To some, however, the plan has a major downside: an approximately 15 percent reduction in courses or sections offered.

Inside Higher Ed reports.

Vassar faculty members want to reduce their teaching load but some question a plan that would also reduce course offerings

Faculty members at Vassar College generally agree that teaching five classes per year makes it hard to keep up with research and the one-on-one interaction that students expect. Many professors also worry that students are taking on too many courses at one time. So a new proposal to address the issue — shrinking the teaching load to four classes per year while adding a new student supervisory component, and cutting the number of units students need to graduate — has attracted significant faculty support.

Yet others remain wary of cutting course offerings — and not adding new faculty members — to accommodate the plan.