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Contingent Labor Conference Grades Institutions
By Jane Buck
AAUP leaders and staff participated August 6-8 in the sixth Conference on Contingent Academic Labor, held in Chicago on the campuses of Columbia College and Roosevelt University. The conference brings together members of the Coalition on Contingent Academic Labor (COCAL), a loose confederation of individual activists, unions, and professional organizations concerned about contingent faculty and other academic workers. The AAUP is a member of the coalition and one of the sponsors of the conferences. More than two hundred participants, representing organizations from the United States, Mexico, and both French- and English-speaking Canada attended the meeting. The large number of Mexican delegates this year is evidence of the increasingly international nature of the group.
One highlight of the conference was a march through the city, during which "progressive report cards" were presented to five colleges and universities that employ large numbers of contingent faculty. The report cards graded institutions on their treatment of contingent faculty in such areas as academic freedom protections, pay, and multisemester assignments. Another highlight was the presentation of awards to those who have made major contributions to the coalition. Margaret Quan, a former member of the AAUP's Committee on Contingent Faculty and the Profession and a recipient this year of the AAUP's Georgina Smith Award, was among those honored.
Five current members of the committee were presenters: Elizabeth Hoffman of California State University-Long Beach; Marcia Newfield of Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York; Karen Thompson of Rutgers University; Richard Schneirov of Indiana State University; and Flo Hatcher of Connecticut State University. AAUP staff members also played active roles.
I was pleased to participate in a plenary panel in which representatives of different organizations discussed their visions for higher education's future. Other panel members represented the Canadian Association of University Teachers, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Quebec National Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and the United Auto Workers. More information about the conference is available on the COCAL Web site: www.chicagococal.org.
Jane Buck is Association president.
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