A combination of destructive trends in higher education--shrinking state budgets, stagnant student aid, the growth of corporate-style management, the overuse and exploitation of contingent faculty, increasing workloads and attacks on academic freedom--is weakening the educational integrity and professionalism of American colleges and universities.…

Issues arising from the increasing use of part-time college faculty as an institutional cost-management strategy are discussed, including implications for faculty joining unions, tenure, governance and administrative hierarchy, faculty workload, quality of education, and public confidence in higher education. The trend is seen as ultimately…

Economic models of the way in which faculty allocate their time, and the behavior of labor markets, can help inform institutional research on faculty in a variety of ways. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)

The contemporary academic labor market is examined using concepts from labor market economics and sociology to elucidate why teaching, universally acknowledged to be at the center of American academic life, is not at the center of the academic labor market and is only modestly rewarded. First, tenets of the neoclassical labor market model are…

Mainstreaming and declining budgets are causing many teachers concern about their workloads. In a survey of Arkansas secondary teachers, the following weighted factors were recommended for inclusion in a workload policy: number of preparations, student ability level, class type and size, course difficulty level, and administrative or cocurricular…

Overload pay gives the recipient the prospect of remaining afloat in educational cutbacks. College professionals who assume an overload contribute to lowering the standards of higher education. Ways in which deans or department heads justify these faculty 'ghosts' are outlined. (MLW)

Ethical concerns related to faculty consulting and other professional activities for supplemental pay are discussed. Some groups, like students and taxpayers, may find it difficult to view outside professional activities of faculty members in the context of public service and professional development. Universities employing academic professionals…

The use of part-time, adjunct faculty by many colleges as a money-saving device is reviewed. Implications for both personnel and institutions are illustrated by example and by National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) statistics. (JMF)

Prepared for the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, this report provides an overview of the 50% Law (Education Code Section 84362), which requires the state's community college districts to spend 50% of the current expense of education each fiscal year (FY) on the payment of salaries for classroom instructors. The first of…

Policymakers in many states are critical of college faculty salaries based on their ill-informed perceptions of faculty workload and perquisites, seldom acknowledging the real reason for rising costs in higher education, its rapid expansion. Faculty and administrators must work together to devise persuasive answers to hostile inquiries by critics…

A junior faculty member reflects on the dilemma of that professional position, noting that its anxieties fall into two categories: "Is this all there is?" and "What if we lose it?" She examines problems with, and prohibitions against, speaking one's mind in that position, sees solutions as being institutional or individual, and examines how…

A school board member-turned-English teacher shares several insights: teaching is exhausting work; class size matters; teachers are isolated; teachers often misunderstand board actions; administrative filters distort what boards and teachers are really saying; adopting one-sided, radical change is foolhardy; and teachers are professionals…

The ethics and economics of supplemental teaching are discussed by a dean of continuing education. It is suggested that the provision of opportunities to faculty that take them away from their primary responsibilities is a minor aspect of the ethical problem. Continuing education overload compensation is generally low, and there are many people…

This paper, from the Faculty Association of Community and Technical Colleges (FACTC) in Washington, addresses the issue of part-time faculty employment in the state's community colleges. In fall 1997, there were 3,019 full-time and 5,256 part-time instructors in Washington's two year colleges. Departments that rely most heavily on part-time…

Ethical dilemmas concerning faculty compensation are considered by a university president who served as a nonadministrative professor of law for 10 years. It is suggested that trustees, administrators, and board members have as much to be concerned about as do faculty members when compensation and ethical dilemmas are addressed. The fact that…