before

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE AND

ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Executive Director

New Jersey Commission on Higher Education 1

Karen Thompson

Representing

American Association of University Professors 10

Elizabeth Anne Socolow

Representing

American Association of University Professors 16

Ed Tavss, Ph.D.

Part-time Lecturer

Part-time Chapter

American Association of University Professors 17

Debra Lee Davis

Staff Representative

Council of New Jersey State College Locals

AFT/AFL-CIO 18

Elaine Bobrove

Co-President

Adjunct Faculty Union/Federation

Camden County College 22

Alan Kaufman

Representing

Communication Workers of America 25

Mel Driban

National Representative

American Federation of Teachers 25

"Part-Time Instructional Staff Survey and Analysis"

submitted by

New Jersey Commission on Higher Education 1x

Testimony

submitted by

Karen Thompson 11x

Testimony

submitted by

Elaine Bobrove 14x

Testimony

submitted by

Cindy Simon

Adjunct Faculty Representative

William Paterson University 19x

Letter addressed to Assembly Education Committee

and Senate Education Committee

from Nicholas C. Yovnello

President

Council of New Jersey State College Locals

AFT/AFL-CIO 21x

Letter addressed to Assemblyman Joseph V. Doria

from Dr. Kathleen Mary Henderson

President, AFT, Local 6024

Kean University Adjunct Faculty Federation 24x

lmb: 1-29

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SENATOR ROBERT J. MARTIN (Co-Chair): I’d like to get

started, as soon as we turn on the Internet, so we can make this a world-wide

learning experience. So, if you’re an Assembly person or Senator--

I’m Senator Martin. I am asked to co-chair this with Assemblyman

Doria, who I understand will be late, but is expected to be here. And I was

requested, because there’s lot of things on peoples’ schedules, to begin the

hearing. We have a discussion about -- I guess it deals with those who are parttime

persons who teach at our State colleges and universities. There was a

report done, and I would begin by-- I guess I’m not getting any instruction, so

I’m, sort of, flying here by the seat of my pants.

But we will begin, I guess, with having Mr. Sulton come up and

provide us with some information that his office had done regarding those who

are part-time professors at our colleges and universities.

J A M E S E. S U L T O N JR., Ph.D.: Good morning, Mr. Chairman and

members of the Education Committee. My name is Jim Sulton, and I am the

Executive Director of the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education. It is

my pleasure to come before you today and address one of the more important

policy matters in higher education.

The increasing deployment of part-time faculty members in our

state and throughout the nation raises concerns relative to best practices in

classroom instruction and student learning, the economics of postsecondary

education, and fair employment principles. Some of the questions that surfaced

involve the ratio between new hires for traditional positions and nontraditional

faculty positions, the reasons that some faculty members teach part-time, and

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the success of part-time faculty members in competing for full-time positions.

Public Law 2002, Chapter 27, addresses matters pertinent to

part-time faculty members and requires the Commission to issue a report on

part-time faculty in New Jersey higher education, which we’ve respectfully

submitted to you, last November. The law concerns itself, particularly, with the

provision of compensation and benefits for part-time faculty members.

Consistent with statutory provisions, the Commission collected information for

three types of part-time instructional staff members: Part-time faculty, part-time

lecturers, and adjunct faculty.

Some variation obtains in the use of terminology among

institutions. However, the term part-time faculty generally refers to faculty

members who have some or all of the same responsibilities as those who are

employed full-time.

SENATOR MARTIN: Could we just establish something? The

term adjunct is used a lot. For our purposes, is there any distinction to be made

between part time versus adjunct?

DR. SULTON: There is an important distinction, Senator, insofar

as adjunct faculties not only are preponderantly represented as faculty members

of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, but also because

their role is really that of people who are involved in private specialties that are

not usually available among faculty members regularly employed by the

university. They come in to lend expertise and teach courses in their specialty,

and they’re differentiated from part-time faculty, who in other sectors,

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particularly if we look at the two-year sector, are brought in to provide more

assistance and supplement the role of regular faculty members.

SENATOR MARTIN: So, for example, at Seton Hall Law School

where I am a professor, we have adjunct faculty members who are selected

especially for their expertise in certain areas of intellectual property and other

areas, and they’re not-- It’s not understood that they are filling roles that would

ordinarily be assigned to regular faculty, but are chosen to, sort of, fill in niche

areas. Where the concern here is that many traditional areas of academia, such

as in the field of English, persons are chosen who could teach full-time, but the

schools are using them in evenings or to fill in some areas which one might think

that they could-- These people, perhaps, could very well be full-time, if the

schools had the resources or had the will to make those persons full-time faculty

members. That’s sort of what we’re getting at, isn’t it?

DR. SULTON: That’s an apt example, Senator, you chose from

Seton Hall, with respect to adjunct faculty members. And your point is also

valid with respect to the distinction between those faculty members and other

could be carried out by full-time faculty members, were they sufficient to man

or person all those sections that are available.

SENATOR MARTIN: Okay. Thank you.

DR. SULTON: So that’s why we say that some variation obtains

in the terminology among the institutions. Part-time faculty generally refers to

faculty members who have some or all of the responsibilities of faculty members

who are full-time, but their responsibilities are prorated, based upon the

percentage of time they work. Adjunct faculty members do not have all of the

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responsibilities that full-time faculty members have. Typically, they are hired

to teach one or more courses, and their responsibilities are often limited to

classroom instruction. The term part-time lecturer is not frequently used by

public colleges and universities in New Jersey. Rutgers University uses that term,

but its definition of part-time lecturer is consistent with the characteristics of

adjunct faculty members at other institutions. For purposes of our survey, parttime

lecturers at Rutgers were included as adjuncts. UMDNJ employs nearly 97

percent of all adjuncts in our public colleges and universities, and about onehalf

of all part-time instructional staff.

I will not reiterate all of the report’s findings this morning. The

survey and analysis have been provided to you before, and I have brought some

additional copies along in case anyone cares to review them. However, I would

like to refer to some facts mentioned in the report. For example, we learned that

the average course load and compensation of adjunct faculty members during

each semester differed both within and among sectors. The average course load

was lowest at the research universities and highest at the community colleges.

Average compensation was highest in the research university sector and lowest

in the community colleges, following a pattern similar to that of full-time faculty

salaries at the respective institutions.

In addition, I would like to remind committee members about our

conclusion that the institutional survey data collected, so far, does not provide

adequate empirical support for the Commission to recommend, with confidence,

minimum compensation levels for part-time instructional staff. Responsibility

for such determination falls appropriately within the purview of the governing

boards of higher education institutions, rather than the Commission per se.

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Moreover, it remains clear that additional research is necessary to determine

minimum salary and benefit provisions for adjuncts, part-time faculty members,

and part-time lecturers. The Commission further holds that the statute touches

upon more extensive matters, relative to faculty roles and rewards, that cannot

effectively be detached from an examination of salaries and benefits.

I thank you very much for your time this morning. I would be

happy to answer any questions you may have.

SENATOR PALAIA: Any questions?

Yes, Assemblyman Thompson.

ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: In your tables, you list a semester

course load and, also, the average course load. The way these numbers are, I

have no idea what they mean. For example, average Rutgers course load, 169;

at UMDNJ, seven. Are we talking about hours, or hours instructions, or what

are we talking about?

DR. SULTON: Well, we’re talking about credits. And when we

look at the course load, as you pointed out there, we are talking about the

number of courses that the lecturers provide at Rutgers University, as well as the

number of hours that they serve in the classroom.

ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: So, okay, we look at average

course load-- Then just glancing over a couple of numbers, Rutgers 5.12;

College of New Jersey, 7.41. So you’re saying your average part-timer at Rutgers

has a course load of, on the average, 5.12 hours?

DR. SULTON: I may not be following exactly along with you,

Assemblyman.

ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: Table 3.

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DR. SULTON: Table 3. Okay.

ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: Average course load there.

DR. SULTON: Yes, that’s right.

ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: These numbers that you have

there. I’m saying, are these the average number of classrooms hours they have

per semester?

DR. SULTON: That would be correct. Yes, because that’s for the

fall, so it would be per semester.

ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: Okay. You say that the full-time

faculty members have additional responsibilities, and so on, that some part-time

faculty members have, and the adjuncts don’t have them, etc. What are some

of these responsibilities that the full-time faculty members have that the adjunct,

for example, don’t have?

DR. SULTON: When we typically consider the evaluation of

faculty members, we do so trilaterally, Assemblyman, looking at research,

teaching, and service. And in that service category, we have a lot of committee

responsibilities that full-time faculty members, particularly, fill at the

department, division, or the college or university level. Many times the

part-time faculty members are exempted from those kinds of responsibilities, but

it does occur on some occasions that they fulfill them. If they do, it’s a

variation on the theme, if you will. They will not necessarily have it as a regular

assignment.

ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: Do all full-time members serve

on committees and such?

DR. SULTON: Full-time tenure track do.

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ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: I’m sorry?

DR. SULTON: Full-time tenure-track faculty members do.

ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: They all are assigned to some

committee?

DR. SULTON: Yes, they do.

ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: The final question. The

Commission say that they didn’t -- determine that "the institutional survey data

it has collected at this time does not provide adequate empirical support for the

Commission to recommend, with confidence, minimum compensation levels,"

etc. Couldn’t the Commission have gotten the institutional data necessary to

make some recommendations?

DR. SULTON: Not within the time frame that was provided under

the laws, Assemblyman, at that time. It was also true that the law stipulated

certain inquiries for us to follow in collecting the data. So we dutifully collected

that data, but found that it did not lead us to recommend, with confidence,

average minimum compensation and benefits. The data is reflected in the tables

that you have, and that was required by the law. But it did not naturally lead

to the other conclusion, which is, what should average compensation and

benefits be for faculty members. That is understandable, because of the

variation among terminology that we mentioned to you. Part-time faculty is a

differentiated term when you look at the different sectors -- the community

colleges, the research universities -- and also within those sectors, when you look

at part-time lecturers, adjunct faculty -- as I was discussing with Senator Martin

-- and other part-time faculty members. So there’s a great deal of information.

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ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: With the time frame you had,

and so on, it wasn’t possible. Is it possible that you could do this in the future?

DR. SULTON: Yes. We suggest in our report, that working with

legislative staff, the Commission staff would be able to come up with a more

comprehensive evaluation of what part-time faculty members earn and should

be compensated.

ASSEMBLYMAN THOMPSON: Thank you.

SENATOR MARTIN: Okay.

Yes, Assemblyman.

Just so you understand, we’re going to hear from representatives

who are teaching in this field, and also from unions and others. So we will get,

I think, a fuller picture of the problems from their perspective.

Go ahead.

ASSEMBLYMAN DIEGNAN: Just one quick question. I taught

at Middlesex County College for 10 years, and I know Middlesex, to a very large

extent, is, I think, typical of most county colleges -- relies on part-timers to a

very high number. I would imagine as much as 40, 50 percent of the classes are

taught by part-timers. My sense, and tell me if I’m wrong, is that that is almost

totally economically driven?

DR. SULTON: I would agree with that, Assemblyman. I think

that there is a great deal of difficulty, from an administrative point of view at a

community college, to provide full-time faculty positions for all the students and

the courses that they want to serve.

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ASSEMBLYMAN DIEGNAN: And in general, I’m sure you would

agree that a student is usually not provided the same access to a part-time or an

adjunct professor than they would be to a full-time professor.

DR. SULTON: That would, unfortunately, be true, Assemblyman,

with respect to advising, counseling, and office hours, and other intangibles that

go along with instruction (indiscernible).

ASSEMBLYMAN DIEGNAN: And involvement with the college.

DR. SULTON: That’s also true.

ASSEMBLYMAN DIEGNAN: Okay. Thank you.

ASSEMBLYMAN STANLEY: Just one question, please?

SENATOR MARTIN: Assemblyman.

ASSEMBLYMAN STANLEY: Thank you, Chairman.

You gave -- I believe the Assemblyman was asking -- with respect

to what faculty, or whether all full-time faculty serve on committees, and you

said full-time tenure track. What percentage of the faculty members are fulltime

tenure track? And is there a distinction between those members and other

full-time faculty members?

DR. SULTON: Well, there is an important distinction. I will have

to discover that information. With respect to your first question, what

percentage are full time, we do have that available, and I will provide that to

you.

ASSEMBLYMAN STANLEY: Okay, thank you.

DR. SULTON: But full-time faculty members can be either tenured

or nontenured. And the tenure-track faculty members are those who are

typically, in response to the Assemblyman’s question, those who serve on

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committees and fulfill that public service requirement for their annual

evaluation.

ASSEMBLYMAN STANLEY: So is there tenure track and tenured,

or--

DR. SULTON: There’s tenured and nontenured.

ASSEMBLYMAN STANLEY: Okay. Thank you.

I want to apologize for being late, and I also want to thank you for

coming here. I appreciate your coming, Dr. Sulton.

DR. SULTON: It’s my pleasure, Assemblyman.

SENATOR MARTIN: Thank you, Dr. Sulton. Thank you.

We’ll have some testimony. I was advised by competent staff that,

in order to try to move this along -- we do have other matters, so forgive us --

that we will call some witnesses up as a group, because they seem to have

similar positions. Beginning with Karen Thompson from the AAUP; Dr. Tavss

from the AAUP, Part-time Chapter; and Elizabeth Anne Socolow, also from the

AAUP. So, if you three folks would come up at the same time.

K A R E N T H O M P S O N: We’re all from Rutgers. I don’t know if we

omitted that from the sheets. (referring to witness sign-in sheets)

As I said, we’re all from Rutgers, but my name is Karen Thompson.

I’m not only representing the part-time faculty at Rutgers, I’m also here to--

Oh, sorry. (referring to PA microphone)

My colleagues from the full-time faculty at Rutgers asked me, also,

to represent them, the teaching assistants at Rutgers, and the State Conference

of the AAUP, which represents the faculty at institutions around the state, like

UMDNJ, NJIT, Rider University, Union County College. There’s some 7,500

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in the State Conference. There’s 1,000 part-time faculty at Rutgers. There’s

2,500 full-time faculty, and 1,600 or 1,700 teaching assistants. So, you see, I’m

here representing well over 12,000 faculty members.

And I really want to, first, say how much I appreciate this

opportunity to speak with you, because even though the commission asked

presidents of the institutions to confer with representatives of the employees, we

were not asked to give any input when the report was being prepared. And so

it’s really very important for us to have a chance to speak on this topic, since we

weren’t involved in its preparation, or we weren’t allowed to comment on the

data.

I see the purpose of my being here as twofold: One, to respond to

the report, but also to really underscore to you the importance, the enormity of

the role of part-time faculty in education and higher education, not just in this

state, but in all states, but particularly in New Jersey. That’s what we’re looking

at right now. So, first of all, specifically, with regard to the survey report, Dr.

Sulton spoke about the terminology a minute ago, and there is some confusion

about that.

At Rutgers, for instance, we were considered, for purposes of the

report, adjuncts -- even though we’re titled part-time lecturers at Rutgers, and

even though our responsibilities are much broader than simply the teach-acourse-

and-leave, kind of, image that you traditionally get of adjunct faculty.

We serve on committees. We have three representatives on the

University Senate, which means we’re involved in governance. I myself have

been senator. We do research. We publish, even though we might not be paid

for that as part of our positions. We have had part-time lecturers who direct

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and coordinate programs. So, at Rutgers -- and that’s all I’m familiar with. I’m

not familiar with the community college curriculums or the State college

curriculums. But at Rutgers, we clearly have a much broader role than just

teaching a course and leaving. So I was surprised to see us being categorized as

adjuncts, although I’m not sure there’s any significance to that in terms of the

actual outcome and recommendation of the report.

So then, I’d like to go onto the substance of the report, because I

think you’ll agree with me that it is important that this report and your

recommendations have credibility and that they’re grounded in accurate data,

and so forth. I was very disappointed that this report made no comments about

minimum salaries. Every educational organization in the country -- not just the

AAUP and the AFT and the NEA -- but all the professional associations, like the

MLA, the four C’s, the AMS, these are organizations that represent disciplines

like mathematics, English, philosophy, and so forth. They all have statements

and guidelines about minimum salaries.

The MLA, for instance, which is my professional organization, as

an English teacher, recommends minimum salaries of $5,000 to $7,000 a

course. That’s nowhere near the case at Rutgers, let alone at the community

colleges or the State colleges.

Then to move onto the topic of health benefits, which is another big

issue for employees, and it’s a big topic in the report-- Well, first of all, I’d just

like to thank Senator Turner and Assembly person Coleman for having that bill,

that you all know is in the works now, for allowing part-time faculty or other

part-time employees to buy into the State Health Benefit Plan. I mean, that’s

just absolutely a basic minimum. We’re very grateful that that’s finally --

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seemed to be going in. But beyond that bill, it’s really unconscionable that

people who play the role that part-timers do in the educational process--

At Rutgers, for instance, we’re responsible for over 30 percent of the

education of the courses, and we’re 20 percent of the faculty, of the people.

And yet, we do not have health benefits or access to health benefits. For some

people, like the people that Dr. Sulton mentioned who have other professions,

if you’re employed elsewhere, well, that might not be an issue. But that’s, by no

means, the majority of part-time faculty. There are many people who only

teach part-time.

(Senator Turner arrives)

Oh, I’m sorry that you weren’t here. I was just thanking you,

Senator Turner.

SENATOR SHIRLEY K. TURNER (Co-Chair): You’re welcome.

MS. THOMPSON: In any case, somebody was asking about the

constituency of part-time faculty, and there’s really three basic groups. There’s

some part-timers who are employed elsewhere and have other professions and

bring in the expertise that you mentioned. But there’s also people who piece

together part-time positions teaching at multiple institutions, or working at a

part-time job and then teaching on the side. And those are people who would

like to be full time and would certainly like to have health benefits. And then

there’s some few people who might prefer being part time for personal reasons,

or because they’re students, or whatever. But I don’t want to get too

sidetracked.

The point is that health benefits are really a very basic issue. We

also know that budgets are -- be concerned, these days. But it’s interesting to

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note that the CWA settlement that just took place a few days ago -- one of the

provisions that got worked out is to give health benefits, the State Health

Benefit Plan, to intermittent employees, which I researched a little bit, not

thoroughly. But I understand intermittent employees are, sort of, like seasonal

employees who get furloughed or who don’t work all year long, but they work

with a certain regularity. And when they reach a certain hour threshold, they

will now get these health benefits.

That’s not unlike the situation for part-time faculty, because, even

though we’re reappointed every semester and we have to, sort of, wonder what

we’re going to be doing the next semester, we come back year after year. I,

myself, have been teaching for 25 years at Rutgers. But we don’t know exactly

what we’ll be teaching or whether we’ll be teaching two courses, or three courses,

or four courses, or how many courses. So there’s a certain parallel to the

settlement with these intermittent workers who now have the State Health

Benefit Plan.

SENATOR MARTIN: I’m going to have to interrupt you. I’ve got

to put some structure on this.

MS. THOMPSON: Okay.

SENATOR MARTIN: Just-- Pretend this is a class, all right.

MS. THOMPSON: Okay.

SENATOR MARTIN: We have a period. You are speaking for a

certain period of time. You’ve got, now, two more minutes to either divide that

up with your colleagues--

MS. THOMPSON: I’m done.

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SENATOR MARTIN: --because we have to hear from some other

people, and we just don’t have enough time.

MS. THOMPSON: Okay, I’m very sorry.

I didn’t want to read. And if I read, I would be briefer. But just to

sum up on the health benefits, we really need to have some kind of

recommendation about health benefits. It’s just such a basic human issue. I

would just end by saying that, usually part-time faculty are used to conserve

funds and for flexibility in enrollments or in hiring. I wish that somebody -- I

hope you legislators will address these things so that this conservation doesn’t

become constraint, and so that this flexibility doesn’t become lack of

accountability.

SENATOR MARTIN: I think the best approach may be -- Rutgers

is different in some respects from others, although it has many similarities. I

think that what we need is, from you, what you think is the best plan of action,

and we will consider that. We already are somewhere there, I think, with

Senator Turner, with respect to health benefits. But it is complicated, because

your issues and the county college issues; and then the State colleges and

universities, the independent colleges-- And then the way the different unions,

sort of -- or associations -- come together and makes it more difficult. I just

hope you don’t fractionalize to a point where we can’t deal with it, sort of,

comprehensively.

But I’m willing to be open-minded. I wouldn’t be involved with

this hearing if I didn’t think that many of the part-time people are not getting

what I think is a fair shake -- even though I understand, and I think the colleges

and universities are going to have to have some flexibility and some ability to,

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perhaps, save some costs, with the way they have part time. Right now, I think

to be paid at about $600 a course -- I think, at Kean and some other schools

like that, and with no, with benefits -- I think we can do better than that. I

think that colleges still can get some opportunities for saving and flexibility

without being draconian. But we need specific proposals, especially if you think

that something should be carved out and dealt with Rutgers, specifically.

Okay. So with that, I think we’ll -- unless there’s some--

Is there a question?

Senator Gormley.

SENATOR GORMLEY: Yes, no, or I don’t know. We understand

the answer? We’re obviously competing with other states for straight faculty

members, even on a part-time basis. Do we have a precedent in other states for

benefits given, so that we can explain it in terms of competing with other states?

MS. THOMPSON: Yes.

SENATOR GORMLEY: Thank you.

E L I Z A B E T H A N N E S O C O L O W: Could I answer that? That

was why I came up. I have lived in this state since 1972. However, with a

Harvard doctorate, 1967, I was unable to find any way of earning a living.

Once I was divorced, I looked into the states that do have benefits at the state

universities. I went to the University of Michigan at Dearborn, where I taught

for nine years. There, that state has decided that it must give benefits to those

who teach more than one course per semester, which is more than half-time of

a full-time load. They then see to it that any teacher who has been adequate or

better than adequate with students is given those benefits, by being given two

courses.

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SENATOR GORMLEY: Thank you.

SENATOR MARTIN: Thank you, folks.

We’re going to move on with some other persons.

MS. THOMPSON: Can Ed say something, or not?

SENATOR MARTIN: I’ll give him one minute. You got one

minute, Ed, and I’m serious.

Go.

E D T A V S S, Ph.D.: I was waiting to speak for half an hour.

SENATOR MARTIN: Ed, you’re going to tick me off, now,

because we’re trying to get a bunch of folks in here. You can wait. We will hear

you at a different time. We have a very complicated schedule today. The fact

that you’re even up here-- Don’t do this to me. Okay? We got a bunch of

other people who, also, want to -- here, and they want to monopolize a lot of

time. So you have one minute. Make your best shot.

DR. TAVSS: I understand. Okay. Thank you.

Let me try to be brief. I got my Ph.D. about 30 years ago from

Rutgers University. I wanted to teach at that time. I couldn’t find a teaching

position. I worked for industry. I worked for Colgate-Palmolive Company for

28 years. I loved that. I did very well. And then I had an opportunity to come

back to teach at Rutgers University. I grabbed this opportunity. It was

wonderful. I love it, but there are some issues. One of the issues is the salary.

I work the same way as I worked at Colgate, about 70 hours a week, but my

salary is about $8,000. In terms of performance for pay, there’s an inequity

there. So I just wanted to bring that to your attention.

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The second issue is fringe benefits, in particular health benefits. I

was covered when I worked for Colgate, now I’m covered under my wife’s

policy. She’s going to retire. It seems reasonable that a person who works as

hard as I do, who puts in 70 hours a week, whose students do extremely well,

should receive health benefits -- at least just for us to be covered under the

program that the -- under the State plan of benefits. That’s all that I ask for.

I, as a part-time lecturer, would be willing to pay. I don’t ask the State to pay,

but at least we should be covered under the State Health Plan.

Thank you.

SENATOR MARTIN: Thank you.

Debra Davis, Mel Driban, Elaine Bobrove -- I apologize if I don’t

have these right.

D E B R A L E E D A V I S: Good morning, Senators and Assembly people

of the Committee. My name is Debra Davis, and I am a Staff Rep with the

Council of New Jersey State College Locals, AFT/AFL-CIO. We represent

adjunct faculty, full-time faculty, and professional staff at Montclair, College

of New Jersey, Rowan, Stockton, New Jersey City, Ramapo, Kean, William

Patterson, and Edison State College. Our members are 5,500 -- 200 of which

are part-time faculty, and over 2,400 adjunct faculty. I thank you for this

opportunity, by the way, this morning.

The Council wishes to note that the Commission’s

recommendations--

SENATOR MARTIN: Can I just tell you -- just so everybody else--

I am prepared to spend more time on this issue. It’s just that everybody wanted

to have it today, on a day in which I have a Judiciary Committee meeting --

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Senator Gormley has, and others -- and we got a whole bunch of other things.

And I don’t think that this is the appropriate forum to flesh this all out. So I

will be prepared to spend more time on it. I’m just trying to give everybody who

came here at least some brief window to speak. So this is not the end of this

discussion. I think the area of part-time faculty at New Jersey colleges and

universities need a lot more time than we are willing to give it today. So I just

hope everybody appreciates it.

MS. DAVIS: Well, I intend to be very brief.

I’ll just highlight what we found -- the highlights of the

Commission’s recommendations contained in the report. First of all, we want

to say, it amounted to bureaucratic avoidance. The three next points are what

we found most distressing. First of all, the commission’s conclusion that

part-time and adjunct faculty in higher education do not deserve health benefits

-- and my colleague, Karen Thompson, touched on that. We also would like to

sponsoring S-988 and A-3424, and hope that the Committee members will urge

the Governor to sign it, when it goes to his desk.

Second, and also, too, the Commission recommended that no

part-time State employee deserves health benefits. We find that just highly

disturbing and ironic. Second, the Council is disappointed with the report’s

failure to deal with sweatshop salaries currently associated with adjunct faculty.

And I have, for your submission, an adjunct’s narrative of what she goes

through to teach. At William Paterson, she earns $700 a teaching credit hour,

and that’s just contact in the classroom. She spends a lot of time with students,

and she does do committee work and university service, for which she is not

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paid. She also teaches at Passaic, which addresses the multiple-work

environment. She does hold several adjunct positions for which she earned

$500 a teaching credit. And there is a distinction between part-time faculty and

full-time, in that full time have the usual community services and teach 25

teaching credit hours in an academic year.

When adjunct faculty go over a certain amount of teaching credits,

the universities are required to put them into a full-time position, and do not

choose to do so. So adjunct faculty are actually limited by how much money

they can make, because, if they go over a certain amount of teaching credit

hours, they have to be full time. So a university is obliged to keep them in the

part-time status.

Adjuncts receive no health-care benefits, no vacation, no personal,

no sick days. So, if they don’t work, they don’t get paid.

SENATOR MARTIN: My wife taught for three years with 11 and

two-thirds credits a semester. Some of us know very well what you’re talking

about.

MS. DAVIS: Exactly. On that point, let me just say that we think

-- the Council thinks it is possible to factor in pro rata, fractional salary

increments for adjuncts, and we are more than willing to -- and well-equipped,

actually -- to help the Legislature suss out that information.

And finally, the report suggested that the Legislature should define

policy regarding part-time and adjunct faculty, and ask that it gather more

information. I think this begs a question -- and I think, Assemblyman

Thompson, you might have touched on this -- why isn’t the Commission

gathering that information? We have offered -- the union has offered, in the

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past, its assistance to the Commission, and we have not had a response on that

matter. But we can provide the Legislature with a great deal of information.

We keep very good databases on all adjunct activity -- including salaries, how

long they’ve been teaching.

So we are more than willing to offer you information and help in

the future, should you need it. And, also, for your submission, I am giving you

copies of the AFT’s report on Standards of Good Practice and Employment for

part-time and adjunct faculty.

SENATOR MARTIN: To the best of your knowledge, this would

apply, apparently, to the State colleges and universities, since that’s who you’re-

-

MS. DAVIS: Right.

SENATOR MARTIN: Would it, also, apply to the county colleges?

MS. DAVIS: Well, the AFT does represent county colleges, and I

believe the report does refer to that. And I can also answer -- I forgot who asked

-- but California provides benefits and fractional salaries for adjuncts. And

that’s pretty recent, as of last year. And I believe -- I could get back to you on

this, but -- Washington state as well. But the report does go into regional

comparisons, I believe. And if not, we can also work on that with the

Legislature.

But I just want to close by saying thank you for your assistance in

this matter, on behalf of the Council and the adjunct faculty whom we

represent. That’s my statement.

SENATOR MARTIN: Thank you.

MS. DAVIS: If you have any questions, I’ll be glad to answer.

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E L A I N E B O B R O V E: My name is Elaine Bobrove, and I’m a

Co-President of the Camden County College Adjunct Faculty Federation. We

represent over 500 adjuncts in the college, where there are about 110 full-time

faculty.

I think that I have a different perspective on what’s happening,

since we are a community college. The report had said that in the fall of 2000,

51 percent of the faculty was part-time -- and 70 percent of the faculty at the

community colleges is part-time, which was almost 5,000 people. They also

said that at the community colleges, 44 percent of the courses are taught by

adjuncts. Unfortunately, or fortunately -- whatever way you want to look at it

-- at Camden County College, there were some departments where 70 percent

or more are taught by adjuncts.

The definition of an adjunct has changed. When colleges first

started using adjuncts, they were, indeed, the professionals who could come in

and teach a specific course and bring their expertise into the college and to the

students. But over the last 30 years, a professional core of adjuncts has

developed, and we are people who have really devoted our lives to the college.

And in truth, the college depends on us as much as we depend on them for our

livelihood.

Seventy-nine percent of the adjuncts said that they had put

part-time jobs together, because full-time employment at a college was not

available. So they would like to be full-time, were that to be available. But I

think this is not just a problem of equity for the adjuncts. I think it affects the

quality of education in New Jersey, and I think that’s something we need to

look at. We know that the State tries to provide cost-effective education for the

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students, particularly through the community colleges. And we think that these

students deserve the best that the State has to offer, if they’re to become the

productive citizens that this State both needs and wants.

New Jersey’s students deserve the stability brought on by a

continuity of service. They also deserve a coherent curriculum designed and

taught by teachers who understand the scope and sequence of their areas of

instruction. They deserve to be advised by people who understand the

curriculum, and they deserve access to their instructors during regular office

hours. Although adjuncts are heavily credentialed -- a quarter hold doctorates,

a half hold masters as their terminal degree -- they’re not playing on a level

playing field. They cannot meet with their students during office hours, because

they don’t have offices. Because they have to work at several jobs, they can’t

participate as much as they would like to in governments and attend

departmental meetings. And as contingent employees, they don’t even know

they’ll be teaching.

What can the Legislature do? This Legislature, like those in other

states, can mandate a schedule that will bring pay for adjuncts into an equitable

parity with the salaries of beginning, full-time instructors at the various colleges.

At Camden County College last semester, we were making $467 a credit, which

is well below your 600. We’d be happy with 600 for a starter. And that’s with

a union that’s been steadily getting increases in pay. There needs to be a

competitive salary -- those offered by the colleges in New York and

Pennsylvania -- so that the best of our adjuncts will not leave the state to work.

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I’m well aware of the fiscal crisis that the State is now facing, and

I know that money is not available at the present time to bring adjunct salary

to an equitable parity. On the other hand, I think the Legislature can state its

intention to do so. It can set up a schedule where this can be accomplished in

the future. And secondly, the Legislature can begin to make available health

benefits for adjuncts by passing a law that will allow adjuncts to buy into the

State Health Benefits package. This will go a long way to providing a stable

adjunct faculty that will help ensure the continued excellence of instruction for

New Jersey’s college students.

SENATOR MARTIN: Thank you.

MS. DAVIS: My colleague, Mel Driban, seems to have

disappeared.

MS. BOBROVE: No, he’s behind you.

SENATOR MARTIN: Well--

MS. DAVIS: Sorry.

SENATOR MARTIN: --we’re going to ask, at this time, the last

witnesses, including Mr. Driban, if he wishes to.

Kathleen Henderson, is she here?

MS. DAVIS: I’m sorry. Kathleen is also my colleague and wasn’t

able to make it this morning. She will forward her submission to you at a later

date.

SENATOR MARTIN: Okay.

Mr. Kaufman, is he here? Does he want to come?

And is it Loren Wizman? Is she here. (no response)

25

Is there anyone else who wishes to testify? (no response) Last

chance. Okay.

Then we have -- is it Mel?

Excuse me, and sir, you are?

A L A N K A U F M A N: Do you want me-- Is it my turn? Oh, no. It’s his

turn, right?

Go ahead. Just tell me when it’s my turn.

SENATOR MARTIN: Why don’t we have Mr. Driban, and then

we will conclude with you.

M E L D R I B A N: Thank you, Senator.

I’ll be very brief. I don’t want to be repetitious of anything that any

of the other speakers have said. My name is Mel Driban. I’m a National

Representative for the American Federation of Teachers. And in that capacity,

I travel all over the country. I’ve worked with adjuncts, as well as full-time

faculty, across the country.

The New Jersey two- and four-year colleges are dependent on

adjuncts, as you all know. One, minimally, at least 50 percent of the courses

in the two-year colleges are taught by adjuncts, and approximately one of three

courses in the four-year colleges are taught by adjuncts. The adjuncts in New

Jersey are in a range of salaries, and the salaries are not competitive with the

surrounding states. The four-year college adjuncts, as a result of collective

bargaining about six years ago -- prior to that, they were in the same range with

the two-year colleges. And those salary ranges were not good. At that time,

through collective bargaining, they elevated their salaries somewhat, so that they

are in a separate range from the two-year college adjuncts. But if we look at the

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four-year college salary, adjunct salary, as a yardstick, those institutions, CUNY,

SUNY, Philadelphia College -- Community College -- other institutions paid

two to three times as much.

SENATOR MARTIN: Is that by statute, or is that just by practice?

MR. DRIBAN: It’s certainly not by statute, not in Pennsylvania

or New York, but it is in some cases through collective bargaining, and other

cases through competition. The problem in New Jersey, as I see it, is that there

is no competition among the two-year colleges. They all pay at approximately

the same amount. The difference between the highest paid salary in a two-year

college and the lowest one is, again, depending on credentials, less than $100.

As I had said, the comparable salaries, per credit salaries, for

adjuncts in surrounding states were two to three -- in some cases, higher, than

they are in New Jersey, especially in North Jersey and in South Jersey. North

Jersey, of course, is competing with the New York market; and South Jersey, it’s

the Philadelphia market. If an adjunct is offered a salary of 2,100 per credit, as

opposed to 500 or 700 per credit, where is that person going to go? And that’s

exactly what’s happening. There’s a limited pool of qualified adjuncts, and

impacts on the quality of the education at the two- and four-year colleges in

New Jersey.

Adjuncts won’t be really paid equitably until they’re prorated, and

that does happen in some places across the country. But short of that, I think

we need to take a hard look at salaries that would be competitive with

surrounding states, at least, so that we can be competitive.

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SENATOR MARTIN: Thank you.

MR. DRIBAN: Thank you.

SENATOR MARTIN: Mr. Kaufman.

MR. KAUFMAN: Alan Kaufman, Communication Workers of

America. I will make it short.

I’m here to support the notion that part-time faculty at the colleges

and universities should have access to health-care benefits. There is an inequity

in the law in the State Health Benefits Plan, where if you’re a part-time worker

at a local government, you have access to health-care benefits. If you’re

anything less than full time at the State level, including the colleges and

universities, you don’t. So you have people that are working far more at the

State level in part-time and intermittent positions than people at the local

government level, and you’re not getting health-care benefits, even though what

you are doing is absolutely, 100 percent essential to the functioning of a State

agency or a university. So this is an inequity that really has to be rectified.

Health benefits -- I’ve been doing this work for 25 years. Health benefits is --

in a lot of peoples’ minds, when it comes down to crunch time -- more

important than a raise, in terms of providing quality of life to people. Even if

you work in part-time, if you get sick, you got to be taken care of.

So that I hope that the Committee will make a recommendation

that goes beyond the survey, and to say that, as a matter of policy, all State

institutions -- all State colleges and universities -- should provide access for

part-timers to health benefits.

Thank you.

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SENATOR MARTIN: I think what the -- this is a Joint Session of

the Assembly Education Committee as well as the Senate. I think what I’d like

to do with the staff is, hopefully, compare notes and, perhaps, have a Joint

Committee statement that Assemblyman Doria and Senator Turner and myself

might be able to agree with, and see if we can get a majority of both the Senate

Assemblyman.

ASSEMBLYMAN JOSEPH V. DORIA JR. (Chairman): I just

want to agree with Senator Martin. And obviously, working with Senator

Martin and Senator Turner, I think the issue of adjunct faculty, lecturers, parttime

faculty, whatever you would want to call them, is an important one. I

think that there is a time and a place for their use, when specific expertise or

experience is brought to bear in the classroom. That’s the initial purpose of why

part-time faculty were created and you had adjuncts.

I think, today, what’s happened is, given funding realities at both

the State level for the colleges and the universities, as well as the community

colleges at the county, and the private colleges, that adjuncts have become a

means of cheap labor. Part of the problem is, it’s unfair to the person who is

teaching, but it’s also unfair in many instances to students, because some

adjuncts who are teaching at two or three institutions cannot give the time to the

students. They come and they teach -- especially in some of the situations

where they’re teaching in large lecture courses -- where they come and teach, and

just run right out. There is no type of personal relationship or ability to have

some interaction, which impacts negatively on the students, as well as upon

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those people who are teaching. So it’s a two-way street. It has a negative

impact on both levels.

So I think we need to look at this. I think we need to deal with the

realities of financing and funding, and also, at the same time, be fair with those

who are actually teaching, as well as the students who have the opportunity to

work with these teachers.

So I agree with you, Senator Martin -- that Senator Turner,

yourself, and myself should work with our committees to come up with a

statement, and to try to move forward, to create some kind of equity and

fairness, while at the same time guaranteeing that the students get the best

possible education; and that, where necessary, adjuncts who have expertise, who

are working in other fields, provide something that’s unique -- while at the same

time protecting the rights of those who labor in the vineyards and don’t

necessarily receive fair compensation or benefits.

SENATOR MARTIN: Okay. Thank you very much.

That concludes the joint meeting of the Assembly Education

Committee and the Senate Education Committee. The Senate will continue on,

because we have a bill list which I, hopefully, will be able to dispense with

relatively quickly.