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October 26, 2004
Labor: Motion on Professional Standards for Instruction
(formally submitted for the Agenda of the CCCC Business Meeting, March 22, 2003, New York)
WHEREAS, the educational conditions for college writing instruction have been deteriorating in the past few decades; and
whereas, promoting the best teaching conditions will enhance literacy instruction; and
whereas, the Conference on College Composition and Communication Business Meeting 16 years ago unanimously approved the “Wyoming Resolution� which declared that “the salaries and working conditions of post-secondary writing teachers with primary responsibility for the teaching of writing are fundamentally unfair as judged by any reasonable professional standards� and called for CCCC to formulate “professional standards and expectations for salary levels and working conditions of post-secondary teachers of writing�; and
whereas, this unanimously approved Wyoming Resolution was re-formulated in 1989 as the "Statement of Principles and Standards for the Postsecondary Teaching of Writing" which declared that “every institution should extend to teachers of writing the same opportunities for professional advancement (e.g., support for research and reasonable teaching responsibilities) that they extend to all other faculty,� and that abusive labor practices have created a situation in which “the quality of writing instruction is today seriously compromised�; and
whereas, the NCTE Conference on the Growing Use of Part-Time and Adjunct Faculty declared in its 1997 “Statement� that “the proportion of part-time and adjunct faculty in relation to all faculty appointments has increased substantially, from 22 percent in 1970 to more than 40 percent in 1993� with “64 percent of community-college faculty holding part-time appointments� while “200,000 graduate assistants at four-year institutions actually exceed the 184,999 part-time faculty,� and that “…the majority of part-time faculty teach under emphatically substandard conditions,…are far less likely to receive regular evaluation and feedback,…lack job security� and are typically paid from “$1,000 to $3,000� per course, and that “part-time and adjunct positions are disproportionately occupied by women�; and
whereas, the Two-Year College English Association-Southwest approved October 21, 2000 a “Position Statement� asserting that “A great danger now threatens the sustained record of accomplishment of America’s community colleges� because of full-time loads of 7 classes, class sizes over 30, and “part-time faculty teaching as much as 70% and even 80% of all writing courses�; and
whereas, the Coalition on the Academic Workforce representing 25 disciplinary associations reported in its 2001�Survey� that “freestanding composition programs have by far the highest proportion of courses taught by part-time and graduate student instructors…and the lowest taught by tenure-track instructors� and that 63.2 percent of these writing teachers received no benefits whatsoever; and whereas, the Associate Director of MLA English Programs, James Papp, reported in 2002 that more than 60% of part-time instructors in the humanities want full-time jobs and that the meager per-course wages paid contingent faculty have fallen way behind the inflation rate; THEREFORE,
WE MOVE THAT the Executive Committee affirm and disseminate the following policies to insure high quality writing instruction and literacy learning:Â
The professional standard for writing positions shall be full-time lines equivalent in salary and benefits to other full-time academic
positions. Faculty who prefer part-time work can request less than a full-time load with pro-rated salary and benefits. Instructors requesting less than full-time loads can staff a maximum of 20% of the course coverage in any department or program.
All writing instructors shall be protected with the same professional security, academic freedom, and due process accorded other faculty within their institution.
All full-time writing positions will be tenurable or covered by continuous employment certificates.
Graduate students shall be required to teach no more than three writing courses per year, shall undertake overloads only at their own choice, and shall teach writing only as part of their advanced studies in composition/rhetoric, complemented by ongoing professional development, extensive training, adequate support, and careful mentoring from experts credentialed in the field.
CCCC shall elect and budget a permanent Academic Quality Commission whose purview will be to:
a. Research those writing programs meeting the high standards cited above for learning conditions.
b. Acknowledge publicly such programs in CCCC venues.
c. Hold hearings at the annual conference on concerns raised by CCCC members, caucuses, SIGs, coalitions and workshops relative to teaching and learning conditions.
d. Research ongoing campus efforts for high quality teaching conditions and disseminate an annual guide, directory, and online database on such efforts.
e. Co-sponsor with other professional assemblies (such as AHA, MLA, etc.) and groups
(such as the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, etc.) annual conferences in 12Â regional cities relevant to educational
conditions. Implementation: Upon passage at the Business Meeting, this motion and its policy items will be submitted immediately to the entire CCCC membership for mail ballot approval and will be put on the agenda of the Executive Committee for action.
Respectfully submitted by Jonathan Alexander, Sharon Crowley, Peter Elbow, Linda Flower, Scott Lyons, Ian Marshall, Deborah Normand, Micah Taylor Robertson, Eileen Schell, Geneva Smitherman, Karen Thompson, Howard Tinberg, Victor Villanueva, Ira Shor
Posted by sparks at October 26, 2004 10:24 PM
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