‘Nobody feels secure’: NYU Shanghai to ax 50 contract faculty

NYU Shanghai terminated at least 10 out of 30 contracts with faculty members who applied for reappointment and aims to eliminate around 40 more positions, moving forward with a long-term hiring recomposition to host more tenured faculty. 

Around 67% of professors at the site are contract faculty and 33% are tenured, NYU Shanghai coordinator for academic resources Marcos Martínez told the Continuing Contract Faculty Senators Council at a September meeting. Administrators, however, plan to reverse the ratios and hire more tenured faculty over time. Contract faculty positions, which are solely teaching-based and renewed every few years, do not typically turn into tenured positions — which are permanent and focus more heavily on research.

At the meeting, NYU Shanghai professor Shuang Wen did not specify the reason for the restructuring, but said that it “intended to realign with the original stated vision” for the site. The changes were communicated with faculty on “multiple occasions,” according to NYU Shanghai spokesperson Yuhan Xu.

“NYU Shanghai has not made any sudden ‘shift’ in its faculty composition,” Xu told WSN in a statement on behalf of the campus. “Because the overall number of faculty is fixed, this means a gradual decrease in non-research positions over time.” 

Xu did not specify how long it would take to fully implement the plan. Returning professors’ contracts were only renewed for an extra two or three more years, despite terms typically lasting for five. 

Last semester, NYU Shanghai had 100 tenured faculty members and 141 contract faculty members. Senators said at the meeting that the hiring efforts stirred confusion among faculty — particularly after NYU Shanghai eliminated the director of its Center for Teaching and Learning, Evgeniya Efremova, despite the Washington Square campus opening its own CTL just last year.

The CTL focuses on improving classroom culture and keeping professors up-to-date on research and effective teaching practices. An NYU Shanghai contract faculty member, who spoke to WSN on the condition of anonymity, said that although Efremova will serve in the same position at NYU Abu Dhabi, the senators are concerned about the prospective lack of teaching support for their own site.

Another NYU Shanghai contract faculty member, who spoke to WSN anonymously out of fear of retaliation, said that faculty members were only told about the tenured and contract faculty ratio goals in May.

“Some of the people they let go have been here since the beginning of the university,” they said. “It did feel like a big shift, and faculty were surprised that they were not renewed.”

Senators also expressed “disappointment” at the meeting that NYU Shanghai faculty did not see pay raises this year because China’s inflation rate stayed steady. In June, President Linda Mills announced that all departments will see a 3% budget cut amid “financial challenges and uncertainties,” and the university has since been holding back on faculty raises and administrative hiring.

Contract faculty at NYU Shanghai are not members of NYU’s Contract Faculty United — which represents over 1,000 full-time faculty at NYU New York. This means that the university is not legally bound to negotiate with the shared governance organization NYU Shanghai Faculty Council.

“Nobody feels secure in their job,” the second faculty member said. “You have no indication of whether or not your position is one they’re planning on eliminating. Everybody that is up for renewal is very nervous.”

Contact Zachary Karp at news@nyunews.com.

This story ‘Nobody feels secure’: NYU Shanghai to ax 50 contract faculty appeared first on Washington Square News.

NYU Shanghai terminated at least 10 out of 30 contracts with faculty members who applied for reappointment and aims to eliminate around 40 more positions, moving forward with a long-term hiring recomposition to host more tenured faculty.  Around 67% of professors at the site are contract faculty and 33% are tenured, NYU Shanghai coordinator for…