PrintJust released:
Reversing Course: The Troubled State of Academic Staffing and a Path Forward (pdf, 3.5 MB)
The AFT's newest report on the academic staffing crisis in higher education documents higher education's continuing reliance on underpaid contingent faculty to staff college and university classrooms and the rapidly declining number of full-time faculty with tenure. The report shows that now over 50 percent of college and university courses are taught by contingent faculty and instructors, most of whom are part-time and paid indefensibly low wages. To begin the work of reversing this trend, the report includes an interactive Excel model that allows unions, institutions and states to calculate what it would cost to incrementally increase the number of full-time tenured faculty and pay contingent faculty an equitable salary.
Download the report | Download the model
Our most recent reports:
Academic Freedom in the 21st-Century College and University (pdf, 1.2 MB)
A response to ongoing political attacks on higher education faculty and staff as well as the increasing reliance on contingent faculty who have little or no academic freedom protections.
The "Faculty Bias" Studies: Science or Propaganda? (pdf, 434 KB)
A scientific analysis by John Lee debunks eight studies commonly cited as evidence of liberal bias or indoctrination in the college.
Standards of Good Practice in the Employment of Professional Staff (pdf, 860 KB)
AFT's quality standards for the employment of professional staff. The report provides guidelines for improving the economic and professional working conditions of professional staff.
Standards of Good Practice in the Employment of Full-Time Nontenure-Track Faculty (pdf, 512 KB)
AFT’s quality standards for the employment of full-time nontenure-track faculty. The report provides guidelines for improving the economic and professional working conditions of full-time nontenure-track faculty.
Standards of Good Practice in the Employment of Graduate Employees (pdf, 517 KB)
AFT’s quality standards for the employment of graduate employees. The report provides guidelines for improving the economic and professional working conditions of graduate employees.
Professionally Speaking: The Story of AFT Professional Staff in Higher Education (pdf, 1.5 MB)
This short brochure describes AFT 's record of achievement in responding to the urgent issues that professional staff confront at higher education institutions. This brochure offers a historical perspective on professional staff organizing and describes numerous contractual gains won by professional staff in AFT locals.
Student Persistence in College: More than Counting Caps and Gowns (pdf, 3 MB)
This report sorts fact from fiction about student persistence in college. It debunks myths and puts forward ideas that policymakers, particularly federal policymakers, can use to make a constructive contribution to student success in college.
The Growth of Full-time Nontenure-Track Faculty: Challenges for the Union (pdf, 4.5 MB)
This report focuses on the growing employment of full-time faculty who are not eligible for tenure, the latest trend in the academic staffing crisis in higher education. These faculty members work full time but are on one-year or multiyear contracts without the protection of job security or the professional control that characterizes tenured positions.
Fairness & Equity: Standards of Good Practice in the Employment of Part-Time/Adjunct Faculty (pdf, 448 KB)
AFT’s quality standards for the employment of part-time/adjunct faculty in colleges and universities. The report outlines a coordinated program to improve the financial and professional circumstances of part-time/adjunct faculty.
