CSUN Faculty Uneasy Over Administrator’s Push for Research

For the faculty at California State University, Northridge, the first week of school just completed was a time for reopening musty offices, getting acquainted with students--and wondering when the school’s new academic czar will make his presence felt.

The arrival this fall of Bob H. Suzuki, an advocate of raising the university’s stature by increasing faculty research, has triggered what one veteran instructor termed “a lot of hallway talk and worry, two commodities which thrive in the absence of hard knowledge.”

‘Like Army Soldiers’

To Jerome Richfield, dean of the School of Humanities, who participated in the selection of Suzuki, unease among the school’s 1,500 teachers is evidence that “faculty members are just like soldiers in the army. They don’t know what is going on and they don’t know what to worry about next.”

The 49-year-old Suzuki, whose new title is vice president and director of academic affairs resources, spoke to several faculty groups last week to outline his plans.

To those concerned that his appointment signals a shift toward research and writing articles and books at the expense of teaching, Suzuki said in an interview that he was convinced that the faculty could do more research without detracting from the school’s “primary status as a teaching school. It has been done elsewhere and we can do it here.”

And to those who worry that because he is an engineer he will reduce the role of the humanities and fine arts, the new academic chief said that “such misgivings are not based on my background. I have always been a strong backer of the liberal arts as an essential component of a college education.”

Talking to a reporter in his third-floor office in the administration building, Suzuki said his goal is to nudge the 28,000-student Northridge campus “toward the higher level of excellence that today is within our reach.”

The key to reaching that level is increased research and writing of articles in scholarly publications, said Suzuki, who most recently was dean of graduate studies and research at California State University, Los Angeles.

The availability of free time to conduct research and write articles will be an effective tool in recruiting top faculty members, he said, and the output of scholarly work will enhance the university’s reputation throughout the nation.

At the same time, Suzuki said, “More research will rejuvenate and stimulate existing faculty members and make them better teachers. It’s been my experience that a faculty member who does nothing but teach for 20 years will burn out.”

Goal of Increased Outside Research

The immediate goal is to triple the $2 million a year in outside-funded research being conducted at the campus, he said.

Suzuki said the Northridge campus would still rank far behind San Diego State University, which leads the 19-campus California State University system with $20 million a year in externally funded research.

Most such money comes from foundations, government agencies and corporations.

Nancy Owens, a home economics professor and president of the local chapter of the California Faculty Assn., the faculty bargaining unit, said misgivings about Suzuki’s proposal to promote research are based on the feeling that “unless we get some relief from the 12-unit load expected of all teachers, it will be tough to accomplish. And no one foresees any relief in that regard.

“So when are we to do this research?”

The 12-unit load, which is standard throughout the state university system, typically requires a minimum of 12 hours of classroom teaching a week.

Along with the ban on the granting of doctoral degrees by campuses of the state university system except in conjunction with other universities outside the system, the 12-unit policy is widely viewed as preventing campuses within the system from achieving the prominence enjoyed by University of California campuses or by major universities in other states.

Faculty members at major universities in the state, including UC, usually are required to teach no more than nine hours a week and many teach six or hours or less.

Owens said she hopes that the Northridge campus will not copy the larger UC campuses, at which professors conduct many freshman and sophomore classes in massive lecture halls, with student contact left largely to teaching assistants.

“That leaves faculty members to spend time with graduate students and do their research and writing,” Owens said. “But that’s not the type of institution we are all about.”

Elizabeth Berry, associate vice president for academic programs, said a shift toward greater research could be accomplished without large, impersonal lectures and reliance on teaching assistants.

She said that, by securing a handful of large grants for research, most likely in the physical or social sciences, where most of the money is concentrated, the university can hire a replacement at a salary lower than that paid to the teacher freed to do research.

“With the difference in salary,” Berry said, “the university can turn around and provide money to, say, the philosophy professor who wants to take time off to write an article or book for which there is no grant available.”

Role of Research

She predicted that the system of using large grants to finance research by others professors “will be slow to develop but will eventually get going with the right leadership.”

Berry said Suzuki “is keenly aware of the need to keep a faculty member’s intellectual juices flowing, and the role that research plays in that effort. I think we have the right leadership.”

Richfield, the humanities dean, said additional money could be freed to support research by “slowing down the shift to high-tech equipment on campus.”

Berry and Richfield predicted that few, if any, faculty members would resist the shift toward more research.

Owens disagreed, saying some faculty members at Northridge “were hired primarily as teachers and that’s what they want to continue doing.”

‘Isn’t Much Time Left’

Mary McEdwards, professor of speech communication and women’s studies, also questioned whether faculty members would feel pressure to add research and writing to their teaching loads.

“As it is now,” McEdwards said, “with four classes a week and the faculty committee work and meeting with students and class preparations and grading papers, there isn’t much time left. And it’s especially tough on women, because they usually have to go home and do the housework.”

On the other hand, Francine Hallcom, professor of Chicano studies, said she already conducts extensive research and writing and would welcome a campuswide shift toward greater emphasis on writing scholarly articles.

While acknowledging that faculty members work long hours during the school term, Hallcom noted that, with summer and Christmas vacations, teachers are off nearly four months a year.

“Overall, this is still a cushy job,” she said.

Strong Hand Expected

There was agreement among faculty members that Suzuki, who reports to CSUN President James W. Cleary, would likely wield a strong hand in determining academic policies, as did his predecessor, David W. Benson.

After eight years at the post, during which Cleary gave him wide latitude in setting policies, Benson resigned in 1983 to become president of Sonoma State University.

The position was filled on an interim basis during the 1984-85 school year by Richfield, who was not a candidate for the post on a permanent basis.

Born to Japanese immigrant parents in Portland, Ore., Suzuki was confined to an internment camp in Idaho during World War II.

He earned his doctorate in aeronautics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley.

Tenure Requirements

Before securing his position as dean of graduate studies and research at Cal State L.A., Suzuki was assistant dean of administration at the University of Massachusetts School of Education in Amherst, Mass.

Richfield predicted that, as research and outside writing become more widespread at Northridge under Suzuki’s leadership, the faculty would raise the requirements for awarding tenure.

At present, university officials said, a grant of tenure, which usually is accompanied by promotion from assistant professor to associate professor, requires publication of at least two research-based articles in scholarly journals.

More research and tightened restrictions on tenure, Richfield said, would solidify the Northridge school’s stature as “one of the top campuses in the CSU system.”

An official at CSU headquarters in Long Beach, who asked not to be identified, said that, while there is no agreement within the system on how to rate the campuses academically “or even whether it is a good idea,” there is nonetheless a consensus that the better CSU campuses are Northridge, San Diego, San Francisco and Long Beach.

The changes envisioned by Suzuki will be slow in producing results, Richfield said.

“But I think that in five years, long after the current rash of paranoia passes, we will look back and see his arrival here as a turning point in the university’s development into an excellent institution.”