The Chronicle: Colloquy: Responses

At least two factors may contribute to an aging professoriate; an increase in average retirement age, and a decrease in the numbers of younger faculty hired. As several of my California State University colleagues have noted, it appears that in our system the rising average age of the faculty is due more to the latter cause than the former. In response to budget shortfalls at the beginning of the decade, administrative decisions were made to severely limit the hiring of new, tenure-track faculty members. Instead, retiring faculty were replaced with low-cost part-timers, if at all.

In retrospect, this has proved to be a disaster for the system. While many of these part-time faculty members are excellent teachers, the overall quality of education we offer has declined because the part-time faculty are not in a position to contribute to program renewal or teaching innovation. In addition, there has been a significant decline in scholarly and creative activity as a result of the growing percentage of part-time faculty in the system. This also has contributed to a loss of educational quality, because there are fewer opportunities for students to learn outside the classroom.

Unfortunately, the current administration of the California State University system has been slow to recognize the damage that has been caused by the short-sighted approach of the past decade. Only now are we beginning to hire new tenure-track faculty at a reasonable rate.

: -- Dr. Mark H. Shapiro, Chair, Department of Physics, Cal State Fullerton (posted 9/6, 8:21 p.m., E.D.T.)

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