Dear Adjuncts,

The Faculty Association is forwarding you an exchange of emails between Matt Henes, Chair of the Learning Assessment Committee, and Preston Rose, Vice President of the Faculty Association.  The emails address the issue of whether adjunct faculty are required to complete any SLO assessments.  The Faculty Association’s position on this matter is that SLOs are outside the responsibility of all adjuncts unless they are compensated for the time they devote to any SLO work.  If you have any additional questions about this, please email us at facultyassociation@gmail.com or  call us at 626-585-7261.

Preston Rose,Vice President, Faculty Association, and Adjunct in English

FROM: Matt Henes

TO : Roger Marheine

DATE: November 7, 2013

Roger,

It has come to my attention that on FLEX Day, the adjunct union representative told the adjunct faculty that they did not have to participate in any kind of SLO assessment activities, and that if a department insisted that they do, then they were to contact the FA. They were told it is not in their contract. As far as I know, it’s not in anyone’s contract. As an accreditation requirement, it is the responsibility of every instructor on campus.

On whose authority did the adjuncts’ representative say this? Why would our FA so blatantly attempt to undermine our efforts at satisfying accreditation requirements and ensuring maximum success for our students? The fact is that the more participation we have in assessment activities, the better suited we will be to improve student performance. Adjunct instructors were not asked to write any reports, but to collect data on SLOs. Properly written SLOs reference content in our courses that is taught and assessed by every instructor on campus. Adjunct faculty are merely being asked to record data and describe the process by which they arrived at it.

I believe it is incumbent on the FA to retract the statement that was made on FLEX Day and encourage participation by all instructors.

Sincerely,

Matt Henes

Mathematics Instructor

Chair, Learning Assessment Committee

RESPONSE FROM PRESTON ROSE

 

FROM: Preston Rose

TO: Matt Henes

DATE: November 11, 2013

 

Dear Mr. Henes:

Roger Marheine has asked me to respond to your email about the Workshop on Teaching Issues for Adjunct Faculty on Professional Learning Day.  I was one of three part time faculty members who were asked by the Academic Senate leadership to host a workshop for adjunct faculty  about how they could best fulfill their academic and professional  responsibilities .  Unfortunately, this is not an easy topic to discuss because the College does not offer any mechanism to compensate adjunct faculty for their professional expertise and their time in the service of the college.

You are surely aware that adjunct faculty at PCC are paid for the hours that they teach in the class room and for 6 hours per semester of student consultation time.  Unlike full time faculty, part time faculty are not paid for class preparation, for grading essays, or for professional development.  And, in addition, part time faculty are explicitly excluded from any responsibility for college governance activities.

The discussion of SLOs arose within a larger discussion of ancillary pay.  In the past, adjunct faculty who have been asked to participate in tasks or duties not directly related to the performance of their duties in their classroom have often not been compensated fairly for their time, effort, and expertise.  The Faculty Association has negotiated for many years with the college over what activities are outside the responsibility of the adjunct faculty members’ assignments and to include in the faculty contract a clear statement of what activities are ancillary work and how adjunct faculty will be compensated for that work.  SLOs are one of those areas where consensus has not been reached.

While you suggest that all adjunct faculty are being asked to do is “merely . . . record data and describe the process by which they arrived at it”, I wonder if you are asking adjunct faculty to volunteer their time to do the work.  Where in the contract is it stipulated that this work is part of an adjunct’s assignment?

Adjunct faculty are as concerned as full time faculty and the administration about accreditation.  All indications are that accreditation is going to be a difficult process.  But to ask the Faculty Association to tell the hundreds of adjunct faculty at PCC, who are paid nearly half the salary of full time faculty, who are offered no health care while full time faculty and their families are fully cover, and who have no guarantee from semester to semester that they will be offered another assignment, to do SLOs or any other kind of work without compensation is simply ridiculous.  No retraction is in order.  Instead, if you, the Learning Assessment Committee, and the College as a whole want the valuable contribution of the adjunct faculty, then the College must step up and treat adjunct faculty as professionals and compensate them fairly for their skills and service.

Thank you.

Preston Rose, Vice -President, Faculty Association, Adjunct Faculty, English