Faculty Senate Leaders Add Positions For Non-Tenured Colleagues

The Faculty Senate at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas unanimously passed a proposal that would create two new positions on the governing body to represent contingent faculty—part time faculty including one-year appointments and adjuncts. Adjunct faculty have traditionally been shut out of faculty senates at their colleges and universities while their full-time colleagues debate whether adjuncts should be permitted to collectively bargaining or have tenure. “We are shooting for something right now and eventually we hope to have more representative numbers,” Kelly Mendiola, chair of the Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Adjuncts, said. “Ideally, eventually there will be representatives for each school.” […]