Trying to get [out of] it

Decision making is tough, I know. So many considerations, so many complications. And then to have to make decisions for events that will transpire in almost a year - like course offerings for summer 2008 - asks for a fortune-teller of impeccable reputation (or an administrator with accurate data).

Despite not attending the summer course selection meeting, I've been asked to teach a literature course for summer 2008 - I'm happy to do so in order to ensure that the course won't be cancelled. Being a good departmental citizen is important to me, and I'd also like our literature offerings for summer to continue to be robust.

Because faculty members can select the literature courses they'd like to teach - within reason - I reasonably chose one that fulfills two certificate programs (Women and Gender Studies, Global Studies) and two Minnesota transfer curriculum goals (Humanties/Fine Arts-06 and Global Perspective-08) in order to make the course an attractive choice for students. The more bang-for-their-buck, the more likely they are to select a course. It's also a course that will not have been offered any other time during the entire 2007-08 academic year, follows well in sequence with another course we offer, and is one I like teaching.

The last time I taught such a summer-session literature course, it was two-thirds full, mainly with students who were full-time at another institution: intelligently (if we consider the marketing message our community colleges send out), the students were "fulfilling their generals" at a "cheaper price" so that they could continue with their four-year degrees at Augsburg, Bethel, Hamline, St. Kate's, Kansas State, River Falls, the University of Minnesota.

Thus, although I don't have scientific data to support my choice of a summer course, I do have some experiential data and some good intentions.

But I'm told that it's not a good choice because it's a women's lit course and they have "problems with enrollment." Yikes. Surely that assessment can't smack of the sexism it implies. I guess I'll need to have a conversation with a dean even as I try to extricate myself from campus activities - something that's been tough for me on the sabbatical year. How does one truly "rest" and get away when the long arm of the schedule reaches out for another victim?

Addendum: Had the talk with my department chair listing the above reasons, and he's going to talk with the dean, who "will probably go for it" but wants me to know the course is "still a gamble."