Key words and definitions:
NTT: non-tenure track faculty who are not tenured, or who are not currently being considered for tenure in the future.
Terminal contract: intended to fill temporary vacancies that are usually no more than a year. Such cases include when a professor goes on sabbatical and must be temporarily replaced, or when a vacancy must be temporarily filled while the Administration looks for a tenure-track candidate.
Renewable contract: a single contract that gets renewed usually every three years.
On Tuesday, February 25, negotiating representatives from the Skidmore College Administration and the Skidmore Non-Tenure Track (NTT) Faculty Union reached a tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for fair contracts. Voting on the CBA will occur on March 17-18, and the agreement will pass if the Union reaches a majority vote. If the agreement passes, it will be a big step in the right direction for fair contracts and job security for NTT faculty. But what does this agreement entail? Why are so many NTT professors dissatisfied with the current contracts? Some preliminary information is necessary to understand why so many NTT faculty believe that passing this tentative CBA is so important.
At noon on December 13th, 2024, crowds of faculty and students gathered outside Skidmore Case Center on a freezing Friday afternoon to protest the unfair treatment of non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty that they feel has persisted throughout the years. Their frustrations worsened after the college administration’s perceived attempts to ignore and postpone requests to meet and negotiate fair contracts. Before the rally was over, it was announced that the administration agreed to reopen negotiations with the Union for fair contracts, an announcement that was met with cheers from the speakers and attendees.
But what exactly are the reasons that so many Union members are dissatisfied with the current contracts? Two main points were the center of focus during the rally: compensation and current renewable contract lengths. The average NTT professor earns around $55k per year after taxes. Since many professors support families with kids, they find that this amount is barely enough to cover the high cost of living in the Saratoga region.
The second point regards dissatisfaction with the current policies for terminal and renewable contract lengths. Many faculty are left on edge because, with each coming year, they are unsure if their contract will be renewed or terminated. Since the current job market for professors, especially in the humanities, is very unreliable, concerns over job stability is an anxiety-inducing experience. Senior Teaching Professor Diana Barnes teaches Spanish for the World Languages and Literature Department and has been employed on a series of terminal contracts for almost 30 years. Terminal contracts are mainly intended to employ professors to fill temporary vacancies, like when a professor goes on sabbatical. They are not intended to employ professors like Barnes, who have served the college for three decades. A renewable contract would be ideal since a separate proposal doesn’t need to be approved by members of the administration every time it is signed. However, as Barnes put it, “I…said that I needed a renewable contract. I was told that was impossible. That is when I joined the Union”.
Professor Barnes wants to emphasize that her time teaching at Skidmore has overall been positive and fulfilling. She gets to follow her passion for the Spanish language, guide and publish her research, and be inspired by a collegiate environment. However, she emphasizes that being put on terminal contracts for this long is an insulting and disrespectful experience, especially considering the thirty years she has dedicated to educating and collaborating with students. Aside from teaching Spanish, she also teaches classes on her research about U.S. and Mexico border policies and the human consequences those policies leave in their wake. Unique classes like these add value to the college by attracting intelligent and open-minded students, and Barnes feels that the college has not acknowledged this by promoting her to a renewable contract, which is deeply frustrating for her and other NTT faculty who have faced similar challenges.
In response to these frustrations, the Skidmore Administration offered to raise salaries by 2% and to set consecutive terminal contracts to be renewed a maximum of every five years. However, the Union did not reach a majority vote to ratify this proposal because they believe that the maximum number of years should be reduced to three. “We believe that half a decade is excessive,” says Teaching Professor Peter Murray in the Philosophy Department. Professor Murray is one of the leaders of the NTT Union and has been a prominent advocate for fair contracts since he began his employment with Skidmore.
Furthermore, the Union requests a 2.5% salary increase to keep pace with inflation. When asked if he was satisfied with the proposed 2% salary increase, he said, “‘Satisfied’ is not a word I would use to describe our attitude to the administration's proposal of a 2% salary increase in Years 2 and 3 of the CBA. Inflation is currently 2.7% in the US, which means that the money we earn is worth 2.7% less in terms of buying power every year. The college’s proposed yearly salary increase does not even keep pace with inflation, never mind actually increasing our salaries relative to the costs of goods and services.”
The latest proposal, which was brought forth on February 25, is an improvement from the administration’s previous offer, and some members of the union, including Professor Murray, are much more confident that this agreement will reach a majority ratification and pass. The proposal includes a guaranteed base salary increase of at least 2% through 2027, as well as more opportunities for promotions and raises. It requires wider use of renewable contracts, sets the maximum number of terminal contracts to 4 (with exceptions for special circumstances), provides more flexible and fairer parental leave policies, and requires a progressive increase of renewable contract lengths. Voting will take place on March 17th-18th, which is an event that many Union members eagerly anticipate.
Disclaimer: An effort was made to allow key members of the Administration to share their perspectives on the issue. However, some individuals were not available for an interview, and thus their perspective is unfortunately not included in this publication. The Skidmore News encourages any and all members of the college faculty and administration to reach out with any comments, concerns, or questions.