75th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2009 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 2396
House Bill 2557
Sponsored by COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
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.
Declares emergency, effective July 1, 2009.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to higher education faculty; appropriating money; and
declaring an emergency.
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, 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 10 of this 2009 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 an
institution under the control of the State Board of Higher
Education and listed in ORS 352.002. + }
SECTION 2. { + (1) Each public institution of higher education
shall have at least 75 percent of the undergraduate courses
offered within the institution taught by full-time faculty.
(2) Within the requirements of subsection (1) of this section,
each public institution of higher education shall determine the
number of undergraduate courses within the institution taught by
part-time, nontenured, tenure-track and tenured faculty. + }
SECTION 3. { + A public institution of higher education shall
create a plan to meet the requirements of section 2 of this 2009
Act. The plan is subject to collective bargaining with the
exclusive representatives of the full-time and part-time faculty
at the public institution of higher education. Full-time to
part-time staffing ratios are a mandatory subject of bargaining
for all faculty unions at public institutions of higher
education. + }
SECTION 4. { + A public institution of higher education that
does not meet the requirements of section 2 of this 2009 Act on
the effective date of this 2009 Act shall, beginning in the fall
term of 2010, 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 2015 the requirements of section 2 of this 2009 Act are
met. + }
SECTION 5. { + (1) The Department of Higher Education shall
distribute moneys in the Oregon University System Faculty
Restoration and Equity Fund established in section 9 of this 2009
Act to state institutions of higher education so that by 2015
average faculty salaries are equal to or greater than the median
salary of their peer groups as established by the Oregon
University System.
(2) The Department of Community Colleges and Workforce
Development shall distribute moneys in the Community College
Faculty Restoration and Equity Fund established in section 10 of
this 2009 Act to community colleges so that by 2015 average
faculty salaries are equal to or greater than the median salary
of their peer groups as established by the department. + }
SECTION 6. { + (1) A public institution of higher education
shall determine a salary standard for part-time or adjunct
faculty that is equal, on a pro rata basis, with that of
full-time faculty of comparable qualifications doing comparable
work, and shall pay part-time or adjunct faculty that salary.
This determination is subject to collective bargaining with the
exclusive representatives of part-time faculty.
(2) A part-time faculty member at a public institution of
higher education is eligible for the same health care benefits as
full-time faculty members if the part-time faculty member carries
at least 50 percent of the established teaching load of full-time
faculty members, either at a single institution of higher
education or in aggregate at multiple public institutions of
higher education.
(3)(a) Each public institution of higher education shall
establish a process through which part-time faculty, after
successful completion of a probationary period, receive advance
notice of and, consistent with other institutional and state
policies, priority consideration for:
(A) Part-time teaching assignments; and
(B) Full-time faculty positions.
(b) A public institution of higher education shall ensure that
part-time 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 faculty. + }
SECTION 7. { + (1) A public institution of higher education
that does not meet the requirements of section 6 (1) of this 2009
Act shall, beginning in the fall term of 2010, increase part-time
faculty salaries by a sufficient amount to meet the requirements
of section 4 of this 2009 Act prior to the beginning of the fall
term of 2015. Each academic year, the institution shall reduce
the gap between part-time salary and comparable pro rata
full-time salary in any academic department by 15 percent or more
of the gap from the previous year.
(2) A public institution of higher education shall meet the
requirements of section 6 of this 2009 Act prior to the fall term
of 2015. + }
SECTION 8. { + The State Board of Education and the State
Board of Higher Education shall establish baselines and conduct
biennial reviews of the individual public institutions of higher
education to assure that the requirements of sections 1 to 7 of
this 2009 Act are met. The reviews shall include:
(1) Examination of data related to the ratio of courses taught
by the following faculty categories:
(a) Full-time faculty;
(b) Part-time faculty; and
(c) Graduate assistants;
(2) The pay differential per course for the faculty categories;
(3) The health care and other benefits for the faculty
categories; and
(4) Other data related to the requirements of sections 1 to 7
of this 2009 Act. + }
SECTION 9. { + (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 2009 Act.
(2) Each fiscal year, the department shall distribute the
moneys in the fund to state institutions of higher education for
the purpose of meeting the requirements of sections 1 to 8 of
this 2009 Act. + }
SECTION 10. { + (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 2009 Act.
(2) Each fiscal year, the department shall distribute the
moneys in the fund to community colleges for the purpose of
meeting the requirements of sections 1 to 8 of this 2009 Act. + }
SECTION 11. { + Nothing in sections 1 to 8 of this 2009 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 2009 Act. + }
SECTION 12. { + There is appropriated to the Department of
Higher Education, for the biennium beginning July 1, 2009, out of
the General Fund, the amount of $___. The department shall
deposit moneys appropriated under this section in the Oregon
University System Faculty Restoration and Equity Fund. + }
SECTION 13. { + There is appropriated to the Department of
Community Colleges and Workforce Development, for the biennium
beginning July 1, 2009, out of the General Fund, the amount of
$___. The department shall deposit moneys appropriated under this
section in the Community College Faculty Restoration and Equity
Fund. + }
SECTION 14. { + This 2009 Act being necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an
emergency is declared to exist, and this 2009 Act takes effect
July 1, 2009. + }
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