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
A-Engrossed
House Bill 2557
Ordered by the House May 4
Including House Amendments dated May 4
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.
{ - 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. - }
{ + Makes certain part-time faculty members at public
institutions of higher education eligible for same health care
benefits as full-time faculty members.
Requires State Board of Education and State Board of Higher
Education to establish baselines and conduct annual reviews of
each institution with respect to employment of full-time faculty
and faculty working less than full-time. Requires boards to
submit report on reviews to Legislative Assembly and Governor's
office prior to October 1 of each year. + }
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to higher education faculty.
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 the effect on students of the lack of government
support and the decline of the full-time faculty workforce is
becoming apparent; and
Whereas a faculty corps consisting primarily of full-time
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 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 Oregon
colleges and universities will suffer; now, therefore,
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. { + As used in sections 2 and 3 of this 2009 Act, '
public institution of higher education' means:
(1) A community college; or
(2) A state institution of higher education listed in ORS
352.002. + }
SECTION 2. { + (1) 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 is eligible for membership in the Public Employees
Retirement System by teaching either at a single public
institution of higher education or in aggregate at multiple
public institutions of higher education during the prior year.
(2) A part-time faculty member at a public institution of
higher education shall pay all insurance premiums for health care
benefits unless otherwise provided for by the policy of the
institution or by collective bargaining at the institution.
(3) The Oregon Educators Benefit Board and the Public
Employees' Benefit Board shall each adopt rules to implement
subsections (1) and (2) of this section. + }
SECTION 3. { + The State Board of Education and the State
Board of Higher Education shall establish baselines and conduct
annual reviews of each public institution of higher education
with respect to the employment of full-time faculty and of
faculty working less than full-time. Each public institution of
higher education shall provide the necessary data for the board's
report prior to September 1 of each year. The boards shall report
the results of the reviews to the Legislative Assembly and the
Governor's office prior to October 1 of each year. 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 for the faculty categories; and
(3) The health care and other benefits provided for each
faculty category. + }
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