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Rhode Island Part-Time Faculty Join AAUP
By Gwendolyn Bradley
Part-time faculty at the University of Rhode Island voted by a wide margin in October to be represented in collective bargaining by the campus AAUP chapter. The chapter also represents the full-time faculty and graduate employees at URI.
Ninety-four percent of faculty participating in the secret ballot election voted to be represented by the AAUP chapter. The election was for all “percourse” instructors who have taught at least six credits over a two-year period.
During any given year, URI employs approximately six hundred per-course instructors to teach courses in most departments. These faculty members receive no fringe benefits, are paid a fraction of what full-time professors earn, and are subject to being dismissed at will. Dorothy Donnelly, a professor of English at URI, and Frank Annunziato, the executive director of the chapter, led the effort to organize the part-time faculty.
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