Monthly Archives: October 2011

According to the Hanover reports it is clear that human resources in higher education is one of the more challenging balancing acts that the administration faces. Students, faculty, and staff are all major factors and tipping the scales too far in any direction can cause hostile environments, decreased productivity and reduced enrollment rates.

Faculty are one of the largest expenses a college has and rightfully so, because the faculty is core product that colleges are selling to students. The tenure system makes investing in full time faculty a risk as well as a financial burden; as a result colleges turn to hiring adjunct professors. Adjuncts are hired in most institutions for a smaller course load, less pay and benefits and the school has no long term obligation to the adjuncts. Recently when a CUNY meeting was held at Baruch College, a group of adjunct professors protested outside the building in the hopes of procuring better health care benefits. As a college assistant at Baruch College (which I see as arguably the staff equivalent to an adjunct professor) I was curious as to what sort of compensation the adjunct professors received.  I found a website that advocates for adjunct professors’ rights with in CUNY, called the Adjunct project. In piece about CUNY equity week, the organizers state that “an adjunct teaching full time (4 courses/semester) receives a starting annual income of $24,644.” This is equal to roughly $3,000 per course, meaning if the adjunct also is able to pick up a winter semester course and a summer semester course an adjunct can make about $30,000 per year. In my case as a college assistant working 35 hours a week, I was budgeted $22,000 for the year with no real potential of increasing the amount allotted, nnor do I receive any health benefits. Meanwhile I am half a semester away from completing my master’s degree in higher education administration and I have co-workers that have already attained their master’s degree and are still in the same boat as I am. I bring this up because this shows the value that is placed on faculty over staff and it is a human resources responsibility to keep all of these issues and groups in check.

Both college assistants are at a disadvantage because in most cases they can be easily replaced. Human resources is tasked with finding new, well qualified, skilled faculty and staff and in the same function they are charged with promoting diversity in the institution’s work force. We have discussed at length in class that those doing the hiring will lean toward candidates that are similar to them. The higher education program at Baruch is a perfect example; the vast majority of professors for this program are older white men hired but an older white man despite there being a diverse pool to pull from within the CUNY administration alone. Diverse search committees arranged by human resources are a means to ensure that all qualified candidates are given a fair chance at a position.

The last role of the human resource management team that I will discuss is facilitating government mandated trainings such as the work place violence training the CUNY staff was required to attend last semester. The HR management team hosted several trainings a week and then a final online program that required participates to pass a quiz in order to ensure the staff and faculty for the entire campus had received the training. Further trainings are offered regularly on an optional basis to promote awareness among those employed by the college including workshops on domestic violence, cultural sensitivity and LBGT issues.

The responsibilities that the human resources management team handles allows both staff and faculty to better serve the students of the institution. Students have the opportunity to interact with a diverse range of experienced professionals that come from varied countries and cultures. They also promote the ongoing education of their staff and a faculty, allowing the college to be sensitive to the needs of the new generations of students attending the institution.