CFA,
CSU discuss tenure-track faculty
This week’s forum page is devoted to a resolution
to hire more tenure-track faculty. The California
State University, California Faculty Association
and the state Academic Senate are all on
board.
Next week, we intend to conquer the issue
of campus security. Not much has changed
since Sept. 11 of last year. But, should
the police actively search for problems
to correct? Or is the current process adequate
to keep the campus safe? The column would
be due Oct. 15.
Our third topic looks at political correctness
in the aftermath of Sept. 11. The Campus
Climate Committee controls the diversity
at Cal State Long Beach. But, is the university
oversensitive to make sure no group is singled
out? This column would be due Oct. 22.
The Forty-Niner staff encourages future
topic ideas, and would encourage the members
of the campus community to submit their
opinions.
Your
editor in chief,
Michael Watanabe
David
Hood, vice chair of the CSU Academic Senate
and represented the CSU Academic Senate
on the ACR 73 Task Force.
ACR
73 was introduced by Assemblywoman Virginia
Strom-Martin, D-Duncan Mills, at the request
of the California Faculty Association. It
asked that the California State University,
the CSU Academic Senate and the California
Faculty Association jointly develop a plan
to increase the percentage of full-time
faculty to 75 percent within five years.
The three parties agreed almost immediately
that it would be feasible to fulfill ACR
73’s request; however we also saw that the
success of any plan would depend on additional
resources from the legislature. We agreed
on one additional point: We would need eight,
instead of five, years to complete the plan.
Thus, all parties appreciated the desirability
of increasing the percentage of full-time
faculty.
The issue of part-time faculty is quite
important to our students. The CSU primarily
employs part-time faculty to teach multiple-section
lower-division classes like English 100
and History 172. If, for instance, additional
sections of a course are needed, sections
taught by part-time faculty may be added
quickly. But the overuse of part-time faculty
does have drawbacks. Part-time faculty are
paid only to teach, not to serve on committees
and usually not to advise students. The
more part-time faculty we have, the more
the committee work and advising assignments
fall to the smaller numbers of full-time
faculty. Further, part-time faculty, while
often excellent teachers, will not necessarily
be teaching at the same university in five
years; thus, they may not be available to
write letters of recommendation for their
former students, nor may they feel comfortable
about encouraging students to major in programs
since they personally will not be around
to mentor and support those students.
The most important result of the ACR 73
deliberations lies not in the plan itself
but in the process of its formulation. The
CSU administration, the CSU Academic Senate
and the CFA were able to work together to
devise a realistic plan to increase the
percentage of full-time faculty, and in
so doing they demonstrated a fine spirit
of cooperation. We will need this spirit
of cooperation when next year’s budget is
being developed. If this year’s budget is
bad, next year’s will be worse, as legislators
scramble to find enough money to keep the
state solvent.
The CSU, the CFA and the CSU Academic Senate
will all need to work together to broaden
their legislative base in Sacramento and
to protect our university system. The work
of the ACR 73 Task Force has demonstrated
how much we can accomplish when we individually
put down our pretenses and collectively
take up the cause of the university.
ACR 73 has served this university well.
First, it led to a collaborative effort
to better the education we provide our students.
Second, we gained confidence in our ability
to approach the legislature with a united
front in order to further the cause of our
university system. Finally, with next year’s
budget crunch in mind, it gave us some practice
circling the wagons and protecting our mission.
At the center of that circle of wagons is
the future education of California’s children.
We must protect that at all costs and against
all comers.
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