Pasadena City College is often compared to Santa Monica College because both colleges consistently rank near the top in California community colleges in student transfers to four year colleges. Unfortunately, PCC lags far behind Santa Monica College in its treatment of its part-time faculty. Santa Monica College part-time faculty have many benefits that PCC part-time faculty only dream of: office hours, health benefits, and a guarantee of job assignments after two years.

Recently the faculty association at Santa Monica College passed a "Part-Time Faculty Bill of Rights" that they are going to take to the Board of Trustees for approval. This document, included below, sets out many of the issues that are of concern to all part-time faculty and offers some insight into how a progressive college is moving toward resolving the differences that affect part-time faculty.

PART-TIME FACULTY BILL OF RIGHTS

The Santa Monica College Faculty Association, while it recognizes the work that has been done in the past to improve the condition of part-time faculty, urges the Santa Monica Community College District Board of Trustees and Administration to join us to address continuing inequities in the community college system.

As an effort to define the major remaining areas of concern, a series of meetings held by part-time faculty in the spring of 2002 was held, resulting in the following "Bill of Rights." These rights embody the overriding belief that the use of part-time faculty should be based on sound academic principles and professional standards.

While we recognize that these rights cut across jurisdictions, we urge the Board of Trustees to adopt these rights as policy goals for the Santa Monica Community College District, and we anticipate that the Board of Trustees and the Administration will join with the faculty to address these issues on a statewide level.

Equal status should include:

1. Equal pay for equal work.

2. Equivalent office space and equipment for part-time faculty.

3. An equivalent orientation for new part-time faculty.

4. Full health benefits.

5. Paid office hours for all part-time faculty.

6. Expansion of the eligibility and rights of associate faculty status.

7. Earliest possible notification of course assignments.

8. Consistent teaching loads for all sessions.

9. Enough parking for part-time faculty.

10. Teaching experience at Santa Monica College should be a significant consideration in hiring for tenure track positions.

11. Enforcement of the contract provision regarding advance notification of departmental meetings.

12. Voting rights in departmental decision-making.

13. All hours worked (including summer and winter sessions) count towards credit for salary step increases and associate faculty status.

14. Abolition of the sixty percent law, which mandates that non-tenured faculty are only allowed to teach 60% load in any given college district.