Hidden Academics: Contract Faculty in Canadian Universities

Alexander D. Gregor is director of the Centre for Higher Education
Research and Development at the University of Manitoba and coeditor of
Postsecondary Education in Canada: The Cultural Agenda.

As a result of a number of interrelated forces, ranging from
difficulties in university financing to new management structures, North
American universities have witnessed a dramatically increased use of
part-time contract faculty over the last decade. The author of this
scrupulously researched study provides a detailed analysis of this trend
as it applies to Canada.

With the help of an extensive array of tables and graphs, Rajagopal
shows us who the part-timers are, and what they do. Perspectives of
part-timers are contrasted with those of permanent staff and
administrators, with special consideration given to the impact of the
contract faculty trend on female scholars. A number of theoretical tools
are used to help explain what is happening and why, and what the
implications are for both the academy and the teaching faculty
(permanent and temporary alike). Rajagopal uses economic theory to
examine such issues as the “commodification of labour,” and
political and organizational theory to consider issues ranging from
power relations (including the emergence of a new “underclass”) to
the movement toward corporate structure.

The book includes a comprehensive bibliography and an informative
discussion of the methodological and data-related difficulties the
author encountered in the study. The treatment is complex and
sophisticated, and will be of interest primarily to scholars and
policymakers/analysts in universities, governments, and unions.