Policy reins in part-timers
By Ben Baynton, contributing writer     
Posted on September 21, 2006

Dana Flage, part-time professor of the foreign languages department for 12 years, said she feels JMU should drop part-time instructors as the school deems fit.

“This clause in contract to dismiss part-time faculty is like an insurance policy,” she said. “If enrollment is too low, they need to be able to drop the instructor.”

Flage fears she could lose her job due to the new policies set forth by the American Association of University Professors, which would require universities to promote to full-time professors or fire part-time instructors after  seven years. Flage said she is at a disadvantage because she only has a master’s degree. English professor Peter Johnson said only half of those who have new doctorates are hired.

Some faculty believe temporary faculty are sometimes exploited.

“I think they [part-time instructors] should get the same benefits [as full-time instructors],” said mathematics professor Peter Kohn.

The AAUP is an advocacy group for college instructors and has 40,000 members nationwide. The AAUP has codified its guidelines — the Recommended Institutional Regulations that set the bar for compensation of instructors.

The group recently released these proposed guidelines that would make it harder to dismiss part-time instructors. The group’s proposed guidelines would require a university to have a hearing if the university wanted to dismiss a part-time instructor before the end of their term of employment. Currently, JMU part-time instructors can be dismissed at any time during the year by written notice.

Several of the proposed guidelines are already in effect at JMU, though. Part-time instructors have written copies of their contracts and they are given at least several months notice of whether or not their contract will be renewed.

The last proposed guideline is a divisive one. It would require complying universities to perform a substantial review of the part-time instructor after seven years of part-time teaching. At the end of this review, the university would have to either move the part time instructor to full time, or dismiss them.

Most professors agreed with Flage, that instead of focusing on job security, “[The AAUP] should be pushing for better insurance coverage or payment for part-timers.”

These guidelines will be included in the Recommended Institutional Regulations at the next AAUP national meeting. The date of the meeting is undetermined.

While JMU is in compliance with AAUP guidelines thus far, the proposed guidelines go far beyond the current security of part-time instructors. These proposals also eliminate the convenience of part-time instructors, according to some.