Non-tenure track faculty members are encouraging the University to open up discussions regarding their teaching responsibilities and the allocation of resources.

Non-tenure track faculty at the University comprise instructors, lecturers, senior lecturers, clinical professors, research professors and adjunct faculty, among other similarly contracted groups. Faculty in this category teach on a nine-month contract with little to no job security, said Kay Emmert, a non-tenure track teacher in the English Department.

Non-tenure track contracts are what Emmert calls “bare-boned,” in that they lack any specificity as to what the job entails. Furthermore, faculty resources are essentially non-existent for the group. Emmert said she believes that a lack of funds for professional development, faculty responsibility distribution and input on curriculum are all unfair distribution of resources.

University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said the University feels that this is a misconception, as the University allocates the distribution of teachers to classes using several criteria. These include instructor expertise and experience, optimal student learning, flexibility in scheduling, needs for graduate training and desires or preferences of the instructors, Kaler said.

Some departments, such as the History Department, do not seek to employ non-tenure track faculty. Craig Koslofsky, chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee and a tenured professor in the History Department, said this is because their department relies on the tenure system. Faculty within the department do not decide which resources those on the non-tenure track receive, but they understand that the lack of resources on these teachers can greatly hinder their ability to teach, he said.

“A lot of these (non-tenure track faculty) are in departments where they don’t find out what they are teaching until a week or two before the semester starts — you know that has got to affect the quality of the teaching,” Koslofsky said.

Emmert said non-tenure track faculty believe that the first step in resolving the issue is to open it up for discussion.

The problem, Emmert said, is that the only people discussing the issue are those who are being directly affected by it. Teachers like Emmert are trying hard to advocate for the cause, but she said even the task of sitting in on a departmental meeting can be challenging. In order for non-tenure track faculty to sit in on a meeting, they must be chosen by their department head as a representative, Emmert said.

On the contrary, the Office of the Provost said it has begun to open up discussions with non-tenure track faculty that will help the University better define the categories of employees that fall into the non-tenure track group.

Kaler also said the University will utilize these discussions to “offer guidance regarding employment practices and promotional paths for this crucial group” in the future.

Ethan can be reached at [email protected].

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly used the pronoun “he” instead of “she” in reference to Kay Emmert. The article also previously incorrectly quoted Professor Craig Koslofsky as saying the history department had completely eliminated non-tenure track faculty from their staff. The article should have said that the history department has never sought to hire non-tenure track faculty, but does still employ some non-tenure track faculty. The Daily Illini regrets these errors.