The Elephant in the Room: Curricular Glut

Jonathan Twingley for The Chronicle of Higher Education

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By Michael Bugeja

In our current recession, which has led to deep budget cuts, few public institutions are operating normally—except, perhaps, in an area that expands at the expense of faculty and staff members even in less straitened times: the curriculum.

There seems to be scant policing by faculty senates regarding additions to the curricula—a common, and dangerous, state of affairs on campuses across the country. Even as my own institution reorganizes (with departmental budgets reduced