Instructors and service

[Ronald Kephart]

All,

We are struggling here at UNF with the question of whether or not to
allow instructors to serve as members of search committees for
instructors. Instructors (here in Florida, anyway), are full-time,
but of course non-tenure track, members of the bargaining unit.
However, their entire assignment is normally teaching, which means
that they usually teach four 3-credit classes per semester. There is
no official service or research component to their assignment, which
means that any service they do is uncompensated and above and beyond
their duties. The problem is, many of our instructors *want* to serve
in this capacity, and in fact they feel very strongly that they are
uniquely qualified to assist in the hiring of new instructors.

Do other universities have an official policy on this (ours doesn't)?
How is this issue dealt with at the places y'all are familiar with?

Please feel free to respond to me privately, unless you think the
whole list would be interested.

Thanks, in advance.

Ron

Ronald Kephart
Associate Professor & Coordinator
Program in Foreign Languages
Dept. of English & Foreign Languages
University of North Florida