Moving towards true Shared Governance Adapting Tenure for the Changing Realities of Academia

Meghan K. O’Donnell megkodonnell@gmail.co m Or follow me on Twitter @MeggieODB

Current Realities The new majority is non-tenured Most shared governance is overseen by TT faculty (< 30%) across the nation Shared governance opportunities are limited for lecturers & aren’t proportionate with % of contingent faculty as a whole CSU – Contingent faculty are more than ½ of ALL faculty (approx. 58% with contingent counselors) CSU Statewide Senate has only 2 contingent representatives CSU BOT only allows Tenured Faculty to apply as faculty reps University service falls on a smaller percentage of faculty

The principal purpose of tenure is to safeguard academic freedom, which is a requisite condition for all who teach and conduct research in higher education. When faculty members can lose their positions because of their speech or their publications, they cannot properly fulfill their core responsibilities. - American Association of University Professors

How did we get here? Casualization of academic labor Massification of Higher Ed since 1950’s Decrease in state support Increase in student population Corporatization of Education model

Academic freedom is weakened when a majority of the faculty cannot rely on the protections of tenure. - AAUP Joint Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure & Committee on Contingent Faculty and the Profession

If we do nothing According to AAUP… “Dramatic increase in number and proportion of contingent faculty has created systemic problems for higher education.” “Faculty governance is weakened by constant turnover and, on most campuses, by the exclusion of contingent faculty from governance activities.” “Inequities and physical distance among potential colleagues undermine the collegial atmosphere of academic institutions and hamper the effectiveness of academic decision making.”

Working conditions encountered by adjuncts, particularly those working part-time – may carry deeply troubling implications for student learning, equal-employment opportunities & non-discrimination, and risk management - Adrianna Kezar & Daniel Maxey Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges

Change is already underway… Medical School Blues Chronic problems with clinicians practicing so much they had no time to teach Teaching faculty treated as 2nd class citizens Research faculty torn between teaching and their personal lab work Inequity in work conditions and salary between research and teaching

3 Major Shifts Moved away from hierarchy in status This addressed concerns over unequal working conditions Created more defined tracks or roles, to fit the needs of medical education Teaching, Research, Clinical All tracks are included in the governance process and are giving full voting rights. All tracks have similar salaries, benefits, etc. *Scaled back tenure (not entirely) but it is no longer an expectation for most tracks, but is reserved solely for those tracks where concerns over preserving academic freedom is key.

University of Denver

They’re Gettin ColoRADICAL Established professional pathways & long term contracts for valued, non-tenure-track faculty (aka lecturers) Lecturers may be hired on annual contracts for no more than 5 years They are either released from duty or promoted to assistant professor, with a 3 yr. contract, in one of three pathways: Teaching Professor Assistant Clinical Professor Assistant Professor of the Practice (for nontraditional academics)

After 6 years, an AP can apply for a position as Associate Professor Rigorous review and evaluation If negative – professor’s employment ends at the end of their current contract If positive – professor is promoted to associate professor with a 5 year contract Process to move to full professor is similar, except if the review is negative, you just get another contract as associate professor.

University of British Columbia

“Instructors” at UBC Instructors and Senior Instructors are both eligible for Promotion & Tenure in the UBC system in what UBC calls the “Teaching Stream Faculty” As opposed to the Research and Teaching Stream which includes Assistant and Associate Professors. All instructors go up for tenure by their 5th year of continual work at UBC, and you either get tenure, or you teach a 6th year, and are not brought back again (*terminal year). 

What about the CSU?

Increasingly, colleges & universities are failing to demonstrate any differences in the type of work carried out by non-tenure-track faculty versus tenure-track faculty, which poses the potential for litigation on behalf of non-tenure-track faculty. - Adrianna Kezar & Daniel Maxey Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges

“Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups are even more likely to be relegated to contingent positions” - American Federation of Teachers

Another reason to adapt the tenure model Cost Starting in 2014 the state now gives the CSU a lump of funding with the portion needed to cover CalPERS contributions from the CSU based on the 2012 snapshot of FTE faculty. Every new TT faculty hired (plus all new Lecturers) who make it into CalPERS - creates a budget deficit, as their PERS contributions now decrease the CSU general fund for instruction and everything else.

Its financially beneficial for the CSU If existing Lecturers already in PERS became TT faculty, they would not represent a new cost burden on the CSU general fund Also…Lecturers would no longer lack reasonable assurance for work – no longer be eligible for UI benefits between every academic term

Recap Consensus that tenure supports academic freedom Provides opportunities for true shared governance Supports a more equitable working environment, and collegial respect Saves the CSU money, as opposed to “hiring our way out of tenure deficit” Eliminates potential future problems associated with litigation and discrimination claims

Sources Kezar, Adrianna and Daniel Maxey. “The Changing Academic Workforce.” Trusteeship Magazine, AGB. June 2013 Flaherty, Colleen. “More than Adjuncts.” Inside Higher Education. February 2015 Kezar, Adrianna. “Changing Faculty Workforce Models” TIAA-CREF Institute White Paper. “Contingent Appointments and the Academic Profession.” AAUP Joint Subcommittee of the Association’s Committee on Contingent Faculty and the and Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. 2014 University of British Columbia (https://www.ubc.ca) University of Denver (http://www.du.edu) Pulliers Center for Higher Education through USC (uscrossier.org) The Delphi Project: On the Changing Faculty and Student Success, in partnership with AACU New Faculty Majority (www.newfacultymajority.info)

What’s next? Brainstorming potential solutions