Earlier today, students in an online political science class received an email stating their instructor would not submit final grades because the university had not paid him for the overload course.
UTRGV Lecturer Michael Espinoza sent the email to his U.S. Federal Government and Politics class. A screenshot was later posted on Facebook.
Overloads are courses assigned to faculty members above their normal course load.
Walter Diaz, the UTRGV College of Liberal Arts dean, told The Rider the university is working on resolving the issue.
“We are working diligently, and have been working on this for a while now, to solve the problem,” Diaz said in an interview with The Rider earlier today. “I can certainly assure everyone that students will not be affected by this.”
The Rider requested an interview with Espinoza regarding the incident, but he referred the newspaper to Clyde Barrow, a political science professor and department chair.
As of the publication of this story, Barrow had not returned calls or emails.
In a second attempt to speak with Espinoza, he told The Rider he will continue to grade papers because he is hoping the issue gets resolved.
“Right now, we are working with the different offices in the university that deal with these matters,” Diaz said.
The Rider also tried to contact Patricia McHatton, the UTRGV interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, and Patrick Gonzales, the associate vice president for University Marketing and Communications, but they were unavailable for comment.
“Our students will be fine,” Diaz said. “We are all professionals here and we cannot allow our students to be negatively impacted by situations like these.”
A similar incident occurred two years ago with another political science lecturer.
The Rider will provide developments as it receives them.
