New Demand on Kean U. Professors’ Time: Filling Out Time Cards

In a new point of friction between the faculty and the president of New Jersey’s Kean University, professors are now filling out biweekly time cards to show that they are working at least 35 hours a week, the Star-Ledger newspaper of Newark reported. Administrators say the procedure is standard practice for other university employees, and necessary to maintain their eligibility for state health benefits. But other public institutions in the state, including Rutgers University, make no similar demands of professors. James A. Castiglione, an associate professor of physics and president of the faculty union at Kean, said the requirement treated professors more like “19th-century factory workers” than scholars and would have an adverse effect on faculty recruiting.