Adjuncts win contract at NYU: labor agreement is a first for private institutions.

After 18 months of negotiations, New York University agreed in May to a contract that provides pay increases, health care benefits, and pension contributions to its adjunct faculty. The school's 2,300 part-time faculty members represent the largest adjunct-only union at a private university.

On health care--a key point of contention between the union and the school--NYU has agreed to pay half the cost of individual health care plans for adjuncts who teach at least 84 hours a year (excluding summer). According to the American Association of University Professors (www.aaup.ora), about 46 percent of all university teachers nationwide are considered part-time, and most don't carry health insurance.

The six-year contract also creates four pay levels for adjuncts, and provides for pay increases over each year of the contract. Adjuncts teaching lecture courses will begin earning $90 for each class hour, while studio course teachers will get a minimum of $65 an hour. Adjuncts providing individual instruction will earn $55 an hour, and non-credit course teachers will get $50 for each class hour.

Under the new contract, professors who have taught at least six consecutive semesters (not including summer sessions) are eligible for severance pay if scheduled classes are discontinued and the professor is not reassigned. Adjuncts also will learn their schedules by May of each year, rather than right before fall classes start.

Although the cost of the new contract was not revealed, NYU officials said it would not increase a 5.6 percent tuition hike that had been announced several weeks earlier.