We got a nice piece of news here at FACE Talk this week.  We learned that our humble little blog won the first place award for a labor blog from the International Labor Communications Association!  So a big thanks to all who contributed to keeping the FACE Talk going.  We will do our best to live up to that standard.

Not that we are resting on our laurels here, but we are going to take a short summer break here in August, but will be returning with some exciting new campaign news and features.  I am sure you are all atwitter (wink, wink, nod, nod).  We will send out a FACE Bulletin with all the updates, but check back in a couple weeks for the new academic year here at FACE Talk.

Some shocking news being reported today about the link between investment in faculty and staff and student success.  Apparently, according to an upcoming report, institutions that invest more in instruction and student services have improved rates of persistence and attainment.  Wow-who would have thought that possible?

The report does state that the findings are ones that "neither faculty around the country worried about declining funding for faculty positions nor critics of higher education who point to the wasteful growth of expenditures on non-instructional use are likely to be happy about."  This presumably because the report finds that increased investment in student services has a higher correlation to student success than does investment in instruction. 

However, I suggest we not take the bait that this is an either/or proposition.  I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the real message is that if we are serious about persistence and attainment, we are not going to simply re-program or innovate our way to success, we are going to have to invest in the human endeavor that is education-and that means investing in student services and instruction, particularly at the schools that serve the students with the most needs. 

Yesterday, President Obama announced a new and historic investment in community colleges.  This is an important recognition of the role of community colleges.  AFT hopes that as the administration and Congress work to develop these proposals, that faculty will be front and center in the planning.  Here is AFT President Weingarten's statement on the new initiative.

Statement by Randi Weingarten,
President, American Federation of Teachers,
On White House Initiative To Invest in Community Colleges
The White House announces 10-year, $12 billion program to support community colleges.

WASHINGTON-For many students, community college offers an important pathway to attain higher education, to launch careers or to retool for new work opportunities. President Obama's $12 billion initiative will help boost the number of high school graduates who would be able to receive a college education, and will fill a tremendous need to fund improved courses and facilities at the two-year institutions.

AFT member John McDonald, president of the Henry Ford Community College Federation of Teachers, met with President Obama today to offer support for the proposal, which the president unveiled in a speech at Macomb Community College in Michigan.

The most effective way to develop and implement reforms and other improvements on campuses is to ensure that faculty and staff are engaged in shaping those initiatives and programs. As I said yesterday to more than 2,500 educators at the AFT's educational issues conference, when we work collaboratively with everyone who has an interest in improving education, we can make real and sustainable changes.

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The AFT represents more than 1.4 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.

Some of you may remember that about a year ago, fellow FACT Talk blogger Phil Ray Jack started telling the story of Margaret West, who, after 21 years of service at Edmonds Community College in Washington State, had been "non-renewed."  Not so coincidentally, West was also about to become the first part-time faculty member at Edmonds to assume the role of president of the faculty union at Edmonds.  In response to Phil's first post, a commenter asked what the union was doing in response and what others could do as well.  Phil pointed out that the union was taking action on several fronts and encouraged others to offer their support.

And now a little bit more than a year later, it appears that justice has been served.  In a decision handed down by the Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission, Edmonds CC was ordered to:

• Cease and desist from discriminating against West in reprisal for her union activities;
• Offer West immediate and full reinstatement to the former position she held or an equivalent position; and,
• Compensate West for back pay and benefits lost due to the improper actions of the college.

And, is the case with such decisions, the college is also required to report in a public meeting of the Board of Trustees and by notices posted on campus that the administration "unlawfully discriminated against Margaret West" and outline what they have been ordered to do to remedy that wrong.

One might suggest that a more fair hiring and renewal policy for contingent faculty would be a good place to start!  Until then, congratulations to Margaret and to her union for protecting her rights.

Today the instructors and adjunct faculty at Western Michigan University overwhelmingly voted for the Professional Instructors Organization (PIO) to represent them.  The Michigan Employment Relations Commission counted the votes in Lansing this morning and announced that the final vote tally was 207 to 29. 

"We are delighted that our colleagues have strongly supported the PIO union, and we will work hard to improve wages and working conditions for all instructors at WMU," said Janet Heller, Instructor in the English Department and Gender & Women's Studies Program. 

"We are confident that our organizing will help university leaders to see that part-time faculty are an essential component (along with tenure-line faculty and graduate teaching assistants) in the educational enterprise at WMU," said Karl Schrock, who teaches in the School of Music. "We look forward to working with the administration to improve communication, faculty recognition, and long-term planning for the university's mission in ways that will benefit students and the university community as a whole." 

Those who voted were instructors at WMU who held appointments of at least 3 total credit hours during the spring 2009 semester although the PIO has been organizing for more than a year.  "I'm proud of our hard work over the last sixteen months to achieve this union," said Martha Faketty, instructor in the English department.

The PIO, which will represent a unit of 430 instructors and adjunct faculty members at WMU, will now begin discussions with the WMU administration about better recognition as members of the faculty and university community.  Many instructors at WMU have not received any salary increase for 12 years.  WMU instructors and adjuncts continue to be one of the lowest paid groups of state university faculty in Michigan.

The vote today follows several other votes in the Great Lakes State over the past two years.  During that time new unions representing contingent faculty and graduate employees have formed at Michigan State, Central Michigan University, Henry Ford Community College and Wayne State University all affiliated with AFT Michigan, the state affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.

Late Saturday night, the Oregon Senate voted unanimously to put the principles of  the FACE campaign into Oregon Law.  The Senate's 30-0 vote follows last week's nearly unanimous 54 to 1 vote in the House on HB 2557, the Oregon Faculty and College Excellence (FACE) Act. The bill is now scheduled to be signed by Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski.  This will represent the first time that components of AFT's Faculty and College Excellence Act is officially included in state statute.

"This is a great step for contingent faculty and for Oregon's higher education system," said David Rives, AFT-Oregon President-elect and part-time community college instructor who has taught English as a Second Language for the past 15 years. "I'm thrilled that we're finally getting public awareness about the faculty staffing crisis."

The FACE campaign presses for more full-time faculty and pro-rata pay and benefits for contingent or adjunct faculty. Dozens of AFT-Oregon members have attended hearings and written their legislators in support of the bill.  While FACE legislation introduced around the country has drawn significant attention to the staffing crisis in higher education and resulted in progress toward solutions including increased pay equity money for part-time faculty and money to convert part-time positions into full-time positions, this is the first time that a bill with the FACE title and principles has passed a state legislature.

Had someone asked me who I thought would be a good person to serve on the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), I probably would have said something a bit different than those who were asked.  I might suggest that perhaps the administration should have some folks on that panel who would be willing to ask accreditors about their wishy-washy policies on the hiring and treatment of contingent faculty.  I might suggest that they have someone who would ask them why, while the regional accrediting agencies have elegant language about the role of full-time faculty, they seem unable to use their policies and practices to even encourage colleges and universities to invest in a stable full-time corps of faculty.  I might even suggest that faculty be more involved in the accreditation process from NACIQI all the way down to institutional-site-visit teams.  But hey, nobody asked me.

Earlier this week, I posted a response to a question posed by Kevin Carey regarding full-time faulty and student completions.  My basic response was to agree about the need for more research about the impact of our current academic staffing pattern and its impact on student success. 

I also know from talking with contingent faculty that they would like to see some research that goes beyond just looking at negative correlations between high reliance on contingent faculty and student outcomes.  Regardless of how careful researchers might be in presenting their findings in those studies, the results always seem to imply that contingent faculty are poor teachers rather than highlighting the correlation between working conditions and student learning (which is the real target).  Why not start some research that examines what happens when contingent faculty are actually treated equitably (or more equitably) with regard to working conditions and inclusion in the institutional community?  Well, here is one such research project.

Professor Adrianna Kezar and her assistant Cecile Sam from the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis at University of Southern California are in the midst of researching institutional policies as they impact contingent faculty.  In particular, they are looking for model policies that benefit contingent faculty.  Here are some of the key areas they are looking at:

• orientation
• faculty development programs including mentorship and leadership
• inclusion in governance structures and polices
• promotion and merit policies
• access to campus and departmental resources
• involvement in curriculum development
• climate and culture including attitude toward contingents
• policies around job contracts; multi-year contracts, salaries, and benefits
• academic freedom
• inclusion in department through meetings and perhaps specially created meetings for contingents
• administrative decision-making frameworks

If you are at a campus that has a collective bargaining contract provisions or institutional policies that you believe are moving in the right direction in these areas, give Cecile a shout.  I know they would be happy to hear about what is going on at your campus.

The ubiquitous Kevin Carey recently posed a question that we care a great deal about:  "Do Full-Time Faculty Help Students Complete College?"  Kevin's take, over at The Quick and the Ed (and Brainstorm), is that there are a lot of "correlation/causation issues to work out here" and lots of other factors to account for in answering this question. Ultimately he wonders if there is any good research he is unaware of on this topic and if not, why?

A few folks have weighed in regarding some of the existing research that is out there, research that we have been compiling here, but the basic point that the body of research that exists is relatively small, is accurate.  On the other hand it is increasing at a fairly rapid rate as the academic staffing situation becomes both more apparent and of more concern-that is, of enough concern that people are now looking at the impact of the changes.

Goodness it has been busy out there on the webs the last few days!  Here is a sample.

• First up is the tale of Ebon Fisher who reportedly made the organizational mistake of wondering if a full-time contingent faculty member should be earning enough to live on.
• The AAUP had a busy weekend at their conference with various speakers taking up academic staffing questions and then they issued some censures including two for treatment of contingent faculty.
• Piss Poor Prof weighs in with some guidance on determining whether or not you can afford to be an adjunct faculty member.

And don't forget to follow other news about academic staffing in the Updated News section of our Facebook page.