Lately there has been a whole bunch of attention surrounding for-profit colleges, particularly due to a new set of regulations that are posed to emerge that could have a significant impact on that sector.  Those regulations are important in terms of protecting students.  In fact, AFT recently joined many other groups in a letter in urging Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to "to propose regulations on incentive compensation and gainful employment that will more effectively protect students from high-pressure and deceptive sales tactics for educational programs of little or no benefit to them, and will ensure that taxpayer dollars do not subsidize such practices and programs."  And just yesterday, Senator Harkin announced a new series of hearings "to examine federal spending at for-profit higher education institutions."

In short, there is a lot of attention focused on what is happening to students in the for-profit sector. This is as it should be. But my question has to do with faculty life in those institutions.   We know that there is a tremendous reliance on contingent faculty in this sector.  If what we hear from those faculty who reach out to us about organizing is any indication, there is no job security and a significant concern about employer repercussions were it to become clear that an employee was talking about unionizing.

But we would like to know about what it is like to work as a faculty member in a for-profit institution from pay to workload to professional support to being included in the life of the institution. So, if you work at a for-profit institutions, we are hoping you will jump into the comment thread and tell us about your experience and pass this onto your colleagues.

Or, if you are at one of those institutions where even leaving a comment on our website might be a problem, then send us an e-mail with your comments and experiences. We really would like to hear your stories.

UPDATE:  We are getting quite a bit of email in response to this post, keep them coming!

AFT member and well-known labor and immigrant rights leader John Delloro died unexpectedly on June 5, after suffering a heart attack. He was 39.

John Delloro, center, at an AFT luncheon with Los Angeles College Faculty Guild president Carl Friedlander, left, and California Federation of Teachers president Marty Hittelman. Photo by Slobodan Dimitro.

Delloro was president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and had been executive director of the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute in Los Angeles since 2006. Under his leadership, the program strengthened labor studies on all nine campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District, where Delloro was a member of the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild. With his infectious enthusiasm and organizing dedication, he introduced thousands of community college students to unions and mentored up-and-coming leaders. Since 2007, he also taught Asian American studies at the University of California-Los Angeles.

In 2009, Delloro was elected to serve as president of APALA. Prior to his election, he served as president of the Los Angeles chapter of APALA and was an organizer for HERE, AFSCME and SEIU.  During his tenure at APALA, the AFL-CIO convened the first National Asian Pacific American Workers' Rights Hearing in Washington D.C., in November 2009. Following the hearing, Delloro was a principal author of "Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence," a report from the hearing. Also that year, he received the Unsung Hero Award from Asian Pacific Americans for Progress.

"Delloro's passion for serving working people and advancing civil rights spanned nearly two decades," says AFT president Randi Weingarten. "His many exceptional contributions-as an organizer, advocate, activist, teacher, mentor and leader-are especially remarkable in light of his young age. We are hopeful that his incredible accomplishments will live on and that his legacy will inspire other young leaders to follow in his footsteps."

"John Delloro touched the lives of many," says Kent Wong, a member of University Council-AFT at UCLA and APALA's founding president. "He will be remembered for his compassion, his generosity of spirit and for his visionary leadership."

John Delloro is survived by his wife, Susan Suh, a sociologist and community activist, and their two young children, Mina and Malcolm. [Barbara McKenna, AFL-CIO, APALA]

Here's some good news out of California for a change: By a vote of 52 to 23 the California Assembly has passed a bill that captures all the major principles of the Faculty and College Excellence campaign.

The bill, Assembly Concurrent Resolution 138, expresses the intent of the Legislature that part- time and temporary faculty receive pay and benefits that are equal to those of tenured and tenure-track faculty of comparable qualifications doing comparable work. It also expresses that at least 75 percent of the credit hours taught in the California Community Colleges be taught by full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty.

The California Federation of Teachers was a moving force behind getting the bill introduced and reintroduced-for a total of four times over the past four years.  That tenacity paid off in the Assembly on June 2 and the CFT hopes it will move the bill out of the Senate resolutions committee to the floor for a vote, too.

Some of the tenets of FACE were the prevailing wisdom in California five years ago, notes CFT president Marty Hittelman. "But we lost that due to the budget crisis.  ACR 138 is just one small step on the way to equity.  We'll continue to press for something more than a resolution.

"We found it very difficult to pass actual legislation," he adds.  "This was the best we could do to set things up for the future.  If it finally passes the Senate, we'll have concrete support for moving forward."

Last year, the Oregon Legislature passed the country's first FACE law. It allows part-time faculty access to state health benefit insurance plans and requires colleges to collect data on academic staffing and salary ratios and report back to the government.

The Union of Part-Time Faculty (UPTF) /AFT at Wayne State University is getting ready to do some educating at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, MI.  Check out this video about the march, read the full press release below and, if you are in Detroit, make sure to join UPTF at Warren and Woodward on June 22.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Union of Part-Time Faculty at Wayne State to host
'Adjuncts United' contingent during
U.S. Social Forum's opening march June 22

"Voice for the Voiceless" workshop to discuss adjunct organizing efforts June 23
_________________________________________

Contacts:
Raye Robertson:  586-443-4439 / rayerobertson@yahoo.com
Bryan G. Pfeifer:   313-832-7902 / uptfaft@gmail.com

June 4, 2010: The Union of Part-Time Faculty at Wayne State University will host an ‘Adjuncts United' contingent during the U.S. Social Forum's opening march June 22. The contingent will step off at Warren and Woodward Avenues in Detroit at 3 p.m. Adjuncts, who are increasingly organizing internationally for better working conditions and dignity and respect on the job, are and will be available for interviews.

The UPTF, in conjunction with other adjunct unions, is also sponsoring the workshop "Voice for the Voiceless: Organizing Part-time Faculty in Higher Education" from 1-3 p.m. June 23, at the Wayne County Community College, Rm. 340. Registration information is available at www.ussf2010.org/register.

"We are inviting anyone who cares about the quality of higher education to march with us. Unfair practices in higher education diminishes everyone's lives," said Susan Titus, UPTF-AFT Local 477 president.

Now teaching the majority of America's higher education courses - as full-time, tenured track positions have purposely been downsized by college administration's who are increasingly business focused - adjunct instructors are employed on limited-term contracts and considered "contingent" workers. Even though they may teach for the same institutions for years, adjuncts typically face conditions that "temp" workers face: low pay, little or no access to employment benefits or pensions, and no job security. Because they have traditionally had no union protection, they are often the first to be laid off when university budgets are trimmed. Today, however, momentum is growing in Michigan and internationally for unionization. 

"In Michigan alone, thousands of part-time adjuncts and lecturers at WSU, MSU, U of Michigan, Ferris State, Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, Henry Ford Community College, Western Michigan University and elsewhere have or are organizing unions. It is because of unionization and building solidarity with each other, other labor-community organizations and students that adjunct faculty in the U.S. and beyond are improving their conditions," concluded Titus.

The U.S. Social Forum to be held June 22-26 at Detroit's Cobo Hall and at various locations throughout Detroit, will be fertile ground for working people from all walks of life to share creative solutions to problems and plant seeds for social, economic and environmental change. For more information: www.ussf2010.org.

Things are getting unnecessarily tense in Mt. Pleasant, MI as the administration at Central Michigan University threatened last week to arrest faculty activists and their supporters during a sit-in in the CMU administrative building, Warriner Hall.  As we have noted before, the Union of Teaching Faculty (UTF) has been actively seeking agreement from the administration on a fair bargaining unit with letters, sit-ins and educational campaigns on campus.  The administration has obstinately refused to work with the union to make sure that all nontenure-track faculty are able to exercise their right to vote on union representation, but this was the first time that the administration has threatened to have UTF activists arrested. 

The events unfolded on Wednesday, May 26th when UTF members, accompanied by tenured faculty, CMU retirees, local elected officials, and other union members, returned to Warriner Hall, intending to sit-in throughout the afternoon in an attempt to communicate with President George Ross.

Less than an hour after arriving at the administration building, the chief of police told UTF representatives that the administration would not tolerate protestors inside the building. When the union objected, they were told that the police were ordered to arrest anyone that did not vacate the building immediately--the building which is actually the workplace of most of the protestors.  Not surprisingly, UTF members were angry.

"This is absurd-the administration would rather arrest its own faculty than negotiate with them" said Mary Ann Freling, a 20-year, nontenure-track faculty member in the CMU English Department.  "All we are asking for is the right to vote for union representation.  This is a fundamental human right recognized by the United Nations, so you can imagine why we are upset."

UTF members and supporters did comply and moved outside to rally and educate incoming first-year students and their parents about the situation contingent faculty face at CMU. They didn't leave out of fear or a lack of commitment to seek a fair outcome.   "If the CMU administration wants to arrest me for standing inside a public building with a sign, then I am prepared to go to jail." said Freling.

The question now is just how far CMU is willing to go to deny these faculty members their rights.

Check out the UTF website here for more--including pictures!