Proposed
charge to
the University Senate’s Faculty Affairs and Personnel
Committee
Submitted by Karen Thompson, PTL Senator and Senate
Executive Committee Member
October 2007
Charge: In order
to develop the professional capacity of part-time lecturers at Rutgers
as well
as acknowledge their contribution to the educational process at RU,
consider the
feasibility of amending University Regulation 60.2.1 concerning tuition remission to include part-time lecturers.
Suggested Amendments
to Regulations:
Example of possible language adjustment (two additional
phrases):
60.2.1
Benefits
Available to University Employees
6. Policy
Regularly
faculty and staff,
including part-time lecturers,
may qualify for tuition remission for themselves and their children
under the following conditions:
A.
Educational Benefits for Employees
1.
Eligibility
Requirements.
Employees
must meet all of
the following eligibility requirements, and must establish their
eligibility
each academic term.
a. Employee must be
regularly
appointed of a full-time basis, or as a part-time lecturer,
as of the
first day of class for the course.
Background:
1)
Many
PTLs at Rutgers
are graduate students who have
used up their teaching assistantship funding and are approaching
completion of
their terminal degrees. Undercutting
educational benefits at the same moment that salaries shrink is
counterproductive to the individual’s status as a student and
a teacher.
2)
Other
large research institutions include tuition remission as a benefit of
teaching
as part-time / adjunct faculty:
SUNY, CUNY, Connecticut
State
University, University of Connecticut, California State University
system, Long
Island University, New York University, School of Visual Arts, Illinois State University
system, University
of Richmond, University of Florida, University of Cincinnati,
University of
Illinois, University of Vermont, University of Maryland . . .
plus a host
of state, county, and community colleges, as well as private colleges
such as Rider
University
here in NJ.
While the tuition remission
policies at these colleges and universities are structured and
implemented in
various ways, they all reflect the core recognition of PTLs as
contributors to
the continuing advancement of each institution’s academic and
educational
mission. As New Jersey’s State University, Rutgers
should strive to become a leader in providing tuition remission in
order to
support PTLs as integral members of our academic community.
3)
Given
the dramatic expansion of knowledge in almost all fields of study and
the complexity,
liveliness and often contradictory nature of scholarly discourse,
part-time lecturers
have an important responsibility in maintaining currency in their
fields. With PTLs
responsible for as much as 30% of
undergraduate courses at Rutgers,
such
professional development becomes critical for quality undergraduate
education.
4)
As
the new unified School of Arts and
Sciences
takes it first steps, attention must be paid to the delivery of
coursework
within the core curriculum and to the personnel contributing to the
educational
process.
Tuition remission for part-time faculty should be University
policy reflecting our commitment to undergraduate education as an
essential
part of Rutgers’
mission.