By Cindy Oliver, Catherine Christie, Petra Ganzenmueller, Geoff Martin, George Davison, Sandra Hoenle, Kelly MacFarlane & Anne Skoczylas

When is an academic not an academic? This is not a rhe­torical question, since in most Ca­nadian universities, contract academic staff do not have the same status as a tenured or tenure-track staff, regardless of qualifications and experience.

Remuneration and access to sup­port for scholarly activity are usually the source of employment disadvantage for academics working on per course or limited-term contracts when compared with perma­nent colleagues. This disadvantage is particularly noticeable when the availability of both in-house and external research money is involved. CAUT’s contract academic staff committee believes academic staff associations should direct their attention to redressing a situation which deters, and often prevents, contract staff from engaging in the vital research required in order to participate in a full academic career.

In conjunction with pro rata hiring policies, access to internal and external funding programs would allow contract staff to achieve a real degree of parity with their tenured colleagues. Only then could the designation “part-time” be a true measure of employment choice rather than a euphemism designed to disguise the exploitation of members of the academic proletariat.

Access to research funds is an important feature of the continuing and uphill struggle with increasingly market-driven university administrations to create a more equitable professional environment for contract academic staff.

As Sandy Hershcovis wrote in the September 2007 Bulletin on the comparative values placed on teaching and research in Canadian universities, in the quest for tenure, “high-quality research” will always trump good teaching. This reality emphasizes what everyone in aca­deme knows — that in order to enjoy a successful career a faculty member has to show strong research productivity. Contract staff must overcome the research accomplishment hurdle in order to find secure, adequately paid academic work, but this is made harder when universities consistently re­fuse to allow their contract employees access to the funds available to their tenured and tenure- stream colleagues.

A policy statement on fairness for contract academic staff written by CAUT states: “All academic ap­pointments should recognize that the nature of academic work includes teaching, research and professional activity and participation in service activities. To achieve this end all limited-term contracts should explicitly recognize the research components of the job and define workloads as a percentage of full-time work.”

The policy also calls for the pro­vision of all necessary resources to enable contract academic staff to carry out their professional duties and for “fair and equitable access to professional development opportunities.”

Canadian universities — with a few honourable exceptions — deny their contract faculty the right of fair access. University officials argue that contract faculty are paid to teach, not to conduct research. They obfuscate the reality that good teaching and good research are not mutually exclusive, but inseparable.

The trend towards per course and teaching-only positions represents a failure on the part of universities to fulfill their mandate to encourage all aspects of academic life. To promote their reputations as research intensive schools, universities often have goals about the provision of infrastructure and services in support of research. No­where in these mission statements is it mentioned that some academics are ineligible for such support. While Canada’s federal funding agencies do not prohibit anyone working on contract from applying for funds, many contract academics are denied access to these research opportunities by their own institutions.

Officials at the University of Toronto attempted to revoke the right of contract academic staff to apply for Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funding and other grants in October 2006 and only restored these rights after a public outcry.

To turn this situation around, academic staff associations must take ownership of the issue of research funding for contract aca­demics at the negotiating table by ensuring access to both internal and extramural research funds. Demand that your negotiating team takes the opportunity at your next collective bargaining session to include, among the essential articles to be negotiated, research funds and remunerated research time for contract aca­demic staff.

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Cindy Oliver, Catherine Christie, Petra Ganzenmueller, Geoff Martin, George Davison, Sandra Hoenle, Kelly MacFarlane and Anne Skoczylas are members of CAUT’s executive-appointed contract academic staff committee.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily CAUT.

Comment
CAUT welcomes articles between 800 and 1,500 words on contemporary issues directly related to post-secondary education. Articles should not deal with personal grievance cases nor with purely local issues. They should not be libellous or defamatory, abusive of individuals or groups, and should not make unsubstantiated allegations. They should be objective and on a political rather than a personal subject. A commentary is an opinion and not a “life story.” First person is not normally used. Articles may be in English or French, but will not be translated. Publication is at the sole discretion of CAUT. Commentary authors will be contacted only if their articles are accepted for publication. Commentary submissions should be sent to Liza Duhaime (duhaime@caut.ca).