FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Subject:  U. of North Florida to Replace 46 Adjunct Faculty Members to Meet         Accreditor's Criteria Date Received:   Tue, 30 Oct 2001  Date Published:   Tue, 30 Oct 2001  From:                 The Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com)   By ROBIN WILSON   The University of North Florida will trim its adjunct faculty   by about 20 percent, eliminating instructors whose credentials   have been questioned by the university's accreditor, the   Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.   The university, in Jacksonville, sent letters to 46 of its 229   adjunct faculty members Monday, telling them they could finish   the semester but would not be rehired in January.   The Southern association first questioned the qualifications   of the university's adjunct instructors during a routine   accreditation review in 1999. According to the association's   standards, adjuncts who are teaching undergraduate courses   must have a master's degree in the subject or a related field,   or a bachelor's degree in the discipline plus 18 hours of   graduate work in the subject.   Those teaching graduate courses must have a master's degree.   Colleges may hire people who lack those credentials, but only   if they have "exceptional qualifications."   Last year, after the accreditation association voiced concern,   the University of North Florida cut 15 adjuncts whom it   determined did not have the proper credentials. But a   three-member review panel from the association visited the   university again in September and determined that it had not   gone far enough.   The problem, says Anne H. Hopkins, president of the   university, is that she believed that the category of   "exceptional qualifications" gave her much more leeway than   the association had in mind. North Florida has employed   teachers who lack credentials but whose life and work   experiences, administrators felt, made them qualified. But the   association wanted the university to use the category of   "exceptional qualifications" much more sparingly, reserving it   only for teachers who lacked credentials but had won major   national recognition.   "If you want to hire John Updike to teach creative writing,   he's an exceptional case," explained Anita S. Lawson, an   associate provost at the University of North Carolina's   Greensboro campus, who led the three-person committee that   visited North Florida. "No one would want to deny a campus the   right to hire somebody with that kind of national renown or   expertise."   Ms. Lawson said it is important for adjuncts to be not only   proficient practitioners, but also academically qualified. "An   attempt to think about the field as a discipline and be   reviewed by peers is one of the things one would look for,"   she said.   The cuts in the adjunct faculty at North Florida come two   months before the start of the winter term. Ms. Hopkins said   the university would ask administrators to teach some of the   classes that adjuncts will no longer cover, and would press   full-time faculty members into duty as well, paying them for   teaching more. The university also will begin trying to hire   adjuncts who have the proper credentials, she said. No classes   will be canceled as a result of the cuts.   Ms. Hopkins said she supported the accreditor's criteria, but   added, "A lot of these people are fine teachers, and I'm sorry   they won't be teaching in the future."   A quarter of the adjuncts who were eliminated teach in the   university's department of communications and visual arts.   Charles R. Day Jr. is one of them. He has taught "Principles   of Advertising" and a journalism writing lab since 1999. He   has a bachelor's degree and has worked in magazine writing for   32 years. "The credentials cops don't seem to be interested in   performance in the classroom," he said. "All they seem to be   interested in is stripes on the sleeve."