Inside Higher Ed
by Lilah Burke
January 4, 2021
Community colleges cannot lay off faculty members and then hire adjuncts to teach their courses, the Illinois Supreme Court decided.
In 2016, 27 tenured faculty members at John A. Logan Community College in Illinois were laid off. The following year, seven of those faculty members sued the Board of Trustees, arguing that the college replaced them with adjuncts in violation of the Illinois Public Community College Act. Last month, the Illinois Supreme Court sided with the faculty.
The decision is a rare win for tenured faculty, who have seen their power and job protections erode in recent years. Numerous institutions have laid off faculty members this year, and at some, administrators have all but stated the professors will be replaced with adjuncts, who are cheaper to employ.