As "Who is Professor Staff?" makes clear, the majority of teachers in higher education are not only contingent faculty but are part-time contingent faculty. Moreover, a majority of those the Center surveyed taught at more than one college or university, some taught in several institutions. This prevalence of part-time faculty is not simply an effect of the overwhelming predominance of two-year community colleges--over half of the respondents taught at a four-year institution (even if in addition to a two-year institution). (4) Despite the common perception of higher education populated with tenured and tenure-track faculty it is the reality of contingent and part-time faculty that is the dominant fact in the labor system of higher education. Reliance on contingent faculty is also the prime mechanism through which university and college managers have sought to cut instructional labor costs. And, of course, this point does not even address the importance of Graduate Student Instructors at the university level.
