The Mississippi State University faculty senate met on Oct. 14 to discuss upcoming projects, policies and problems concerning the institution.
Jerry Gilbert, provost and executive vice president for MSU, spoke about increased enrollment and its effect on the teacher-student ratio. He said because the cost to educate a student is more than a student pays in tuition, MSU has to offer more large-section classrooms.
“If the cost of educating students was the cost of tuition then we would expand our number of students and then also expand all of (our) services,” Gilbert said. “We can’t hire enough (instructors) to keep up with the expansion. That’s why our student-to-faculty ratio has increased from 18 to one to over 20 to one in the past three years.”
He also said MSU has increased the number of large-section classrooms from 48 in 2006 to 81 in 2010.
Although the increase in enrollment has brought in extra revenue, Gilbert said the money is only enough to cover the university’s budget cuts.
This week, MSU is proposing plans to the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning for a new classroom building to be built in the low sloping area behind the post office, he said.
The building is separated into two parts, a 90,000-square-foot classroom building and a 60,000-square-foot parking garage, which will connect to the YMCA building with a bridge.
Because of the low number of chemistry and biology lab spaces on campus, the building may have labs.
“We’ve had a 15 percent increase over the past several years of our student population, yet we’ve not expanded our lab space,” he said.
MSU may move the Center for Teaching and Learning to the new classroom building, Gilbert said.
MSU is auditing the Department of Academic Outreach and Continuing Education to look at the jobs people do in the department and its areas of finance. After the audit, MSU will modify its budget with the goal of giving more revenue to the department, Gilbert said.
Gilbert said he will meet with faculty to discuss the pros and cons of the Instructional Professor Proposal.
Steve Turner, faculty athletic representative, spoke about the drop in GPA of student athletes on scholarships.
Turner said there are 300 student athletes who have scholarships. Their average GPA has dropped from 2.93 to 2.76.
“Our football team has not performed very well in the classroom although they perform very well on the field,” Turner said.
Scott Stricklin, athletic director for MSU, said he makes academics a priority for athletes.
“When I run into one of our student athletes at practice on campus, the first question I ask them is ‘how is school going,'” he said. “I do that because I want them to know … you have to take care of class (and) yourself,” Stricklin said.
The athletic department is looking for ways to increase resources for academic advising for athletes. Currently, academic tutoring is available for students struggling in class. There is also a class attendance policy, Stricklin said.
Turner said some teams are performing well, academically, such as the men’s tennis team that currently has a 3.6 GPA. The team is also ranked 20th nationally.
Stricklin spoke about the university canceling class for football.
He said MSU’s contract as a league with ESPN requires a certain number of Thursday night games to be hosted each year. Because of the exposure and atmosphere Thursday games provide, MSU chose to host Thursday games.
“We’re going to do it again next year more than likely, but there may be a year or two break after that where we can catch our breath and reassess and then make sure we … plan it out, so it fits in our academic calendar,” Stricklin said.
Meghan Millea, faculty senate president, said MSU has had to rescind the honor code policy because there was a mismatch between the policy and of the procedure of the code. The format of the policy is inconsistent and needs to be changed.
The honor code is still currently in place, and the faculty senate will form a committee to discuss the honor code, she said.
Gerald Emison, faculty senate vice president, spoke about the Aiken Village project. He said a contractor is currently planning the site and should have it opened for students in the fall 2013 semester.
