Small classes and regular faculty pay are being eroded under a series of policy changes approved Sept. 10 by the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Regents, Fox25 in Oklahoma City reports.
Under the changes, classes with less than 10 students must be approved by administrators. They must also be separated from a professor’s course load and compensated at the same rate of pay for adjuncts, irrespective of the faculty member’s full-time status, Fox25 states.
Students and faculty say the changes – which follow a Sept. 3 vote of no confidence for President Kayla Hale and Vice President for Academic Affairs Makenna Garrison – could hurt the school’s reputation for being known for its small class experience. Hale has defended the changes as necessary for the institution’s financial survival and linked the changes to the state’s new performance-based funding formula, which prioritizes outcomes in enrollment, retention and employment.
The situation at USAO – a small, public liberal arts institution in Chickasha, Oklahoma serving a decade-high of 1,103 students this fall – represents a glimpse at the various ways that funding policy shifts can affect an institution’s mode of operation and change its identity.
According to the Education Commission of the States, research has shown that performance-based funding models have produced “modest or no impact on institutional outcomes.” In 2020, 32 states had performance-based funding at either their community colleges or four-year colleges, and 20 states had implemented in both sectors, according to a 2022 report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, or SHEEO.
“In some instances, performance-based funding pushed institutions to be more selective in their admissions by prioritizing students who are more likely to complete degrees,” according to the Education Commission of the States.
The future of faculty tenure at USAO is also in jeopardy. Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order that requires regional and community colleges to phase out lifetime tenure for new faculty.
Hale, the USAO president, said the university was complying with the order but also told KOSU that she would restore tenure if the executive order is not renewed.
Jamaal Abdul-Alim is a longtime education writer who resides in Washington, D.C. He occasionally teaches journalism and has completed fellowships at the University of Michigan, Columbia University and New America.
