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Fixed-term employees face cuts due to budget

April 29, 2010

Under a revision to a university policy, appointments to fixed-term employee positions made on or after March 1 can be ended before contractual expiration dates for budgetary reasons. The policy requires written notice be given to the employee 30 days before the date of termination.

The revision immediately is in effect for fixed-term employees — who have a contract with an expiration date and a rank such as instructor, assistant professor or associate professor — whose appointment began on or after March 1 of this year. Previously, an academic unit could not end its contract with an employee before its termination date, said Terry Curry, associate provost and associate vice president for academic human resources.

“If a unit signed a contract for five years, it was a commitment the university had for five years,” he said. “The policy did not have any language in it that said it can be terminated for budget concerns.”

The revision follows a university decision to more strictly adhere to the policy’s requirement that fixed-term appointments do not exceed one-year contracts, except under special circumstances approved by MSU Provost Kim Wilcox. Curry announced the revision to administrators earlier this semester. The decision has been questioned by some members of the Union of Nontenure-Track Faculty, or UNTF.

“We are applying the policy as the policy is written,” Curry said. “As it is the case with many policies, from time to time it’s important to remind administrators of the policy.”

In previous years, the university has gradually moved away from adhering to the one-year rule, said Donna Zischke, director of academic human resources. Changes were motivated in part because of the budgetary climate, she said.

Special circumstances that could warrant an exception from the provost’s office include an academic unit that has a grant that provides funding for a three-year period, Curry said. The unit could potentially get approval to hire an employee for the three-year period, he said.

Some UNTF members question the timing of the announcement.

Adan Quan, a member of the UNTF bargaining committee and assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, said it coincided with the beginning of contract negotiations between the university and UNTF.

“It seems that was a key objective in negotiations … to negotiate a system where faculty can graduate into multi-year contracts after proving themselves,” he said.

Stephen Thomas, a member of the UNTF bargaining committee and professor in the Department of Zoology, said although he can understand the university’s desire to be more strict about the policy’s interpretation, a nontenure professor’s position isn’t necessarily temporary.

“In general, what we’re saying is that this position is thought of as being temporary when in fact some people have been in it for decades,” he said. “It might be an out-of-date concept to think that this position is actually temporary.”

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