contingent-faculty

For Columbia’s faculty, COVID-19 comes with more barriers than remote learning; it means a lack of child care, research, and, for some, progress on their tenure track. In the midst of a global pandemic, caretakers and untenured professors are facing a disproportionate number of obstacles to professional growth compared to their peers.

Following the decision from most Columbia faculty to hold classes online, the University encouraged instructors in an email last Monday to offer more in-person classes. The request has drawn ire from professors and instructors, who pointed to the letter as insensitive to the health risks that in-person teaching poses to themselves, students, and community members.

As the Columbia community continues to grapple with the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis, each new day seems to dawn with news of fear and tragedy. While many professors have done their best to adjust to these new circumstances, some students have said that their professors have chosen to ignore this and have increased their workload with the excuse that students will “slack off” otherwise, and there are others who are actively using the “F” grade as a threat against their students. The standardization of academic practices during this crisis is essential to providing an equitable educational experience to all. The Committee on Instruction of all four undergraduate schools each has the ability to adjust academic or instructional policies to further reflect our current needs.

The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement and its internal climate change workgroup released a new guide on Monday that aims to improve workplace culture within departments across the University.

Senators raised concerns surrounding a lack of available campus housing for graduate students and faculty in light of an expanding student body, specifically citing barriers posed by salary requirements for international students, at Friday’s senate plenary.

“You all would be amazed by the variety and the creative energy that [Barnard] students bring to their classes, no doubt facilitated by the three people we are going to hear from,” Barnard’s Director of Creative Writing Timea Szell said of the visiting faculty who were set to speak at the James Room in Barnard Hall.

Barnard College was found guilty of violating its collective bargaining committee when it failed to consider assigning, in good faith, a long-term faculty member an additional section of classes, thereby slashing their compensation by thousands and disqualifying them of healthcare, an independent arbitrator ruled last Tuesday.

Exiting Provost John Coastworth highlighted multiple academic and administrative policy changes including the official Consensual Romantic and Sexual Relationship Policy between faculty and graduate students, along with updates on union negotiations in his final annual newsletter to faculty and staff on Tuesday afternoon.

Following former Provost John Coatsworth’s decision to step down after an eight-year tenure and the appointment of Amy Hungerford, current dean of humanities for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale, as executive vice president for Arts and Sciences and dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the upcoming year, Columbia approaches a critical juncture for its future.

A panel of professors discussed a century of history of the Core Curriculum, addressing student concerns over lack of diversity in its curriculum and faculty in an event titled From the Great Books Movement to the Core on Friday.