Over the last sixteen years, part-time teachers have become the coolies, or the burden bearers of the academic community. Used mostly to teach lower-level basic classes, they have increased in number from 36,420 in l968 to 330,000 in l985. Research about part timers began in the late l970s with Howard Tuckman, who tried to find systematic and comprehensive ways of classifying the group. Since that time some research has been done; but while part timers have begun to have an identity nationally, they still have no documented past and no careful guide to policymaking for the future. Policy decisions that have affected part timers include the l972 Carnegie Commission on Higher Education's report, which indicated that in order for institutions to maintain budgetary flexibility and to reduce the expenditures in higher education by 20% in the l970s, they needed to hire part-time faculty. Future policymaking for part timers may include unionization and more humane planning. Issues needing to be addressed include pay and benefits; security rights, including responsibility and authority; enfranchisement in governance; and procedural rules for the resolution of disagreements. (EL)