Submitted by Jack Longmate, Dec 28, 2007 03:19

Re: "Public Universities May Place Adjuncts on Full-Time Track" of December 27, 2007: window.onload = function() { var oFCKeditor = new FCKeditor( 'comment' ) ; oFCKeditor.BasePath = 'http://www.nysun.com/admin/FCKeditor/' ; oFCKeditor.ToolbarSet = 'CommentPublic' ; oFCKeditor.Width = 612 ; oFCKeditor.Height = 200 ; oFCKeditor.ReplaceTextarea() ; }

While increasing the number of full-time positions and granting a hiring preference for those positions to current adjunct faculty are good moves, such moves are of little benefit for the armies of non-tenured, who, in many institutions, are the majority faculty who deliver most of the instruction.

For current non-tenured faculty, I would hope that establishing job security would also be considered.

In the colleges of British Columbia, Canada, assuming an instructor receives satisfactory reviews after what amounts to two years of service, that instructor becomes "regularized," meaning that he or she is no longer probationary and can presume that his/her job will continue.

A legislative attempt, unsuccessful thus far, to establish a mild version of that system for faculty in Washington State is House Bill 1452. This bill would not bring about tenure for the untenured, but it would bring about a measure of job security and many of the same benefits as new full-time positions.

Also, because granting job security can be carried out administratively, it can be done with very few costs.

Jack Longmate
Poulsbo, Washington

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