74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2007 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 1467
House Bill 2578
Sponsored by Representative BUCKLEY, Senator WALKER;
Representatives CLEM, GALIZIO, GREENLICK, JENSON, Senators
AVAKIAN, DECKERT, DEVLIN, MORRISETTE
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
Specifies percentage of undergraduate courses to be taught by
full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty at public institutions
of higher education.
Directs public institutions of higher education to determine
salary standard for part-time and adjunct faculty based on salary
of tenured and tenure-track faculty. Directs that part-time and
adjunct faculty are eligible for certain benefits and receive
preferential consideration for attaining tenure-track faculty
positions.
Establishes Oregon University System Faculty Restoration and
Equity Fund and Community College Faculty Restoration and Equity
Fund. Continuously appropriates moneys in each fund to Department
of Higher Education or Department of Community Colleges and
Workforce Development, as appropriate, for distribution to public
institutions of higher education.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to higher education faculty; and appropriating money.
Whereas after two decades of replacing full-time faculty
positions with positions that are temporary or part-time, higher
education nationally has reached the point where more than 70
percent of all college and university instructors are part-time
or temporary, more than twice the national workforce average of
30 percent; and
Whereas this trend makes higher education one of the most
extreme examples nationwide of the trend toward decreasing job
security and benefits; and
Whereas state support for public colleges and universities, on
a per student basis, is declining, as is the proportion of state
budgets devoted to public higher education and the purchasing
power of federal student aid grants; and
Whereas the effect on students of the lack of government
support and the decline of the full-time faculty workforce is
becoming apparent; and
Whereas college costs are rising much faster than family
income; and
Whereas among the 30 member nations of the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United States
now ranks just seventh in the percentage of citizens who enter
post-secondary education and complete a bachelor's or higher
degree; and
Whereas the effect is disproportionate on poor students and
students of color, the gap between affluent and low-income
students is widening, and affluent students with the lowest test
scores have as good a chance of attending college as the
lowest-income students with the highest grades; and
Whereas a faculty corps consisting primarily of full-time
tenured or tenure-track positions is essential because, just as
in other professional fields, full-time commitment and
professional treatment result in better service to students, and
ultimately to taxpayers, and because tenure protects the academic
freedom essential for teaching and high-level research; and
Whereas many colleges and universities have survived during the
past decades of shrinking government support only because of the
underpaid work of part-time faculty and full-time nontenure-track
faculty; and
Whereas part-time or temporary faculty who, on many college
campuses, now teach more than half the courses offered each
academic semester must be treated professionally, paid fairly and
recognized for their commitment to higher education even in the
face of their own economic exploitation; and
Whereas the dearth of full-time positions has meant that the
full-time faculty who remain are increasingly less able to devote
the time they need to their research and teaching because they
have an increased share of the responsibility for student
advising, college governance and curriculum development; and
Whereas the shrinking percentage of full-time faculty positions
has also placed increased burdens on other academic staff, whose
workloads have risen as the number of full-time college and
university professionals has declined; and
Whereas with fewer than 30 percent of faculty nationwide in
full-time tenure and tenure-track positions, the number of
faculty who are institutionally supported to conduct research has
declined dramatically, and the future of university-based
research in the United States is now in danger; and
Whereas academic quality is impaired when the majority of
faculty members are denied the resources and professional
autonomy they need to do their best work; and
Whereas so long as part-time or adjunct faculty have to teach
at multiple institutions to earn a living, so long as they have
to worry about obtaining health and pension benefits, so long as
they are hired under less than professional conditions, so long
as evaluation of their work is cursory or nonexistent, so long as
they lack office space and basic professional support, so long as
they are unable to participate in college governance and so long
as they are the academic equivalent of piece workers, the quality
of education, research and community service offered by American
colleges and universities will suffer; and
Whereas American higher education now appears to be at a
crossroads, a time when the achievements of the past have been
put at risk by the employment policies of the present; now,
therefore,
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. { + As used in sections 1 to 8 of this 2007 Act:
(1) 'Community college' has the meaning given that term in ORS
341.005.
(2) 'Public institution of higher education' means:
(a) A community college; or
(b) A state institution of higher education.
(3) 'State institution of higher education' means the
institutions under the control of the State Board of Higher
Education and listed in ORS 352.002. + }
SECTION 2. { + (1) Each academic department at a public
institution of higher education that has at least eight full-time
equivalent faculty positions shall have at least 75 percent of
the undergraduate courses offered within the department taught by
full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty.
(2) Within the requirements of subsection (1) of this section,
each public institution of higher education shall determine the
number of undergraduate courses taught by part-time, nontenured,
tenure-track and tenured faculty in each academic department. + }
SECTION 3. { + (1) Notwithstanding section 2 of this 2007 Act,
each academic department of a public institution of higher
education that does not meet the requirements of section 2 of
this 2007 Act shall, beginning in September 2008, and in each
succeeding academic year, increase the share of courses taught by
full-time tenure and tenure-track faculty by 10 percent or more
over the previous academic year so that by 2013 the requirements
of section 2 of this 2007 Act are met.
(2) Each public institution of higher education shall create a
plan to meet the requirements of section 2 of this 2007 Act. The
plan shall be subject to collective bargaining with the exclusive
representatives of the full-time and part-time faculty at the
public institution of higher education. Staffing levels shall be
a mandatory subject of bargaining for all faculty unions at
public institutions of higher education.
(3) The State Board of Higher Education shall distribute moneys
in the Oregon University System Faculty Restoration and Equity
Fund to state institutions of higher education such that by 2013
average faculty salaries will be equal to or greater than the
median salary of their peer groups as established by the Oregon
University System. + }
SECTION 4. { + (1) Each public institution of higher education
shall determine a salary standard for part-time or adjunct
faculty employed in each academic department that is equal, on a
pro rata basis, with that of tenured and tenure-track faculty of
comparable qualifications doing comparable work. This
determination is subject to collective bargaining with the
exclusive representatives of part-time and other nontenure-track
faculty.
(2) If, over the course of a 12-month calendar year, a
part-time or other nontenure-track faculty member at a public
institution of higher education carries at least 50 percent of
the established teaching load of tenure-track faculty, that
part-time faculty member shall be eligible for the same
health-care benefits as tenure-track faculty members. If, during
a 12-month calendar year, a part-time or other nontenure-track
faculty member teaches at multiple community colleges or state
institutions of higher education and in aggregate teaches 50
percent or more of an established teaching load, that faculty
member shall receive credit toward the retirement plan available
to tenured and tenure-track faculty.
(3)(a) Each public institution of higher education shall
establish a process through which part-time and other nontenure
track faculty, after successful completion of a probationary
period, receive advance notice of and priority consideration for:
(A) Part-time and nontenure-track teaching assignments
consistent with other institutional and state policies; and
(B) Tenure-track faculty positions consistent with other
institutional and state policies.
(b) Each public institution of higher education shall ensure
that nontenure track faculty:
(A) Accumulate seniority;
(B) Are notified of job openings prior to the job being posted
outside of the institution; and
(C) Have preferential consideration for appointments.
(c) The provisions of this subsection are subject to collective
bargaining between the public institution of higher education and
the exclusive representatives of part-time and nontenure track
faculty.
(4) A public institution of higher education shall waive the
student fees of teachers and employees who are attending the
institution for the purpose of receiving a graduate degree if the
teacher or employee is receiving a tuition remission. + }
SECTION 5. { + (1) Notwithstanding section 4 of this 2007 Act,
if a public institution of higher education is not meeting the
requirements of section 4 (1) of this 2007 Act, beginning in the
fall semester of 2008, the public institution of higher education
shall increase part-time and nontenure-track faculty salaries by
a sufficient amount to meet the requirements of section 4 of this
2007 Act prior to the beginning of the fall semester of 2013.
Each academic year, the gap between part-time salary and
comparable pro rata full-time salary in any academic department
shall be diminished by 15 percent or more of the gap from the
previous year.
(2) Each public institution of higher education shall meet the
requirements of the section 4 of this 2007 Act prior to the fall
semester of 2013. + }
SECTION 6. { + (1) The Oregon University System Faculty
Restoration and Equity Fund is established in the State Treasury,
separate and distinct from the General Fund. Interest earned by
the Oregon University System Faculty Restoration and Equity Fund
shall be credited to the fund. Moneys in the fund are
continuously appropriated to the Department of Higher Education
for distribution to state institutions of higher education for
the purpose of meeting the requirements of sections 1 to 8 of
this 2007 Act.
(2) Each fiscal year, the department shall distribute the
moneys in the fund to each state institution of higher education
for the purpose of meeting the requirements of sections 1 to 8 of
this 2007 Act. + }
SECTION 7. { + (1) The Community College Faculty Restoration
and Equity Fund is established in the State Treasury, separate
and distinct from the General Fund. Interest earned by the
Community College Faculty Restoration and Equity Fund shall be
credited to the fund. Moneys in the fund are continuously
appropriated to the Department of Community Colleges and
Workforce Development for distribution to community colleges for
the purpose of meeting the requirements of sections 1 to 8 of
this 2007 Act.
(2) Each fiscal year, the department shall distribute the
moneys in the fund to each community college for the purpose of
meeting the requirements of sections 1 to 8 of this 2007 Act. + }
SECTION 8. { + Nothing in sections 1 to 8 of this 2007 Act
shall be construed to either limit or reduce salaries, benefits
or hiring rights in existence at a public institution of higher
education on or after the effective date of this 2007 Act. + }
SECTION 9. { + There is appropriated to the Department of
Higher Education, for the biennium beginning July 1, 2007, out of
the General Fund, the amount of $___ for the Oregon University
System Faculty Restoration and Equity Fund. + }
SECTION 10. { + There is appropriated to the Department of
Community Colleges and Workforce Development, for the biennium
beginning July 1, 2007, out of the General Fund, the amount of
$___ for the Community College Faculty Restoration and Equity
Fund. + }
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