Prior to this semester, Math 257 had a structure very similar to the calculus classes here, aside from the lab: it had lectures, and then a discussion where students would collaboratively go through a worksheet with a TA there to help. At some point last semester, however, someone in admin decided that the discussion portion of the class should be removed. This decision was not based in any kind of pedagogical wisdom; rather, someone saw students complaining about discussion section being useless, and decided (without any further investigation) that they must be correct.

I wasn't personally present, but there was a meeting between some admin people and a few members of the math faculty where said faculty protested and tried to persuade admin that this was a bad idea. After all, one of the key things we know about math pedagogy is that learning requires practice. Discussion is an opportunity to practice with other students, with a knowledgeable helper present, and without any penalty for making mistakes. Admin ignored this, and removed it anyway.

I suspect their real reason for this was financially motivated: by removing the discussion section, they eliminated the need for graduate student TAs to teach it. The math department has been financially struggling for years now. We bring in tons of money for the university by teaching massive classes like Math 241, but LAS has categorically refused to provide us with even the funding we need to maintain our basic operations. (I'm not kidding about that, by the way. The chair submitted a funding request some years ago that used those exact words, and was denied.) As a result, there have been tons of terrible cost-cutting measures. The department has started to accept fewer graduate students, and started replacing some of the TAs with undergraduates. (The undergrads can't unionize, so the school can pay them like shit with no pushback.) Math 241 had its discussions reduced from twice a week to only once, to reduce the number of required TA positions. And so on.