Washington D.C.
A new report from the American Association of University Professors says the number of higher education faculty without tenure has increased significantly since 1975.
The AAUP Contingent Faculty Index 2006, a first-time report released today, says 65 percent of faculty held non-tenure-track positions in 2003 — a 23 percent increase since 1975.
These figures will likely increase in coming years, says Flo Hatcher, chair of the AAUP’s National Committee on Contingent Faculty and the Profession. She says the trend has become institutionalized over the decades and will not change.
“It’s reflective of society at large,” she says. “It’s outsourcing of cheap, good seamless and continuous labor.”
The report further breaks down the number of contingent faculty to include full-time, part-time and graduate student positions in 2005. The figures, taken from the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, categorizes these positions across public, private and for-profit institutions.
The report also categorizes contingent faculty according to institutions granting associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. In every instance, private institutions reported higher percentages of contingent faculty than public institutions. While the 2005 numbers only account for regionally accredited institutions and exclude non-degree granting schools, the total percentage of faculty without tenure hovered at 62.6 percent.
