Despite the economic downturn and political headwinds, advocates for high quality higher education in California are pressing forward with the FACE legislative campaign. Legislators introduced two bills into the state Assembly: ACR 138 would establish equitable pay and benefits for contingent faculty as well as increase the percentage of full-time tenure-track faculty members at California's community colleges, while AB 1807 would provide important seniority rights to contingent faculty at the state's community colleges.

The tenacity with which California's faculty members and legislators are pursuing legislative remedies to the academic staffing crisis underscores how important higher education is to the state's future economic development, and more importantly, how vital a strong faculty corps is to providing those services. Initiatives like these are necessary to not only secure justice for contingent faculty members and bolster the full-time faculty, but to serve as a counterbalance to a tendency to balance budgets on the back of higher education.

You can find links to the California legislation and bills introduced in other states on our FACE Legislation page.