The National Education Association actively supports creating new full-time faculty positions within colleges, universities, and community colleges and, in so doing, giving priority to contingent faculty seeking full-time positions. Contingent faculty and professional staff are valuable and, in many cases, necessary to the programs of the colleges and universities. Therefore, they should be treated no differently than full-time, tenure-track, or permanent faculty or professional staff for purposes of employment conditions, including eligibility to bargain collectively.
However, the excessive use of academic appointments on contingent, temporary, non-tenure track, and/or multiple-year contracts may undermine the academic and intellectual freedom, opportunity for tenure and participation in the governance structure. Institutions fail to fulfill their responsibility to provide adequate working conditions and educational support when contingent faculty have no office space or allowance for office hours and are forced to teach at multiple campuses, thereby undermining educational quality.
Equitable treatment of contingent faculty and professional staff must include:
* Salary and benefits proportionate (pro rata pay and benefits) to their work, including course preparation time, office hours, committee assignments, and involvement in shared governance;
* Equal treatment with tenure system faculty regarding issues of resource allocation, including office space, access to phone and computer equipment, library facilities, secretarial support, fee waivers, and required professional development
* Conversion from contingent positions to full-time tenure positions in programs that need or will benefit from more full-time positions due to growth, reassignment, or retirement. Contingent faculty, who have demonstrated competence in the institution through positive evaluations, should be offered the opportunity to convert into full-time tenure track faculty. Additionally, those seeking tenure-track positions should have the opportunity to present their qualifications in a fair and unbiased way for new positions. Institutions in collaboration with exclusive representation or appropriate governance procedures must develop and implement an appropriate evaluation system for contingent faculty to assure consideration for such positions.
The Association believes that equitable policies and practices must be in place so that contingent faculty are treated as institutionally supported professionals and can serve students better as an integral and valued part of these institutions of higher education. (2008, 2009)
