Faculty Benefits

As part of my fellowship, I am visiting a few local campuses this quarter. So far I have visited Santa Clara University and Foothill College. The goal of these visits is to understand different types of institutions, specifically how it differs to be faculty at different types of institutions. I am greatly enjoying these visits and am seeing that there is a lot to be excited about at all institutions.

There are some big questions we are getting answered at every visit: How is hiring done? What is the tenure process? Sometimes the discussion turns to the mundane topics of employment - wages and benefits. I don't feel particularly concerned about these topics. If I was working as a part time faculty (adjunct) I would have issues of low pay and no benefits. But as long as I am full-time (tenure track), I should be able to live, right? As I recently learned, community college faculty are fairly well paid. What would I possibly need to worry about?

Well, my visit to Santa Clara University coincided with the press around the Catholic opposition to government requirements about health care. Specifically, the government is requiring (most) employers to provide reasonable health care. This includes reproductive health - ie, contraception. It is important to note that there is already an exception for religious organizations - churches - but there is not an exception for "religiously affiliated" employers. So a church doesn't need to provide comprehensive health care to its employees, but a religiously-affiliated college does.

Santa Clara is a Jesuit Institution. This is reflected in their mission and values as a focus on social justice and compassion. I thought that was awesome. But it also means that no contraception (including condoms) is available to students. This I am not a fan of. But what would it mean for me, if I was a faculty member there? Would I not have access to comprehensive health care?

I recently read a piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education about this issue. Most institutions of higher learning - including private ones - receive federal funding. This goes towards educational programs, research, and student aide. This is true for religiously affiliated institutions. These institutions do not require (or necessarily expect) faculty to share the religion of the institution. Yes, they want the faculty to share the values of the institution. I certainly share Santa Clara's values of social justice and compassion. But I don't share the Catholic principle of no reproductive rights or contraception.

What if all colleges were Catholic-affiliated? Then I wouldn't be able to find any employer in my field that provided comprehensive coverage. What about colleges affiliated with religions that promote prayer/spiritual methods over allopathic medical care? Could they not provide any health care to employees, even if those employees are not expected or required to belong to that faith tradition?

I recognize that my view point is relatively privileged. As a faculty member I would typically have the monetary and other resources needed to procure any services and goods not provided by my employer. What about janitorial staff and other blue-collar workers? What about cases where the institution itself is located in a religiously-affiliated community? For instance, Ave Maria University is located in Ave Maria, Florida. The entire town is under construction right now, as a planned Catholic Community.

This area has a large wealthy community and a large working-class community, who are largely Spanish-speaking people of color. The job situation is not great in that area. So if a woman gets a job at Ave Maria University, she might not have any contraception as part of her health care. She might not be able to get a different job within that area. All of the pharmacies in town might not offer contraception. This means that by her employer not offering her certain health care benefits, she is effectively denied access to them.

The point of the new government health care policy is to provide access to health care for working people. I fully support this. I am sympathetic to churches being granted certain exclusions, but "religiously affiliated" institutions such as colleges as hospitals are such large employers that I think it would be terrible to grant them the same exclusions as churches.