Mass. Court Rules Adjuncts Can Teach Only 15% of Day Courses at State Colleges & Universities

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently upheld a provision in a faculty contract that requires no more than 15 percent of all day courses at state colleges and universities be taught by part-time faculty.

“This rule regards the number of state university courses taught by part-time faculty (15% of total course offerings) versus those taught by full-time faculty (85%),” explained Modern Language Professor Graziana Ramsden in an email.

Ramsden, who is also the grievance officer for the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) faculty union chapter of the Massachusetts State College Association (MSCA), informed the faculty of the ruling in a recent email.

In its decision, the SJC notes “that limiting low-paying faculty positions does not conflict with the [Board of Higher Education] BHE’s authority, nor does it inhibit the BHE’s ability to provide students with a high-quality education in a cost-effective manner.”

According to Ramsden’s email to faculty, MCLA has been one of the few campuses statewide to comply with this rule. President James Birge echoed this, stating MCLA has actually been well below the threshold for compliance.

“I don’t know for how long it’s been the case, but for a while, we’ve been well below the 15% threshold,” Birge said in an interview on Nov. 13. “Right now we’re at about 10% overall. There have been one or two departments where we’ve been over the 15%, but they’ve been allowed because of certain exemptions.”

“For example, when a faculty member unfortunately passes away, which we’ve had happen this past year, we don’t have to meet that rule because there’s an extraordinary situation,” Birge said.

According to Birge and Ramsden, there are a few departments such as business and English & Communications who have waivers this semester for such exemptions.

“The 15% rule takes into account adjunct hires to fill in for faculty with course releases / [alternative professional responsibilities] (APRs) or in the event of a sudden death,” Ramsden said in an email interview.

An examination of the number of courses taught by part-time faculty compared to full-time faculty for this semester shows 442 day courses taught overall, 24.7% were taught by part-time faculty and 75.3% were taught by full-time faculty.

Three departments in particular were well above the 15% rule, causing a higher average: education (44.4% of classes taught by part-time faculty), fine and performing arts (42.4% of classes taught by part-time faculty), and physics (33.3% of classes taught by part-time faculty).

Departments that were well below the 15% rule included the psychology, computer science, and physics departments, all of which had classes only taught by full-time faculty this semester.

According to Bernadette Alden, director of marketing and communications, there are additional exemptions for professors who receive APRs, resulting in a course release for faculty.

“When these are added into the overall formula [stipulated under the contract], there are no departments at MCLA that are over the 15% threshold,” Alden said.

Alden also confirmed that the 10% figure President Birge gave in his earlier interview was roughly what he recalled at that time, and that the percentage is closer to 12%.

When exemptions are applied, a calculation of 24.7% can vary. For example, before exemptions are applied, 32.7% of English & Communications courses this semester were taught by part-time faculty. Depending on how it’s calculated, the department had eight to 10 course releases. With releases factored in, the percentage drops to either 16.3% or 12.2% respectively.

According to an article on the MSCA website entitled “SJC Rules ‘15% Rule’ Is Enforceable,” MSCA President CJ O’Donnell reinforced the idea that the MSCA’s goal is not to eliminate part-time faculty.

“We understand that some MSCA part-time faculty have viewed the rule as an effort to remove them from the classroom, that is not our motivation,” O’Donnell wrote in the article. “The MSCA’s position has been and remains, minimizing the number of low-paying, non-benefited positions within the day bargaining unit.”

According to Birge, all of the administration and the faculty agree that it’s better to have full-time, tenure-track faculty teaching students, although he recognizes the need for part-time and adjunct faculty.

“Those individuals do really important work and make contributions to the academic life of the institution,” Birge said. “That’s immeasurable; but given the choice, it’s better for students to have full-time, tenure-track faculty here and I think that ethic is reflected in that percentage for us.”

According to the MSCA article, the “15% Rule” is likely to be a topic of discussion at the next round of negotiations starting January 2020.