Describes frictions inherent in the decision-making process at a California community college, where shared governance is both clearly defined and mandated. Discusses responsibility versus consultation and offers two successful examples (regarding the writing center and the basic writing program) in which faculty were involved in the decision and…

A causal model assesses the relative influence of individual attributes, institutional characteristics, contextual-work environment variables, and multiple measures of job satisfaction on faculty intentions to leave their current institutions. Factors considered include tenure status, age, institutional status, governance style, organizational…

Presents text and data tables covering higher education faculty salaries for the period 1998-1999. A text discussion of academic salaries since the l970s reviews relative and real trends, salary differences between public and private institutions, salary advantages of research universities, gender differences, and other salary inequalities.…

Presents text and data tables describing higher education faculty salaries for the period 2000-2001. A text discussion of academic salaries addresses broad trends and differences in salaries across institutional type, within institutions, and between sexes. Appendixes present data on individual institutions. (EV)

Overviews the 20-year history of the English Composition Board at the University of Michigan, an independent unit directed by a policy board until it was effectively ended by being placed under the English Department in 1997. Describes its early cooperative and later collaborative approach to management style. Argues efforts to institutionalize…

If we deconstruct the university--and set aside the trendy rhetoric of a multiversity--are we not actually approaching a "strativersity," a hierarchy of teaching that imposes a hierarchy of learning? In this article, the author discusses the ways in which typical contingent working conditions may undermine student learning conditions. Highlighted…

Examines the question of teaching literature in the composition class in terms of an ideological gap between composition and literature which is maintained for political reasons, and reflected in the tenure process. (MM)

A church-related college's experience with retrenchment and faculty layoffs is chronicled. The process of deciding where to make changes and how to communicate with faculty about them is described, emphasizing the governing board's role and the quality of the faculty-college relationship. (MSE)

Based on an extensive survey of the numbers, salaries, and benefits of part-time and non-tenure-track faculty in ten academic disciplines, a November 2000 report from the Coalition on the Academic Workforce (CAW) clarified how colleges and universities depend on contingent labor and how inadequately many of these faculty are supported. A group of…

When faculty and department heads rated alternative responses to retrenchment pressures in a fictitious but realistic situation, few differences were found among department heads' and tenured and nontenured faculty's preferences. Most preferred protecting instructional programs even at the cost of research and service activities. Implications for…

Describes the three-year process of obtaining renewable four-year contracts and other benefits, including sabbatical leave eligibility, for University of Vermont non-tenure-track faculty and part-time lecturers. Highlights the arguments presented to faculty and administration and the support of various groups (faculty women's caucus, faculty…

In an effort to revitalize Bennington College (Vermont), its president recently fired 26 of 79 faculty members, reduced and reorganized academic departments and divisions, replaced tenure with multi-year contracts, and recruited new faculty. Some claim violation of academic freedom. Enrollment has increased, particularly among first-time students,…