Guided by Honig and Hatch's (2004) conceptualization of bridging and buffering, we undertook an analysis of reduction in force (RIF) provisions from 546 Ohio teacher collective bargaining agreements. We asked the following question: Are the most disadvantaged school districts providing greater protections to tenured teachers when making RIF…

In recent decades, the employment model in higher education has markedly changed. Tenure-track faculty now represent just about 30 percent of the instructional faculty across all non-profit institutions. Meanwhile, most faculty members who provide instruction at colleges and universities today are non-tenure-track faculty, the majority of them…

The nature of the American academic workforce has fundamentally shifted over the past several decades. Whereas full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty were once the norm, the professoriate is now comprised of mostly non-tenure-track faculty. In 1969, tenured and tenure-track positions made up approximately 78.3% of the faculty and…

Using a reduced form version of a theoretical expansion of Hoxby's (1996) education production model, we investigate whether bargaining teachers unions are a boon or a bust to the economy of the state. We anticipate teachers, being in the public sector veiled from competition, are less likely to be efficient. Yet, their product, education,…

This report describes recent hiring and retirement patterns as well as tenure-related changes and actions taken by public and private not-for-profit postsecondary institutions that offered an associate's or higher degree in fall 2003 and participated in federal Title IV student aid programs. The 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty…

Professors and the Florida State Board of Regents have agreed to experiment with an alternative to tenure at Florida Gulf Coast University, scheduled to open in 1997. Administrators will have the option of whether to offer new professors tenure or multi-year contracts. The arrangement is a compromise between elimination of tenure and the contract…

Over the last generation, the instructional staffing system in American higher education has experienced a significant reduction in the proportion of jobs for full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members and a dramatic growth in fixed-term full- and part-time instructional jobs without tenure. About 70 percent of the people teaching in…

The use of seniority in current school layoff and transfer practices and the impact of seniority provisions on school operations are examined in this paper. The data for the study came from two sources: interviews with teachers, principals, union leaders, and district administrators in four school districts (drawn from a national sample) facing…

The purpose of this monograph was to examine the nature of changes in the system of rights and obligations surrounding employment and the relationship of employer to employee in the United States, Britain, France, and Mexico, with particular emphasis on the property-like rights in employment. In the United States there have been three stages in…

A growing component of the instructional workforce in higher education, graduate teaching and research assistants are frequently viewed by university administrators and trustees as students rather than employees, according to this American Federation of Teachers (AFT) report. As the number of new full-time faculty hired decreases, an increased…

This bargaining agreement between the Board of Trustees of Bucks County Community College (BCCC) and the BCCC Federation of Teachers outlines the terms of employment for all faculty members between 1986 and 1989. The 21 articles in the agreement set forth provisions related to: (1) recognition of the federation as the exclusive bargaining agent;…

Two newsletter articles are presented that examine legal aspects of campus collective bargaining: (1) "Campus Bargaining and the Law: A Decade of Higher Education Collective Bargaining--1972-1982" (June M. Weisberger); and (2) an analysis of the the Appellate Court decision in the S. Simpson Gray case. The first article examines major…

Distinct questions come up concerning industrial seniority practices and higher education. (1) Would retrenchment by seniority--rank or institutional--destroy academic tenure as such and institute instead a new system? (2) Can "bumping" be used in academe? (3) Would seniority discourage academic transfers? (4) Would seniority effect disciplinary…

Examination of retrenchment clauses in the faculty union contracts at 42 colleges and universities focused on implications for tenure rights and the roles prescribed for faculty and administrators. Concepts of financial exigency and shared governance are highlighted. Contracts were found to provide faculty with a limited and reactive role during…

The trend toward academic freedom in Texas that began in the sixties and its current status in the state are examined with specific reference to individual Texas colleges. The impact of the Texas Education Agency and changes in governing boards, faculty, and administration on academic freedom are discussed. (BH)