Investigate Professor Lee Bailey and his Teaching Methods

We are students currently enrolled in UTM's various Business + Economics programs and are using this petition to express our distress and concerns regarding the quality of education provided by professor Lee Bailey in ECO200Y5 Y (Microeconomic Theory). We are dissatisfied with the low level of commitment and unrealistic expectations set by the professor, and are using this document to express our united interest in having UTM address this teaching debacle. 

The low standards of teaching in this class are not reflective of UTM’s goal of bringing world-class education to its student body. The following are a select list of examples (not all) that highlight professor Bailey's unfair standards of teaching,  and why we students are calling for UTM’s department of Economics and Executive Committee to investigate further into this matter: 

• We are told to not email the professor with regards to any in-class discussions.  
• We are not to email Teaching Assistants (TA’s) for any reason whether it be for course help, advice, questions, or any concerns.
• Course video content is outdated (from Summer 2020) and ridden with mistakes that TA’s and other students must clarify for the class. 
• Course structure is unfair to students with disabilities and / or learning disadvantages. Timed tests, class activities and tutorial activities don't accommodate such students that work at a slower pace. 
• Zoom chats are turned off during lecture and so students cannot ask questions, with the expectation that no students should speak throughout the class. 
• Marked weekly quizzes are based on content prior to lecture i.e., we are marked on topics a week before we even learn about them. 
• Study material is insufficient given there are no answers to verify work, and likewise no video / lecture content that consistently addresses worksheet questions for students looking to self-study. 
• Ed Discussion forum questions are typically ignored and deleted unless addressed by TA’s.
• Term test expectations are extremely unrealistic, with multiple weeks worth of content to be assessed across 6 questions within 30 minutes. This is unheard of. 
• Students are expected to calculate, answer, graph, and upload all information for term tests within the given 30 minute time period. Therefore in actuality, the expectation is that students should be able to complete term tests within 20-25 minutes if accounting for upload time alone. 
• Term test questions do not encapsulate course content nor supplementary material to an adequate level. 
• There are no part-marks given for calculations / mathematical attempts for questions, despite more mathematically rigorous UTM courses such as ECO220 doing so.
• Some of professor Bailey's material is strangely explicit and inappropriate (session 10, Q1, has a question about Male Strippers). 

If students were given an alternative option many would have picked other professors prior to the beginning of the semester. However, after giving the professor a fair amount of time to demonstrate his teaching in the class we now demand for these concerns to be addressed immediately. 

The number of students that have highlighted stress, trauma, and frustration as a result of professor Bailey's teaching practises over the years is not surprising. The official university Reddit pages (both Saint George and Mississauga) have countless complaints regarding Professor Bailey’s teaching, and although we do not have official drop-out and failure rates, we imagine these to be high. His reputation has expanded beyond just students, where staff from the office of registrar have recalled how common it is for students to fail his class. It is absurd that there is a professor with such a reputation part of the "world-class" faculty UTM advertises to students and parents around the world. 

We students are calling on UTM’s department of Economics to undergo an investigation into the course content and teaching by professor Bailey. We wish for this to be a transparent process such that all Students are aware of the metrics that professor Bailey is being judged against, and have anonymous input / course evaluations from students. Likewise, we are calling on members of UTM’s Executive Committee to take these matters into their own hands and address the inadequate teaching and provisions made by professor Bailey. 

We did not come to this University to play politics and “pick this professor because he’s good or avoid that professor because he’s bad”. We came to this university with the expectation of a world-class faculty and that is what we demand for the money we are paying. 

It is appalling to know that UTM has continued to let professor Bailey continue teaching courses in the manner he has done. We believe his title as a "Tenured Professor" has allowed him to get away with his inadequate standards of teaching for the last several years and go unnoticed. We now demand action. 

"None of you are successful in Economics and none of you will ever be successful in life" - Lee Bailey, 2016 | Recounted by anonymous UTM Student