R 287

2016 -- S 3054 Enacted 06/08/2016

S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

RESPECTFULLY REQUESTING THE COMMISSIONER OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION TO PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE PROVISION OF HEALTH INSURANCE TO ADJUNCT FACULTY MEMBERS

Introduced By: Senator Joshua Miller

Date Introduced: May 31, 2016

WHEREAS, Under the Affordable Care Act, employers are required to offer health

coverage to most employees who work an average of 30 or more hours per week, including

adjunct faculty, or pay a "headcount tax"; and

WHEREAS, According to a January 2014 Congressional Report, over the past 40 years

the proportion of faculty who are adjuncts has grown from 20 percent to approximately 50

percent of all higher education faculty. There are now more than one million adjunct faculty

employees across the nation; however, the fundamental employment terms for these positions,

including salaries and benefits, have remained largely unchanged; and

WHEREAS, According to the National Association of College and University Attorneys

(NACUA), adjunct faculty often spend significant amounts of non-classroom time on class

preparation, grading, office hours, student counseling, and other required departmental or

institutional tasks. The workload of any single adjunct faculty member is dependent on a myriad

of factors, including the course being taught, whether the instructor has taught the course in the

past, whether the course has a set template that the instructor must follow, the institution's policy

with regard to office hours, and the instructor's efficiency outside of the classroom; and

WHEREAS, According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, instead of teaching a few

courses to supplement other employment, more adjuncts now rely on such work for their entire

livelihood by teaching part-time at multiple schools; and

WHEREAS, According to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, some

accrediting bodies examine the treatment of adjuncts as criteria in their accreditation standards.

There is a connection between adjuncts' working conditions, the quality of instruction, and the

resulting student learning outcomes; and

WHEREAS, There is a growing trend of support for the argument that traditional

approaches to adjunct faculty employment relationships are no longer fair or desirable from a

public policy perspective. Adjuncts are highly qualified and play a critical role in educating the

nation's post-secondary students. We need to adjust compensation terms to ensure that students at

our state's colleges and universities receive the highest quality educations; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby respectfully requests that the Commissioner of Postsecondary Education and the Council

on Postsecondary Education provide recommendations regarding the financial and programmatic

impacts of providing health insurance benefits to adjunct faculty members at our public colleges

and universities; and be it further

RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby respectfully requests that the written

recommendations be submitted to the Senate President and to the Chair of the Senate Committee

on Health and Human Services on or before January 1, 2017; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Chairperson of the Council on

Postsecondary Education and the Commissioner of Postsecondary Education.

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