By Gloria Heller

While I was in Denver last month at the Conference on College Composition and Communication (the so-called 4 C's) to present a paper on an aspect of pedagogical concern, I was impressed by the seriousness with which the National Council of Teachers of English is treating the problem of contingent academic labor.  One entire afternoon and evening of the 4-day conference were devoted to sessions discussing this crisis in higher education caused by the overuse of part-timers, non-tenure track faculty, and other temporary categories. Scott Oury (Holyoke Community College) stated in his report to the Annual Business Meeting: "We have lost two-thirds of our profession. The drive is on to corporatize the rest." 
     Along with Dana Morgan (SMC) and Lynn Woods (Glendale and Pasadena), I attended one of Friday afternoon's special conference events, entitled "Labor Justice and Academic Contingent Labor: What Can We Do?" Speaking in a large and exceptionally well-filled room were Eileen Schell and Patti Stock, who have recently published their book, Moving a Mountain: Transforming the Role of Contingent Faculty in Composition Studies and Higher Education.  Stock led off by presenting "Discourse and Discursive Practices."  Her focus is on bringing contingent faculty into the mainstream of higher education.  Schell followed with "Strategic Alliances in Higher Education," stressing the need for academics, organized labor, and professional organizations to recognize commonalities in their struggles and pool resources to ensure the integrity of higher education.  (Schell added the personal touch to her spirited rhetoric that raised consiousness in the room by describing how her own family had long ago lost their small farm in Washington state.)

(CPFA) who launched the campaign for Campus Equity Week (CEW) by describing its natural outgrowth during COCAL IV in San Jose in January. (See previous edition of the Hourly Advocate for COCAL IV reports.) Unlike A2K upon which it is being modeled, CEW will not be limited to activities taking place only in California:  Storer stressed CEW Steering Committee's commitment to rolling rallies across the entire North American Continent during Fall term 2001, making CEW a U.S./Canadian/Mexican joint venture.  His outline of CEW's purpose, theme, and activities was warmly applauded and heartily endorsed by a strong group of contingent faculty and by many of their tenured colleagues.
     Next I took part in the rally that followed, which had been planned to rouse participants to action, specifically by focussing on: Organizing Strategies and Preparing for Campus Equity Week.  Faculty from various parts of the country reported on gains and losses for contingent faculty since last year's 4 C's, and then we broke up into small groups based on geographic clusters.   One strategy many people were keen on is writing a "Professional Working Conditions Bill of Rights." We brainstormed with glee, the enthusiasm was infectious, and the energy level in the room surged.
     Saturday morning's Business Meeting reflected the conscience of the 4C's leadership and attendees, and the following resolution passed without discussion: "That the Conference on College Composition and Communication join    with   the   Coalition    on    Contingent Academic Labor, the California Part-time Faculty Association, the American Association of University Professors, and other professional and labor organizations to endorse U.S.-Canada Equity Week." 
Two other resolutions regarding treatment of contingent academic labor also passed: (1) requesting transportation to next year's 4C's (in Chicago) for part-time faculty within a 400-mile radius, and (2) providing financial assistance to adjunct faculty accepted as 4C's presenters.  To quote Chris Storer:  "The clear message was for the organization to work more proactively to support their contingent colleagues….and my sense of the leadership of this organization is that they will follow through on these non-binding resolutions with significant action.  I believe the 4C's may be taking a lead in terms of the professional discipline organizations' responses to contingent academic labor issues, including support for Campus Equity Week, Fall 2001."

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