SECOND REGULAR SESSION

House Concurrent Resolution No. 21

93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

4025L.01I

      Whereas, part-time and nontenure-track instructors have mushroomed into a source of inexpensive labor in higher education; and

            Whereas, a quality college or university must have a corps of full-time, permanent, tenured faculty coordinating the academics curriculum and teaching most of it; and

            Whereas, the increased use of part-time faculty results in considerable economic hardship for part-time faculty members and has the potential for limiting college instruction as a career for prospective faculty; and

            Whereas, Missouri public colleges and universities are resorting to replacing tenured and tenure-track faculty positions with increasing numbers of nontenure-track and part-time teaching positions; and

            Whereas, courses should be taught only by highly qualified people, whether full-time or part-time, tenured or nontenured, who are paid a professional salary and included in academic processes; and

            Whereas, national studies have shown that the majority of part-time faculty members teach under emphatically substandard conditions; and

            Whereas, part-time and nontenure-track positions are disproportionately occupied by women; and

            Whereas, national professional organizations representing university and community college faculty, administrators, and trustees have agreed that fair compensation for part-time and nontenure-track faculty should be based on commensurate qualifications with tenure-track faculty, with a goal of pro rata rather than per course hour rates; and

            Whereas, there is a need for a comprehensive examination of whether any adverse impact on the quality of education at institutions of higher education in this State originates from the institutions increased employment of part-time and nontenure-track faculty and the resulting tiered structure of faculty employees at those institutions:

            Now, therefore, be it resolved that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-third General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby urge the Department of Higher Education to review the growing dependence on part-time and nontenure-track faculty in Missouri colleges and universities; and

            Be it further resolved that each public university, college, and community college governing board in the State provide a detailed report, with rationale, to the Department of Higher Education by November fifteenth of each year regarding use and compensation of part-time and nontenure-track faculty, with the Department of Higher Education compiling the reports and providing them to the General Assembly by December fifteenth of each year; and

            Be it further resolved that the Department of Higher Education examine the impact of an increasing trend in the use of part-time faculty on the quality of education provided at institutions of higher education in this State; and

            Be it further resolved that the Department of Higher Education, in consultation with institutions and faculty organizations, consider policies designed to discourage over-reliance on part-time and nontenure-track faculty for undergraduate instruction while protecting those instructors performing effectively in such positions; and

            Be it further resolved that the Department of Higher Education shall examine whether the tiered faculty structure has an adverse impact on part-time faculty and their families and whether the tiered structure discourages prospective instructors and faculty from entering or remaining in the university or college instruction profession; and

            Be it further resolved that the Department of Higher Education make recommendations to the General Assembly concerning the establishment of minimum salary and fringe benefits provisions indexed to tenure-track faculty compensation for part-time and nontenure-track faculty to ensure fair employment and consistent emphasis on quality instruction at all levels, from lower division through graduate instruction; and

            Be it further resolved that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare a properly inscribed copy of this resolution for the Department of Higher Education for reproduction and distribution to the governing boards of each of the public universities, colleges, and community colleges of this State.