Some Bowling Green State University general education courses may be eliminated to adjust to job losses
that took place in May, as indicated in a fall 2021 scheduling document being used by the College of
Arts and Sciences that calls for streamlining.
Fall scheduling of new courses is in process and adjustments are underway.
“Only courses required for degree progress should be offered. Courses within Bowling Green Perspective
(BGP) domains should be streamlined,” stated one of the “Guiding Principles” in an internal document
sent from the College of Arts and Sciences.
As an example of that streamlining, some courses have become less than half full and departments are
being asked to make cuts which might include those courses.
Enrollment numbers released for spring semester show that total students, as compared to last spring, is
down 40, at 19,090. There is an increase of 609 graduate students.
First-year student enrollment is down by 300 students, and this will continue affecting enrollment
numbers for the next four years.
Additional instruction in“Guiding Principles” includes online courses not part of fully online programs
should be used sparingly and with the approval of college offices.
BGP courses are general education course requirements for all students. They span subject areas such as
humanities, science and social sciences, with many options in each.
Last spring, 119 faculty and administrative staff lost their jobs at BGSU; approximately 40 have been
brought back.
BGSU Marketing and Communications spokesperson Micheal Bratton said last week that only one full-time
staff member at the university has had a contract non-renewed for fall semester.
Adjunct instructors are not full time and do not have tenure, and are hired on an as needed basis. When a
course is not offered, the instructor is not hired for that semester.
Going forward, at least 75% of classes in each undergraduate program are pegged to be in person or
blended.
Previously fully online programs, such as eCampus, Distance and Firelands, as well as graduate programs,
are excluded from this calculation.
The remaining 25% of undergraduate classes will be a mixture of BGSUSync, Remote and Online.
The biggest factor in creating the various teaching modes, which started in the fall, was the 6-foot
social distancing requirement.
Five instructional modes are planned for fall, as related to COVID-19 changes: In Person, Blended, Remote
(synchronous), Online (asynchronous) and BGSUSync.
In-person classes meet according to a regular schedule, with all students meeting in a classroom, lab or
studio space on each class day.
Blended courses combine in-person and virtual elements. At least 33% of instructional contact in Blended
courses is in person.
Remote courses are fully virtual and meet synchronously via university-supported video conferencing tools
according to the published class schedule.
Online courses are also fully virtual but have no scheduled meeting times, and include recorded lecture
material.
BGSUSync courses meet according to the published class schedule and simultaneously engage students who
are participating in person and virtually. There are three classrooms equipped with BGSUSync technology.

Hybrid classes will reportedly be eliminated.
“We’ll keep our fingers crossed that come fall all this, and we don’t have so much social distancing that
we need. If it turns out they relax it to 3 feet, instead of 6 feet, then it will be reworking things
again over the summer,” Arts and Sciences Interim Dean Dale Klopfer, Ph.D., said. “We’ve got great
people in the departments that are responsive to requests from central administration and we just hope
for a good fall 2021.”
Final fall 2021 course schedules are due Friday.