Issues Related to Implementation of Course Releases For Senior Lecturer 2 and Senior Lecturer 3 Ranks
The FSU has worked with a number of members who have indicated that they are being denied the course release (CLR) mandated by 21.2 of the contract which requires one CLR per year for full-time Senior Lecturer IIs and 2 CLRs per year for Senior Lecturer IIIs. Specifically, one full-time member is being denied the release due to the fact that they are already 3/3 with a quarter-time assignment outside of teaching. The Administration has argued that, as a result of the CLR they are already receiving, they have fulfilled their obligations under 21.2 to provide full-tine Senior Lecturer IIIs with a CLR in exchange for additional service and do not need to grant the member an additional (i.e. 2) CLRs. The FSU Grievance Committee has asserted that, since the CLR that the member had already received was NOT for additional service, Admin was required to provide an additional CLR (i.e. 2 total per semester) in order to fulfill the contract. We are waiting for a reply from Admin regarding our assertion.
In addition, members of one department who teach only 4-credit courses (i.e., 3 courses=12 credits, or full-time) have been told that they will not receive an additional CLR since they are already teaching 3 courses (again, Admin is asserting that the 3 courses, despite being 12 total credits, fulfills the terms of 21.2). The FSU Grievance Committee has asserted that the members in question must teach only 9 credits as credits 10-12 would be the equivalent of the CLR mandated by 21.2 We have filed a grievance on this issue but placed it in abeyance while we discuss an informal resolution with Admin.
Finally, the FSU Grievance Committee has asked Admin to address a situation for Spring 24 that was first noted in Fall 22 regarding eligibility for CLRs. Admin had asserted that only NTT who have full-time continuing appointments will be eligible for the CLR (there are many NTT who are full-time but who have continuing appointments at less than full-time). The FSU Grievance Committee argued that all full-time NTT, regardless of continuing appointment status, should be eligible. We filed a grievance and recently reached a settlement whereby a number of NTT faculty members who had been full-time for extended periods of time but who did not have full-time continuing appointments would be given CLRs and would be given full-time continuing appointments (see here for more). However, a similar issue will arise for Spring 24. We have identified a number of NTT whom we assert should be eligible for CLRs in Spring 24 but who would receive them as they do not have full-time continuing appointments. We have proposed a settlement agreement to Admin similar to the one just reached for the ones we identified in Fall 22. We are waiting to hear back from Admin.