Faculty and unions blast Charter Oak scaling report; regents call for further review

At the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) Board of Regents meeting in January 2025, dozens of faculty and union representatives criticized a task force report that recommended scaling Charter Oak State College's online offerings and adding AI-driven student supports, saying the plan risked duplicating existing programs and lowering educational quality.

The criticism came during a public-comment block in which professors from multiple CSU campuses called on the board to reject or substantially revise the Charter Oak Scaling Task Force report. Andrew Smith, a professor of English at Southern Connecticut State University, told the board, "Online courses are not the way to do this," arguing that asynchronous, large-scale online offerings fail to provide the interaction and onboarding many secondary-school students need to succeed in college-level work. "No matter how well an ASYNC class is designed, students might have their personal interactions and development opportunities for faculty and peers that lead to meaningful long term educational value," he said.

The comments reflected common themes: potential program duplication with the four regional comprehensive…