Should faculty teach more?

This commentator in today's Chronicle of Higher Education says, "Yes":

It was with considerable interest that I read that The Chronicle along with Moody’s Investor Service had surveyed a large number of CFO’s on their sense of campus fiscal affairs. Most were moderately pessimistic about university finances, since the recovery from the downturn is as slow in coming to universities as it is to the whole economy. But what interested me most was their solution to the problem. When asked what one thing they would recommend to ease financial stresses on campus if there were no consequences to their actions, a huge plurality (38 percent) favored increasing teaching loads for faculty–double the number that suggested raising tuition.

More: http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/campus-cfos-are-right/29787?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

I'm inclined to agree. The cost of delivering instruction is a major driver of the hyper-inflation that plagues college tuition rates. Consider a faculty member who teaches three courses in a given semester. If two of the classes meet for 90 minutes each on say Tuesdays and Thursdays, and if this prof can get a three hour class that meets every Tuesday or Thursday evening, s/he can teach her/his full load by being on campus just two days a week. Not as uncommon as some readers might imagine. Indeed, I often think that if parents knew the whole truth about academic life... well, so far they mostly don't.

But let's be fair. This is something of a pot calling a kettle black. Students and parents traditionally visit multiple college campuses. What are they looking at? Not the CVs of the faculty. No, they are evaluating the campus amenities. The consumer demand for country clubs with classes has forced schools to borrow and fund raise to build competitive recreation, living, entertainment and dining facilities to keep up with the (Bob) Jones. We want the good life for our kids as much as the faculty want the good life for themselves.

This, it seems to me, is just another example of how in America our expectations are outpacing our resources by a country mile.

Sure faculty should teach more... the Chronicle commentator and his CFOs are dead right. AND students should study more, and expect to play less... and less luxuriously. Maybe then we will start to see tuition gradually fall back into line with where the economy is today.