Hello all,
I am writing to ask a big favor. With less than a month until the Fall semester begins, enrollments are down severely at City College, especially in the Drama Department. I know many of you don’t like the online format and wouldn’t choose to complete your education this way if the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t closed campuses and many of you may be taking time away from school until it is safe to return in person. I completely understand. But the college is continuing to function nearly 100% online for Fall and possibly Spring, depending on health guidelines.
Because of low enrollment, many Drama classes are in jeopardy of being cancelled. What most of you don’t know is that although I have taught at City College for 20 years, I am a part-time contingent professor (or adjunct) and am basically laid off at the end of every semester and rehired in the next if there are enough classes for the full-time tenured and tenure track professors to be given their full-time teaching load of 15 classroom hours per week. I do have seniority as the longest serving adjunct and Priority of Assignment for the maximum classroom hours allowed by state law (9-10 per week) if they are available after scheduling all full-time tenured/tenure track professors. For the first time in 20 years, it is very likely that I will lose one, two, or all three of the classes I have been assigned for Fall semester either because the full-timer’s classes don’t fill and my classes must be reassigned to them or because my classes don’t fill. Classes have to have 18-20 students minimum at the beginning of the semester or the college will cancel them. If my classes are cancelled or taken by full-time professors, I will lose my income and health insurance.
I am scheduled to teach 3 sections of Drama 107 Study of Filmed Plays. This is a fun class in which you watch plays on video and Hollywood films adapted from plays and write about them in Discussion essays and one or two papers, very similar to what we did with filmed plays in Drama 105 and using the Conflict Resolution model we learned by a analyzing “The Glass Menagerie”.
I realize that most of you are not Drama majors and completing Drama 105 last semester fulfilled the General Ed requirement you need. I’m asking you to consider enrolling in Drama 107 (or any other Drama class – see attached flyer) if you can and/or to tell your friends and family who are college students about them to help keep these classes open so I don’t lose them and therefore my income.
The classes are fully online and do not meet at specific times. They are compressed 8 week classes, one in the first 8 weeks (Aug 17-Oct 10: course number 48817) and two in the second 8 weeks (Oct 12-Dec 14: course numbers 40969 & 47305). Because of some behind the scenes problems with the schedule, the course in the first 8 week session was just added to the schedule last week, after a lot of students had already registered for classes and it only has 1 student enrolled. It is in severe danger of being cut. 40969 has almost enough students to not get cut, but 47305 has only 1 student.
I would really appreciate it if you can enroll in either 48817 (1st 8 weeks) or 47305 (2nd 8 weeks) and/or tell your friends.
I hope you are all well and surviving this altered reality we now live in. Enjoy the rest of your summer and stay safe!
Prof Whaley
Carol Whaley, MFA
San Diego City College Drama Dept.
Adjunct Officer, City College Academic Senate
Legislative Committee, Faculty Assn. of CA Community Colleges (FACCC)
Director of Publications, California Part-time Faculty Assn. (CPFA)
Board of Directors, San Diego Shakespeare Society