PROFESSIONAL
STANDARDS [for Non-Tenure Track Faculty]
From
The Status of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty - 1993
an approved repport of the American Association of University Professors
For
the full report, click
here.
Many non-tenure-track
faculty, especially those who work part time, express uncertainty
about what rights and privileges they are due as faculty members.
The AAUP seeks to ensure academic freedom and professional protection
for all faculty whether full or part time, tenured or nontenured.
To that end we offer the following additional recommendations in an
effort to set minimum standards designed to protect the professional
standing of all faculty:
1.
All appointments, including part-time appointments, should have a
description of the specific professional duties required. Complex
institutions may require multiple models of faculty appointments consistent
with the diverse contributions appropriate to the institution’s
needs.
2.
The performance of faculty members on renewable term appointments,
full time and part time, should be regularly evaluated with established
criteria appropriate to their positions. Failure to evaluate professional
appointments diminishes the institution and the professional standing
of the faculty. Evaluation of performance provides essential information
for sound and fair institutional decisions regarding compensation,
promotion, and tenure. Each institution should define the credentials
and the quality of scholarship it requires of faculty members in different
academic positions and then should make appointments and decisions
regarding compensation and advancement based on the criteria specific
to the position. Institutions faced with emergency appointments sometimes
employ faculty members whose qualifications fall short of those normally
required for tenure-track appointments. In general, institutions should
avoid appointing, and should certainly not reappoint, faculty members
whose qualifications or performance are so far below the prevailing
institutional standard as to make tenure eligibility an impossibility.
Any lesser standard shortchanges the students and erodes support for
academic standards in the institution and the wider community.
3.
Decisions on compensation, promotion, and tenure should be based on
the specified duties of the position. Faculty members appointed to
teach entry-level courses should have the opportunity to enhance their
professional status and receive rewards based on performance of their
defined responsibilities and should not be held to expectations which
may prevail for other positions.
4.
Compensation for part-time employment should be the corresponding
fraction for a full-time position having qualitatively similar responsibilities
and qualifications. Compensation should include such essential fringe
benefits as health insurance, life insurance, and retirement contributions.
5.
Timely notice of nonreappointment should be extended to all faculty
regardless of length of service. The AAUP’s 1980 report on part-time
faculty recommends that part-time faculty "who have been employed
for six or more terms, or consecutively for three or more terms,"
should receive at least a full term’s notice of nonreappointment.
Although it may be impossible to give a full term of notice to faculty
members employed for less than three terms, we recommend that every
effort be made to notify faculty at the earliest possible opportunity,
but in no case later than four weeks prior to the commencement of
the next term. Similarly, all faculty members should have reasonable
advance notice of course assignments to allow adequate preparation.
6.
Institutions should provide the conditions necessary to perform assigned
duties in a professional manner, including such things as appropriate
office space and necessary supplies, support services, and equipment.
7.
Non-tenure-track faculty should be included in the departmental and
institutional structures of faculty governance.
8.
Part-time faculty should be given fair consideration when part-time
positions are converted to full-time positions. The evidence suggests
that part-time employment often works as a disadvantage on the job
market when applicants are considered for full-time tenure-track positions.
Departments should be as scrupulous to avoid this type of discrimination
as they are required to be in avoiding other forms of discrimination.
As
the number of non-tenure-track faculty appointments grows, the base
of the tenure system erodes. The treatment of non-tenure-track faculty
appointments is the barometer whereby the general status of the profession
may be measured. While the colleague whose performance is undervalued
or whose potential is blighted by underemployment bears the personal
brunt of the situation, the status of all faculty is undermined by
the degree of exploitation the profession allows of its members. Institutions
that rely heavily on part-time faculty marginalize the faculty as
a whole. Failure to extend to all faculty reasonable professional
commitments compromises quality and risks the stability of the profession
and the integrity of our standing with the public.
From
The Status of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty
an approved repport of the American Association of University Professors
For
the full report, click
here.
Return
to Organizing Tools Page
Return
to Top