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Support for Contingent Faculty

National Council for Higher Education urges attention to concerns of part-time and other non-tenure-track faculty.

The National Council for Higher Education, an official NEA caucus representing the interests of the Association's higher education members, has endorsed the work of the national Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor (COCAL). COCAL, an independent organization of contingent faculty, supported by NEA, the American Federation of Teachers, and the American Association of University Professors, is a leader in contingent faculty organizing to improve the salaries and working conditions of contingent faculty.

The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) voted to encourage NEA to continue supporting COCAL and to urge the Association’s higher education locals and state organizations to send delegates to COCAL conferences and to participate in Campus Equity/Fair Employment Week activities in support of contingent academic workers. Specifically, NCHE will encourage NEA to support the fall 2005 Campus Equity/Fair Employment Week and the 2006 COCAL conference.

For more on COCAL and Campus Equity Week activities, visit www.cewaction.org.

Watch your mailboxes this fall for the brand new 2005 Thought & Action. The NEA higher education journal has undergone some changes, and we’re looking forward to presenting the fruits of our work. For one thing, you’ll find that we’ve changed the format and size to make the journal easier to handle and easier to read. We’ve also made some changes inside—this issue will feature an interview with a prominent member of our academic community, whose views are nothing if not controversial.

Coming in this issue also: a Special Focus section that will feature both refereed and solicited articles on some of the tough issues facing the academy. This time around it’s Higher Education and the National Security State. We expect there will be plenty of controversy here too.

We’ll continue to publish our Excellence in the Academy winners and our regular fare of thought-provoking articles, so stay tuned. Also coming soon, the 2005 Status of the Profession issue of the Advocate. This once-a-year special issue provides data on a host of faculty concerns, including salary and benefits.

The latest NEA Higher Education Research Center Update is now available for downloading from the NEA Higher Ed Web site at www2.nea .org/he/heupdate/vol11no1.pdf.