Title: Flying the Golden State Freeway.

Subject(s): COLLEGE teachers -- California; COMMUNITY colleges -- California; WILDMAN, Scott; CORNELL, Eric

Source: Community College Week, 11/01/99, Vol. 12 Issue 6, p16, 1p, 1c

Author(s): Kerr, Jennifer

Abstract: Focuses on the condition of part-time college instructors in California. Complaint from college instructor Emma Cornell; Ruling of the California Community Colleges board of governors in 1978; One underlying problem in hiring more full-time teachers; Why community college officials opposed the bill proposed by state Assemblyman Scott Wildman, D-Los Angeles.

AN: 2448528 ISSN: 1041-5726

FLYING THE GOLDEN STATE FREEWAY

California's Part-Time Instructors Complain that They Are Part of an 'Exploited Labor Class' ROCKLIN, Calif. -- Community college instructor Emma Cornell puts away the Frankenstein movie clips she showed her English students, reminds them to finish the book by next week and heads to her office - a red station wagon in a Sierra College parking lot. There she grades student journals before heading to her next class, 35 miles away at Woodland Community College. Cornell is a "freeway flier," one of several community college instructors hired part-time, cobbling together classes at several schools, taking home lower pay and fewer benefits than full-time teachers and spending a lot of time on the road. "I still love teaching, but I hate being part of an exploited labor class," says Cornell, who teaches composition at three community colleges. In 1978, the California Community Colleges board of governors said no more than 25 percent of credit courses should be taught by part-time faculty, and that equal pay should be given for equal work. In 1988, the state Legislature made that policy law. But a decade later, no college has reached the 75 percent full-time goal (see Community College Week, Jan. 25). Community colleges continue to rely on part-timers, many of whom desperately want full-time posts and have stepped up their political activism this year through their faculty unions. The percentage of hours taught by part-time instructors now averages about 39 percent statewide. One underlying problem in hiring more full-time teachers is money. The faculty unions - the California Federation of Teachers, the California Teachers Association and the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges - attempted to force the issue this year. They backed a bill by state Assemblyman Scott Wildman, D-Los Angeles, that originally Would have required part-time pay to be proportional to full-time and would have given part-timers preference for full-time openings. Cornell this fall is teaching two courses at Sierra College, one at Woodland Community College and two at the Davis branch of the Los Rios Community College District. Sierra pays about $40 a class hour a week, Woodland $30 and Los Rios about $50, so she makes about $630 a week. Community college officials opposed Wildman's bill, contending giving part-timers hiring preference would interfere with attempts to hire more minorities as instructors. The chancellor's office says 78.6 percent of full-time faculty and 81.5 percent of part-time faculty in 1996 were white. Gov. Gray Davis also had problems with the concept. He vetoed $10.6 million that lawmakers put in the 1999-2000 state budget to convert part-time positions to full-time. The bill was modified, and signed into law this month, to instead provide more health benefits and compensation for office hours by easing the eligibility and providing $1 million in additional state funds (see related story, pg. 2). But for one thing, no one really knows how many "freeway flyers" - those who want full-time jobs and are working at several districts - there are. The unions call all 29,000 part-timers freeway flyers, but the colleges disagree. Based on Social Security number matches in 63 districts, there are at least 2,500 part-timers who work in more than one district, according to the chancellor's office. "I think it's a mistake to presume that all or even most of part-timers in community colleges really want full-time positions," says state Vice Chancellor Christopher Cabaldon. Community colleges are adding full-time faculty- about 800 between 1997 and 1998-and will have to hire an estimated 20,000 full-time teachers in the next 10 to 15 years because of enrollment growth and retirements, he says. Cabaldon says research is needed on whether there is any difference in the quality of education between full-time and part-time instructors. Community colleges, with their emphasis on job-related courses, have traditionally used part-time instructors, such as a technical expert who teaches an Internet design course. "We bring in folks who have the cutting-edge expertise," Cabaldon says. Part-timers are just as likely as full-timers to be good teachers, says W. Norton Grubb, a University of California education professor who studies community college teaching nationwide. But he says relying too heavily on part-timers makes it harder to maintain teaching quality. "You have people teaching large numbers of students who just resent the hell out of their institutions," he says. "They're constantly angry and bitter about how they're treated." Cornell says she loves college teaching, although she has no idea what and where she will be teaching next spring and can't predict her income. She estimates she now drives about 150 miles a day- from her Auburn home to Rocklin, Woodland or Davis and back. Cornell has no office at Sierra or Davis. If a Sierra student has missed an assignment, Cornell takes the student to her car, where a large file box in the back contains all of the nearly 100 handouts for her various classes. At Woodland, a tiny new campus in the middle of a field, she has a small office for one hour a week this fall. A 43-year-old mother of two teens, Cornell received her doctorate in English from the University of California, Davis, in 1996 and would like a full-time teaching job. She also wants to write more on her dissertation topic - how Shelley's 'Frankenstein" has always been made as a horror movie instead of the science fiction commentary it is. But instead she spends hours in her red station wagon. "Why I'm not being rewarded for all my work in this area is still a mystery to me," Cornell says. "I feel I'm caught in a system that doesn't make teachers like myself a priority." California Community Colleges By the Numbers Facts and Figures on Part-Timers at California's Two-Year Schools The System: 106 colleges run by 71 locally elected districts teaching 1.4 million students. Faculty: In 1998, there were 17,784 full-time faculty and 29,748 part-time faculty, which equate to 9,916 full-time instructors. State Policy: No more than 25 percent of credit courses should be taught by part-time faculty. Reality: About 39 percent statewide are taught by part-timers. Districts with office-hour compensation for part-timers: Los Angeles, Marin, Los Rios, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Foothill-De Anza, West Valley, Cabrillo, Sonoma. Total in 1998-99: $1,554,221. Districts with health benefits for part-timers: Rio Hondo, Los Rios, San Diego, Southwestern, San Luis Obispo, Foothill-De Anza, Cabrillo. Total in 1998-99: $188,745. Source: State Chancellor's office.

PHOTO (COLOR): Community College Instructor Emma Cornell -- one of 29,000 part-time Instructors at California's two-year schools --searches through her files In the trunk of her car at Sierra College In Rocklin, Calif. Many "roads scholars" say their car doubles as their office. ~~~~~~~~ By Jennifer Kerr Copyright of Community College Week is the property of Cox Matthews and Associates Inc and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. Source: