April 14, 1999 To: Members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Students in the Graduate School and Yale College From: Alison Richard I am writing to correct the highly misleading picture of the educational experience of Yale students given in a recent report by the Graduate Employees and Student Organization (GESO), which was subsequently cited in the New York Times and other publications. The report revolves around two issues: (1) the quality of the education received by students at Yale, and (2) the composition of the community of teachers who provide this education. I will consider both these issues, but I begin by emphasizing a general truth: this University cares deeply about the educational experiences of students and the importance of full-time faculty in creating those experiences, and we are proud of the educational system that has evolved here. It is exceedingly difficult to describe a "typical" or "average" undergraduate educational experience, because one of the great strengths of a Yale education is that it can take so many forms, from large lecture classes to individual tutorials. Last year, for example, our 5,257 undergraduates chose from 1,452 courses. This remarkable array of offerings is overwhelmingly provided by Yale faculty and other professional teachers. Only 7 percent of all undergraduate enrollments last year were in courses with a graduate student serving as the primary classroom instructor. Graduate students lead discussion sections in many larger lecture courses, and these sections provide valuable supplementary educational opportunities for undergraduates. Nevertheless, GESO's claim about the role of graduate teaching in undergraduate education distorts reality. In one popular history course, for example, an undergraduate attends two hours of lectures given by a faculty member each week, and a third meeting in which the full class is broken up into eight different discussion sections, each led by a graduate student teaching fellow. From the undergraduate's perspective, two-thirds of classroom time is spent with the professor, and one third is spent in a section. GESO's analysis would claim that the professor is responsible for 20 percent (2 hours) of the course, and graduate student teaching fellows for 80 percent (8 hours), giving a false account of the experience of the undergraduate taking the course. GESO's claims also give a misleading sense of the experience of graduate students and the proportion of their time that they are expected to devote to teaching in undergraduate courses. The preparation of graduate students for future careers as scholars and teachers differs among fields and, even within a particular field, students' programs are tailored to fit their individual needs and interests. As a result, the idea of an "average experience" has as little meaning for graduate student preparation at Yale as for undergraduate education. The Graduate School and individual departments recognize the importance of articulating clearly the components of this preparation, including the appropriate amount and type of teaching experience that students need, the timing and sequencing of that experience, and the best forms of pedagogical training. The histories of individual graduate students indicate that for most, a reasonable balance is struck among the three major components of graduate preparation: course work, dissertation research, and teaching experience. In 1998, for example, almost all (94 percent) graduate students in the Humanities at the end of their fourth year had taught in four or fewer semesters since entering the Yale graduate program. No Humanities students at the end of their sixth year had taught in all of the preceding four semesters, and almost half had not taught at all. Comparable data in the Natural Sciences differ in two ways: students have fewer teaching experiences overall, and generally they teach earlier in their program. The pattern for graduate students in the Social Sciences, depending on the scholarly expectations in their particular field, is intermediate between the Humanities and the Natural Sciences. Another highly misleading claim of GESO is that Yale relies heavily on "casual" teachers and that this "casualization harms education." Apart from the graduate student acting instructors who are responsible for 7 percent of Yale College enrollments, teaching at Yale is done by ladder faculty and other teachers with specific professional and pedagogical expertise. In the Fall of 1998, the Yale Faculty of Arts and Sciences was made up of 564 professors, associate professors, and assistant professors; 73 visiting faculty from other universities, who were either filling a temporary gap created by the absence of a regular faculty member, or were targets of recruiting efforts; and 16 adjunct professors, who are predominantly full-time and often long-term faculty, and who receive their appointments by virtue of their accomplishments outside the academy. We also benefited from teaching contributed by full-time members of the professional school faculties and full-time administrators, such as residential college deans, who teach on occasion in their fields of expertise. Rounding out the FAS faculty were 105 other full-time teaching faculty and 72 part-time teaching faculty, many of whom elected part-time status themselves; the majority of our faculty in these categories have long-term appointments. Most of these non-ladder faculty are engaged in foreign language instruction, introductory and intermediate writing courses, and laboratory courses, and therefore help the University successfully meet special teaching objectives. These teachers are not "casual labor". We are proud and appreciative of their contributions, and we have worked steadily to strengthen their compensation and support. In our shared concern not to erode the strength of the ladder faculty, we must not inadvertently diminish or ignore the important contributions of the teaching faculty as a whole. No concern is more central to this institution than the high quality of a Yale education and of the faculty who provide it, and we will continue to safeguard and enhance the quality of our teaching, and the educational experiences of all our students. 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 Alison Richard