a systematic approach to meet supplies and equipment costs and, more importantly, cites the growing perception “...that greater faculty effort and better performance is neither recognized nor appreciated” by the University. It is uncertain what the effect of the unexpected cost increase of the lecture ahll will be. The lecture hall will provide classrooms with high seating capacity on the new campus. Presently, most Amherst classrooms are below 100 seats. The new building, with its five to six halls, will have one room with 500 seats. The original cost estimate was about $3 million, but the low bid was $3,474 million. Segal would not speculate from where the additional $500,000 would be obtained, or even if it could be allocated; and did not wish to comment on whether money could be taken from other construction projects. Reitah refused to speak with The Spectrum on he matter. Inside: West Valley hearing — P. 3 / Attica death probe — P. 4 / Movies section — P. 15 / Abzug aftermath P. 19
