The Chronicle of Higher Education
July 30th, 2014
Advocates for adjuncts who have long sought more data about their working conditions on campuses have gotten the attention of Congress.
Legislation that passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is now pending before the Senate would require colleges to collect and report more information about their part-time instructors.
The bill (HR 4983), dubbed the Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act, would require colleges to publish data on a government-run website that would show the ratio of the number of courses taught by part-time instructors to those taught by full-time faculty members. Colleges would have to break down that information by courses largely intended for undergraduates and those largely designed for graduate students. Colleges would also be required to report the mean and median years those part-time instructors have been employed.
The bill was approved last week by the House, where it had bipartisan support. It’s unclear if, or when, the Senate might take it up.