CPFA News & Forum
We’ve curated a variety of original news stories and analyses for your perusing, which focus on education in California, part-time faculty and/or unions in academia that have broad national appeal. As might be expected, we take special interest in social justice issues that slip under the radar of the mainstream media. Submit Content to the CPFA Blog and add your voice to the growing chorus calling for equity for part-time faculty in higher education.
Invisible No More
Invisible No More PART-TIME FACULTY, UNPAID LABOR, AND THE PUSH FOR EQUITY AFTER ROBERTS V. LBCCD By Crystal Huckabee, Ed.D. (c) Part-time faculty are the backbone of California’s community college system. We teach the same courses as full-time faculty, outnumber them, support the most vulnerable student populations, and carry out ...
2026 Chair’s Report
By John Martin, CPFA Chair Over the past several months, CPFA has worked to identify a legislative author for a proposal aimed at strengthening seniority protections for part-time faculty in California’s community colleges. While we were not able to secure an author during this stage of the current legislative cycle, ...
The Metric Trap
THE METRIC TRAP HOW A 50-YEAR-OLD STRATEGY IS KILLING ACADEMIC FREEDOM By Scott Douglas, CPFA Southern Regional Representative The institution of tenure is, as ever, in the crosshairs. But the latest offensive—tying tenure to workload and performance metrics—is not a new strategy. It is the second, more pernicious phase of ...
Conference 2026 — CPFA: Moving Forward
CPFA: Moving Forward Saturday, May 16, 2026: 10:00 a.m. — 4:00 p.m. On Zoom Registration is required, but free and open to all part-time faculty and allies! Featuring the following topics:
- Negotiating for PT Faculty: A Case Study at Mt. SAC
- One‑Tier Model: What It Is and What It ...
WARNING! Districts Skirt Lawsuits With New Collective Bargaining Agreements
By John Martin, CPFA Chair As many of you may know, several lawsuits have been ongoing since October 2022. At that time, a total of 20 community college districts were put on notice by individual part-time (precarious) faculty who filed lawsuits against their employers. These faculty members are challenging ...
Adjunct, A Feature-Length Film
By Rick Baum, Part-time instructor at City College of San Francisco Adjunct, a feature-length film written, directed by, and starring Ron Najor, realistically covers much of what happens in the life of a higher education teacher without tenure who could be labeled an adjunct, a part-timer, a contingent faculty ...
The Move to a One-tier System Needs Safeguards for Legacy Adjuncts
By Scott Douglas, CPFA SoCal Regional Representative The movement for a one-tier faculty system in California Community Colleges (CCC) is gaining momentum—and rightly so. Its goal is to eliminate the structural inequities between part-time and full-time faculty by creating a unified employment model. All faculty, regardless of hiring classification, ...
My Effort to Get My Union to Support a Demand in Negotiations for Equal Pay for Equal Work
By Rick Baum Under the two-tier system in higher education (that has continued for more than 40 years), the pay packages per class taught of two equally qualified and experienced faculty remain extremely unequal. The key difference is that the much higher compensated faculty member works full-time and is likely ...
ASCCC Passed Resolution for a United Faculty (One-tier Model)
By Annette Owens, CPFA Greater L.A. Regional Representative This spring, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) officially joined the alphabet soup of organizations who are on record supporting the United Faculty (aka: One Tier, One Faculty, Unified Faculty, Single Tier, or Vancouver) model. As you may know, the ASCCC ...
Recorded Presentations from the CPFA 2025 Conference
Keynote Address: The Historic Passage of HR 82—Repealing the Unjust WEP and GPO Susan Dixon, President of the California Retired Teachers Association (CalRTA) Retirement for Part-time Educators Jennifer Helfend Gomez, California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) representative Ancient History—Where Part-timers Came From Past, Present, & Future: The History of Part-timers and ...
Letter of Support for AB 1028: Identifying Potential Risks
Assembly Member Mike Fong introduced a two-year bill, AB 1028 (sponsored by CFT), in February, and CPFA welcomes his support for community college part-time faculty. By submitting this bill, Fong helps maintain focus on our dire circumstances in Sacramento. His effort is another example of educating legislators about the urgent ...
A Historic Victory: Repealing the Unjust WEP & GPO
By Susan Dixon, President California Retired Teachers Association (CalRTA) The journey to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) has been arduous and fraught with challenges. Yet, the dedication and perseverance of many advocates culminated in a monumental success with the signing of H.R. 82 ...
CPFA Endorses a One-Tier System in the California Community Colleges
By Carol Whaley, CPFA Director of Publications, and members of the CPFA One-tier Committee CPFA is working to achieve a basic democratic principle: Equality. CPFA seeks to eliminate the inequality faced by part-time faculty when compared to their full-time colleagues by establishing a One-Tier System in the California Community Colleges ...
Tackling Opposition to the One-tier Vision
By Kristie Iwamoto, CPFA Northern Regional Representative Part-time parity…raising the cap…it seems like every organization and union in California has their own idea about what will make part-time faculty “more equal” to full-time faculty. Legislatively, these movements have been stopped, some by the Governor himself. Now, all of these organizations ...
2025 Chair’s Report
By John Martin, CPFA Chair Since Governor Newsom’s veto on our bill, AB 2277 last September, CPFA fell into a bit of a funk—at least I did. But we’re pushing forward now with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. Our legislative efforts resumed in late fall, with CPFA’s Legislative ...
