Full-time faculty are finest in nation

Recently, students have been very critical of the faculty at this university. From academic experiences at UConn, however, it is clearly evident that the full-time faculty are some of the finest in their respective professions. Many of the negative accusations seem to have been aimed at professors in the Political Science Department. Being a political science major, I feel it is necessary to use my experiences to hereby vindicate those professors that have been accused of being biased. Faculty members have been criticized for being too partisan in class. In addition, students have been critical that faculty do not teach what they should be teaching. Not only are these recent criticisms of professors false, but also simply absurd and unable to be defended by any reasonable facts. Professors are entitled to have their own political beliefs and they cannot, nor should not have to, shed those beliefs at the school house door. When professors do have their own opinions, professors do not interject their own views in their classes. Professors have an obligation to expose students to new ideas, present minority and majority viewpoints and discuss multiple sides of the issues. Faculty members at UConn fulfill this obligation and much more. Many professors are forced to bite their tongues so they do not seem partisan. Discussions are sometimes stymied as a result of the fact that many times professors feel they cannot fully discuss the issue without looking partisan. Most professors present both sides of an issue and they encourage students to disagree so long as it is done so logically. Since UConn is a large research institution, it could be easy for staff members to forget about the classes they teach and instead prioritize on the personal research they are conducting. Clearly, this is not the case at this university. Faculty members prioritize classes and their students. Professors actually take pride in teaching undergraduates and look out for their success and well being. Most professors have an open office door policy, where students are encouraged to come visit them to discuss class or simply just to chat about something of interest. Many times I have visited a professor in office hours to discuss class-related material and the discussion soon shifted to a debate over current events or politics. A tendency exists to take what is witnessed every day for granted. Here at UConn, students are lucky to be surrounded by some of the finest faculty, who truly care about their students. In talking with friends who are at other universities, those students are not able to say their faculty members are easily open and accessible. Numerous times, I have had professors who have given out their home phone numbers in class so their students can contact them. Many faculty members are in their office more than just for office hours so they can meet with students. When professors truly care for their students, it is much more common for students to take something away from the class. For the most part, professors at UConn have the attitude that if they take an interest in their students and remain open to them, their students will learn more. Such an attitude makes the faculty here unique. Some students may say they have never been able to get to know a professor well. Since this is such a large university, students must work to take the first initiative. Those students who take an effort to simply visit their professors to chat about politics, current events or a topic of interest in their major will truly see how open and accessible the full-time faculty is. All of these positive attributes exhibited by professors are evident even in light of the obstacles and stumbling blocks created by the administration. Imagine how much more accessible faculty members could be if they were not burdened with an excessive amount of classes, large class sizes or an extreme amount of students for advising. Many professors are burdened with upper division classes with sizes of 50 students or more. In addition, faculty members are assigned extremely large amounts of students for advising. Large classes and having too many students to advise can cause students to feel separated from professors. Such a situation highlights the need for more full-time faculty. Over the past several years, the student population has dramatically increased while the number of full-time faculty has remained stagnant. Professors are doing the best with what they are provided by the administration, to remain accessible and open. The faculty members are already doing the finest job for an institution of this size. Imagine what UConn could be like if the administration helped departments out and completely funded the needed number of full-time faculty. If a student has not had the opportunity and privilege to become good friends with a specific faculty member, part of the blame could be the students' fault for not taking the initiative. However, the more far-reaching cause is the fact that the administration has not changed the operational budget to hire additional full-time faculty. Accessibility and friendliness are some of the greatest attributes of professors. Additionally most full-time faculty are excellent teachers who have a passionate interest in the academic area which they are teaching. In the aggregate, with few exceptions, professors are good teachers who wish to instill a fervent academic interest in their students. Hopefully students will realize the falsity and fickleness of the recently published criticisms of professors. UConn professors do an excellent job in light of the obstacles the administration presents them with. If students happen to disagree with a comment a professor makes, be willing to challenge the professor's opinion in class or in office hours instead of publicly accusing them of being biased. They will surely welcome a discussion or debate. If students get to know their professors and are exposed to new ideas, it cannot be denied that the university has done its job of creating life-long learners.