Testimony of Prof. Jacoby before the Workers Rights Board (10/14/02)
The Workers' Rights Board that met Saturday heard testimony from a number of UW employees and also from the organizations that represent them. Professor Daniel Jacoby testified on behalf of AAUP. An economist and expert on higher education employment, he talked about the changing conditions for "contingent faculty," lecturers and part-time faculty who not eligible for tenure. His statement follows and a longer article on the subject is available on the AAUP website: http://staff.washington.edu/uwaaup/parttime.htm
I am Daniel Jacoby, Associate Professor in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Bothell. As an AAUP member, I have been asked to testify on issues pertaining to lecturers and part-time faculty. This request stems from my published research into the conditions of part-time faculty at Washington State Community Colleges. Lecturers are normally hired principally to perform teaching duties. They are not eligible for tenure, though they may be placed on longer-term contracts for periods up to 5 years. In Autumn of 2001, according to the University of Washington data, the Seattle campus employed 259 full-time equivalent.
Lecturers (or 13.4% of all regular faculty) on annual contracts. Additionally, the Bothell Campus employed 16 Lecturers (25% of its faculty) and the Tacoma Campus employed 14 Lecturers (17.5%). Between 1999 and 2001, measured by FTE, the number of Lecturers rose from 224 (or 11.1%) to 289 (14%) across the three campuses. In Spring of 2001, the University of Washington enacted new provisions to expand job security and promotion opportunities for lecturers, who previously were hired in one of two ranks, for a maximum of five years. Despite this legislation, lecturers experience considerable job insecurity as well as uneven conditions across the campus.
Many lecturers are different from those discussed above because they do not have annual contracts. In fact, part-time employment among faculty, according the University of Washington Factbook, involved over 1000 appointments, excluding graduate students, librarians, and retirees. Part-time faculty are appointed with a variety of titles and perform many duties. A small number are tenure track but the vast majority experience little job security.
My research into contingent academic employment has put me in touch with a number of UW employees who inform me that their situations frequently resemble those prevailing among part-time faculty at the community colleges and elsewhere.
While not all contingent faculty desire to teach full-time nor do all wish to enter tenure track jobs, my research suggests that the majority have a strong preference for substantially greater security and additional employment. While the UW handbook mandates that full-time lecturers on annual contracts be renewed within six months of the end of their term, part-time instructors frequently complain their positions are confirmed only weeks, sometimes days before they begin work. This, despite the fact that, the vast majority of these faculty have considerable teaching experience and are often essential components of a department's instructional team. Increasingly, academia is experiencing a new class of employee who may be classified as permanent temporary or perma-temp faculty.
Part-time and other contingent academic faculty complain that job insecurity stifles their academic freedom because asserting themselves on faculty issues, demanding too much of students, or otherwise inadvertently offending others may result in retaliation. Few, often no, procedural protections are available to assure job renewal. Faculty serving with less than 50% time contracts are ineligible for benefits.
In addition to the economic insecurity that subjects contingent faculty to arbitrary actions, too often these academics experience humiliating or degrading reminders that they are unequal to their tenure track peers. Their offices may be shared with others or possess inadequate facilities. Many are excluded from faculty deliberations they would like to participate in. Others are uncertain whether they are eligible to participate in university perks. One faculty complained that despite 7 years employment, he was denied the right to print a business card with his university affiliation. The part-time and lecturer system is extremely uneven. Some faculty are satisfied with their treatment, but others feel abused and vulnerable.
The AAUP has published guidelines for good practice. It notes that "Institutions exploit faculty members when they appoint numerous part-time faculty in a single department or renew temporary faculty year after year without offering them raises in pay, access to benefits, opportunities for promotion, or eligibility for tenure and the procedural protections essential to academic freedom."
Thank you for the opportunity to present this information.