Welcome to The CPFA Blog
We’ve collected 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.
Please see our Submit Content to the CPFA Blog to add your voice to the growing chorus calling for equity for part-time faculty in higher education.
Protecting Part-time Faculty from the Backlash of COVID-19
Fellow Adjunct-Contingent Faculty and Allies: While we are in the early stages of this pandemic, it is abundantly clear that the COVID-19 outbreak has already created the greatest disruption in American Higher Education history, with campuses nationwide being shuttered, and faculty, students and staff being forced to, with minimal preparation ...
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CPFA Part-time Faculty Retirement Survey 2019 By David Milroy In the spring 2019 issue, CPFA posted a survey concerning part-time faculty and their knowledge of and plans for retirement. The survey consisted of 10 questions about various retirement options and issues related to Social Security and the impact of the ...
CPFA Annual Spring Conference April 11, 2020 – CANCELLED
Official Notice: CPFA's 2020 Spring Conference has been cancelled due to the emergency closure of its venue, Diablo Valley College, to protect students and faculty from potential coronavirus (COVID-19) exposure. Whether the conference will be rescheduled for a later date is still to be determined. Please stay tuned for updates ...
What is the WEP?
By David Milroy, CPFA Director of Administration The Windfall Elimination Provision was enacted in 1983 as part of major amendments designed to shore up the financing of the Social Security program. The reduction of the 90% factor to the 40% WEP formula factor was the result of a compromise between ...
CPFA Talks to Senators Feinstein and Harris and CalRTA About Eliminating the WEP/GPO
By David Milroy, CPFA Director of Administration On Friday, June 28, 2019, members of the CPFA Executive Committee met with representatives for Senators Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris regarding the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Off-set (GPO). These two regulations, which apply to Social Security payments, wreak ...
IMHO – Chair’s Report
Since my last update, an important bill, AB 897, was authored by Assemblymember Jose Medina (D-Riverside) to raise the 67% workload cap on part-time faculty in California’s Community Colleges System to 80-85% of a full-time workload (Read the previous Chair Report, fall 2018, online for more on why CPFA supports ...
The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations in California’s Higher Education
By Keith Law This article was published in the CPFA Journal, Fall 2019 edition, and originally appeared in the online media source medium.com. “The key to my success is a very simple and time-honored tradition, hard work for teacher and student alike.” Jaime Escalante Readers of this editorial may recall ...
Highlights from the 2019 CPFA Conference
The Exploitation of Part-Time Professors It’s a well-known secret that public higher education in California and across the country is increasingly built on the backs of a large army of underpaid, exploited part-time professors. At a recent conference hosted by the California Part Time Faculty Association (CPFA), a variety of speakers ...
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WHY THE 67% CAP SHOULD BE RAISED REJOINDERS TO COMMON CLAIMS AGAINST AB 897 California is the only state in the country to have a state law preventing part-time faculty from teaching more than 67% of a full-time workload in any one community college district. No other higher education system ...
AB 897: A Letter to Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez
The Honorable Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
Assembly Appropriations Committee
State Capitol, Room 2114
Sacramento, California 95814
916.319.2081
Re: AB 897 (Medina) Position: Co-Sponsor Honorable Assembly Member Gonzalez, As Chair of the California Part Time ...
Assembly Appropriations Committee
State Capitol, Room 2114
Sacramento, California 95814
916.319.2081
Re: AB 897 (Medina) Position: Co-Sponsor Honorable Assembly Member Gonzalez, As Chair of the California Part Time ...
AB 897: A Letter to Assemblymember Medina
The Honorable Jose Medina
Chair, Assembly Higher Education Committee
1020 N Street, Room 173
Sacramento, CA 95814 RE: Assembly Bill 897 Position: Co-Sponsor Dear Assemblymember Medina, The California Part-time Faculty Association (CPFA) is grateful for your introduction of ...
Chair, Assembly Higher Education Committee
1020 N Street, Room 173
Sacramento, CA 95814 RE: Assembly Bill 897 Position: Co-Sponsor Dear Assemblymember Medina, The California Part-time Faculty Association (CPFA) is grateful for your introduction of ...
CPFA Co-Sponsors Part-time Faculty Teaching Load Bill
PRESS RELEASE The California Part Time Faculty Association (CPFA) announces that it will be co-sponsoring the new “Part-time Faculty Teaching Load” bill, AB 897 along with the California Federation of Teachers (CFT). Introduced to state legislators by Assembly Member Jose Medina (D-Riverside) on February 20, 2019, AB 897 would raise the ...
CPFA At 20 (Part II)
By Robert Yoshioka, Ph.D. << Back to Part I << Too often, full-timers, union bosses, and administrators see part-time faculty as disposable, replaceable cogs in their educational juggernaut, and we are told repeatedly to “suck it up,” when it comes to agreeing to teach less-than-prime time classes, let alone not ...
67% Survey
Hover your mouse over a chart to pause the slideshow. Should the 67% part-time teaching load limit be increased? Part-time or adjunct faculty in the California Community College system were originally limited to teaching 60% of a full-time load of 15 units. In 2007, CPFA succeeded in passing legislation ...
Why the Supreme Court Ruling on Unions Could Be Good for Adjuncts
By Keith Hoeller Originally published in The Chronicle of Higher Education Republished with consent of the author. June 29, 2018 The debate over Janus v. AFSCME, on which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week, appeared to be between the conservative view that unions can do nothing right and the ...
