UNM-Albuquerque Chapter
MINUTES OF AAUP DISCUSSION OF CONTINGENT FACULTY ISSUES
FEBRUARY 11, 2004
The AAUP noontime discussion of contingent faculty on February 11 attracted between 20 and 25 members of the UNM faculty and staff from a varietyof backgrounds: regular and part-time, main-campus and branch-campus, teaching and research, undergraduate and professional, administrative and non-administrative. A reporter from the ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE who is working on a story about contingent faculty also attended the meeting; her article is scheduled to appear before the end of the month.
The wide-ranging conversation brought to light many aspects of contingent-faculty employment. Everyone who attended learned something new about this complex subject. Low pay that never increases, lack of job security and amenities, absence of a career track, and discrepancies in pay and workload between amin and branch campuses are among the issues that came up. The AAUP-UNM COmmittee on Contingent Faculty reported on its February 2 meeting with Provost Foster, at which solutions for some contingent-faculty problems began to be discussed. Follow-up meetings of the Committee with the Provost and other administrators are planned.
Meanwhile, those present expressed a desire to continue the campus-wide dialogue on contingent faculty issues that began this week. A tentative date and time for a second meeting were proposed: Thursday, March 25, 11:30am - 1:00pm. A Thursday time will, we hope, accommodate some of those who could not attend the February meeting because of teaching obligations. COnfirmation of the date, time and place will be sent out in early March. If you have colleagues who would like to be on the AAUP-UNM maillist, please ask them to send their e-mail addresses to Hugh Witemeyer at hughwit@unm.edu.
Respectfully submitted,
Hugh Witemeyer, President
Niame, Co-Chair, Committee on Contingent Faculty
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