Thank you for bringing into the light the “revolving door” pattern of employment regarding “visiting” (more accurately, contingent) faculty at Wesleyan (“Visiting professor turnover questioned after Bean’s dismissal,” April 11, Volume CXLIII, Number 39; “Closing the revolving door for profs.,” April 11, Volume CXLIII, Number 39).
The following statement was written by Annemarie Bean (visiting associate professor of African American Studies) and Mandi Isaacs Jackson (visiting assistant professor of African American Studies). The authors circulated the statement by e-mail to all current visiting faculty and received numerous responses indicating support; however, all of the responders indicated that they were reluctant to sign on to the statement for fear of reprisal. We feel this is a concrete indication of both the need for change and the existence of widespread insecurity among a growing number of contingent faculty.
Presently, nearly 80 of Wesleyan University’s more than 300 faculty members are classified as “visitors,” which means that more than one-fourth of the teaching staff at the University is working as a contingent employee.
For the 2007-2008 academic year, more than 50 percent of the hires were at the rank of “visitor.” Notably, nearly all of those appointed this year at the rank of “visitor” were women and people of color, and these visiting positions were concentrated in the humanities and social sciences, particularly in marginalized, interdisciplinary programs such as African American Studies; Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and American Studies.
This system of temporary appointments is detrimental to students seeking mentors, advisors, and coursework in interdisciplinary fields. It is also a threat to academic freedom, as stated in recent articles and an editorial in The Argus, and as documented by academic organizations and publications, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, the MLA, and the American Association of University Professors (The Chronicle of Higher Education: Gravois, John, “Tracking the Invisible Faculty.” December 15, 2006 online edition [http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i17/17a00801.htm]; Euben, Donna, “Legal Contingencies for Contingent Professors.” June 16, 2006 online edition, [http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i41/41b00801.htm]; The Modern Language Association: “Statement on Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Members.” Available online at http://www.mla.org/statement_on_nonten. American Association of University Professors Committee Report: Henry, Earl, “Looking the Other Way? Accreditation Standards and Part-Time Faculty (2008).” Available online at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/comm/rep/accredpt.htm).
A pressing need for permanent faculty in these areas has been consistently demonstrated by student enrollment (and attempted enrollment). The administrative decision to fill these faculty positions on a temporary basis, without providing for basic rights and protections for contingent faculty, is not in keeping with Wesleyan’s philosophies, reputation, or with the needs and desires of Wesleyan students.
As contingent faculty, we draw upon our collective experiences and take this opportunity to recommend basic guidelines for the employment of contingent faculty beginning in academic year 2008-2009:
1) All notifications of rehiring or offers of a contract extension must be made by January 31 of each academic year. This will enable sufficient time for teaching evaluations and other materials (see item 2) to be reviewed. When decisions and notifications take place as late as the end of April, as they have this year, it is nearly impossible to secure alternative employment.
2) Reappointment decisions should be based on student evaluations, classroom visits by senior faculty, a review of syllabi and other course materials, and a one-on-one meeting with the department or program chair before the January 31 notification. If there is a departmental or program minimum standard in any of these areas (student evaluations, classroom visits, review of syllabi), this should be made clear in the contingent faculty member’s contract.
3) At present, there are no guidelines in the Wesleyan University Faculty Handbook for contingent faculty hired at the level of “visiting.” There are “Guidelines of the Academic Council for the Reappointment and Promotion of Instructional Faculty with Adjunct Status.” Given that the guidelines for adjunct faculty mandate many of the procedures we have experienced as lacking for “visiting” faculty, we would like future “visiting” faculty to have the same guidelines.
4) In addition to contingent faculty having general guidelines as would be outlined in the Faculty Handbook, future “visiting” faculty should have specific guidelines from the hiring department or program as to the requirements of job assignments outside of teaching four courses (advising or reading theses, serving on committees or panels, etc.) and receive adequate instruction and support from the department or program chairs. Departments and programs that rely heavily on contingent faculty for student advisement should reassess their permanent staffing needs, given that students are being advised by new faculty unfamiliar with the University (a demand not imposed on new tenure-track faculty).
We hope that the Wesleyan administration will seriously consider these proposals, in the interests of academic freedom, quality education for its students, and fair working conditions for all members of the faculty.
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