Adelphi University

ADELPHI UNIVERSITY 639 Adelphi University and Adelphi University Chapter, American Association of University Professors, Pe- titioner. Case 29-RC-1640 February 29, 1972 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS FANNING AND KENNEDY Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Steven Fish. Following the hearing, and pursuant to Section 102.67 of the Na- tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Regional Director for Region 29, on July 23, 1971, transferred this case to the Board for decision. Thereafter, the Employer' filed with the Board its brief previously filed with the Regional Direc- tor. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The parties stipulated that Adelphi University is a private, nonprofit university located at South Avenue, Garden City, Long Island, New York. During the past year the University derived gross revenues in excess of $1 million exclusive of contributions, which, because of limitations by the grantor, are not available for use for operating expenses. During the same period, the Uni- versity purchased materials valued in excess of $50,000 directly, from sources located outside the State of New York. Based on the foregoing stipulated facts, we find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. 2. The labor organizations involved2 claim to repre- sent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of certain employees of the Em- ployer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Sec- tion 2(6) and (7) of the Act.3 ' The Employer's request for oral argument, opposed by the Petitioner and Intervenor, is hereby denied, as the record and the Employer's brief adequately present the issues and the positions of the parties. 2 Upon motion made at the hearing, United Federation of College Teach- ers, Local 1460, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, was permit- ted to intervene on the basis of its showing of interest. ' At the outset of the hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss the peti- tion on the grounds that the showings of interest submitted by both labor organizations were fatally tainted by supervisory participation. Upon a col- lateral investigation of the matter by the Regional Director, we have been 195 NLRB No. 107 4. The Petitioner and Intervenor each seeks to repre- sent a unit of all full-time and regular part-time faculty, including professional librarians and research associ- ates. The Employer stipulated to the appropriateness of the foregoing unit4 but would also include therein the graduate teaching and research assistants. The parties further disagree on the supervisory status of certain department and sequence chairmen, and various pro- gram directors and coordinators whom the Employer would exclude and the Petitioner and Intervenor would include. Also in issue are the faculty members who serve on the University's personnel and grievance com- mittees; the Petitioner and Intervenor would include them in the unit, while the Employer takes no position, but notes that these committee members collectively possess and exercise supervisory authority. There is no bargaining history involving any of the foregoing em- ployees. BACKGROUND Adelphi University is a private educational institu- tion chartered by the Board of Regents of the State of New York. It is composed of the college of arts and sciences, the graduate school of arts and sciences, and schools of business administration, nursing, and social work. The University employs 600 faculty members and professional librarians of whom 338 are full-time and 262 are part-time.' The University is governed by a board of trustees which appoints the president. The vice president for academic affairs, Dr. James B. Kelly, is directly respon- sible to the president and the board for the University's teaching and administrative personnel. Each of the administratively advised, and are satisfied, that the Employer's contention is without merit. For, we find, infra, that three of the four persons named by the Employer as allegedly having solicited authorization cards are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act. With respect to the fourth, we are administratively satisfied that he engaged in no such solicitation after assuming the supervisory position. The parties stipulated the following unit as appropriate: All full- and regular part-time-faculty including professional librarians and research as- sociates. The parties further stipulated to exclude from the unit: All other employees, administrative personnel, deans, associate deans, assistant deans, assistants to the deans , support personnel such as counselors and technicians, the director of continuing education, director and associate director of the computer center, the registrar, research administrator, direc- tor of admissions, director of intercollegiate athletics, director and assistant director of libraries, directors of the school of nursing, director of the chil- dren's theater, coaches except those who are engaged in full- or part-time faculty functions, guest lecturers, field instructors in the school of social work who are paid by outside agencies, guards, and supervisors within the meaning of the Act The parties also stipulated that a regular part-time employee shall be defined as one who is employed in the current semester and who has been employed at least one semester in each of the last 2 academic years exclusive of summer sessions. : The full-time faculty is divided into four ranks according to academic credentials: instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor. The part-time faculty is similarly divided, albeit, into five ranks, starting with lecturer. The prefix "adjunct," or in the schools of nursing and social work the prefix "clinical," is used to denote part-time employment. 640 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD University's schools is headed by a dean who is directly responsible to Dr. Kelly and who may have associate and/or assistant deans under him. In addition to the academic schools there are six nonacademic divisions headed by directors, also under Dr. Kelly's direct juris- diction: admissions, the instructional media center, the computer center, the registrar, director of libraries, and the research administrator's office.6 Each of the schools, except the school of business administration, is divided along academic lines into departments or "sequences," as they are called in the school of social work, which are headed by chairmen. In addition, there are various interdisciplinary and spe- cialty programs within the several schools each of which is headed by a director or coordinator. The roles which these chairmen, directors, and coordinators per- form will be discussed more fully, infra. Two written documents, adopted by the faculty and approved by the board of trustees, shape the theory and practice of the administration of the University's professional personnel relations program. These are the faculty constitution' and the personnel plan. The per- sonnel plan has as one of its'stated purposes "[tjo assure that, in accordance with the provisions of this Plan, the faculty shall have primary responsibility for all person- nel decisions concerning its members." In that connec- tion, the personnel plan provides, inter alia, for the methods of selecting department chairmen and estab- lishes the University's personnel committee and griev- ance committee. As more fully discussed below, these committees act upon matters affecting faculty status and grievances. DISPUTED CATEGORIES 1. GRADUATE ASSISTANTS There are 125 graduate assistants, consisting of 100 teaching assistants and 25 research assistants, all of, whom are graduate students of the University working towards their master's or Ph.D. degrees. Approxi- mately two-thirds of the graduate teaching assistants work in the science disciplines where, for the most part , they teach laboratory courses and, to a lesser extent, recitation classes. These classes are part of regular science courses which are under the charge of regular faculty members each of whom determines the content of his course and the grades to be given to his students. The teaching assistants grade students in the lab or recitation classes and submit their grades to the faculty ' Except for the director of instructional media center, who will be fully discussed, infra, the parties stipulated to exclude the directors of these nonacademic divisions See fn 4, supra. 9 The constitution, among other things, creates the University Senate, whose membership consists of both students and faculty and which makes, and/or advises on, policy decisions in various enumerated areas affecting the University's academic and administrative life. members, who may or may not consider them in deter- mining the students' final grades. In the nonscience area, the teaching assistants have no regular classes, but sometimes substitute for absent faculty members and assist in preparing examinations and grading papers. The 25 research assistants are all in the science field. They do no teaching and work directly with a faculty member on research projects. All graduate assistants are expected to devote 20 hours per week to their assistantship duties, for which they are paid from $1,200 to $2,900 per academic year (depending on the degree toward which they are work- ing and the subject area in which they are involved) plus free tuition for their courses. The graduate assist- ants generally enroll in courses for up to 12 hours per week. Based upon their academic qualifications, functions, and remuneration (which, with tuition, is sometimes greater than that of regular part-time faculty mem- bers), the University contends that the graduate assist- ants enjoy a community of interest with the regular faculty which warrants their inclusion in the unit. We disagree. The graduate assistants are graduate students work- ing toward their own advanced academic degrees, and their employment depends entirely on their continued status as such. They do not have faculty rank, are not listed in the University's catalogues as faculty mem- bers, have no vote at faculty meetings, are not eligible for promotion or tenure, are not covered by the Univer- sity personnel plan, have no standing before the Uni- versity's grievance committee, and, except for health insurance, do not participate in any of the fringe be- nefits available to faculty members. Graduate assistants may be elected by the students as their representatives on student-faculty committees. Unlike faculty mem- bers, graduate assistants are guided, instructed, as- sisted, and corrected in the performance of their assist- antship duties by the regular faculty members to whom they are assigned. In view of the foregoing, we find that the graduate teaching and research assistants here involved, al- though performing some faculty-related functions, are primarily students and do not share a sufficient com- munity of interest with the regular faculty to warrant their inclusion in the unit. Accordingly, we shall ex- clude them.' 8 The University's attempt to liken the graduate assistants herein to the research associate whom the Board included in the professional unit, in C. W. Post Center ofLong Island University. 189 NLRB No 109, is unavailing. For, unlike the graduate assistants, the research associate in that case was not simultaneously a student but already had his doctoral degree and, under the Center's statutes, was eligible for tenure. Similarly, we find the Univer- sity's reliance on Federal Electric Corporation, 162 NLRB 512, 515, mis- placed. There, the Board rejected the petitioner's request for a unit limited to academic teachers, finding that they shared a community of interest with vocational instructors, specialists, and counselors involved in the employer's ADELPHI UNIVERSITY 641 II. ALLEGED SUPERVISORS A. Department Chairman The college of arts and sciences is divided along academic lines into approximately 20 departments which offer both undergraduate and graduate courses.9 In the graduate school of arts and sciences, there is only one department, earth sciences, which for the most part has only graduate students. Each of these departments is headed by a chairman having essentially similar du- ties and responsibilities. The selection of department chairmen in the college and graduate school is governed by the University's personnel plan which provides that chairman: ... shall be appointed by the President after full consultation with the department and related de- partments and approval of the prospective chair- man by a secret ballot of those full-time faculty who have been full-time members of the depart- ment for at least one year. If a deadlock occurs between the President and the Department, the President shall submit his choice for department chairman to the University Personnel Committee for its recommendation. In cases where the dead- lock concerns an incumbent chairman, the recom- mendation of the University Personnel Committee shall be final. Dr. Kelly testified that, in practice, the dean infor- mally canvasses the department's faculty to determine who would be most acceptable to them as chairman. Based on this information, and Dr. Kelly's recommen- dation, the president nominates the person having the greatest peer support and the department then votes on the nomination in the manner prescribed by the Uni- vocational training school program by reason of the similarity of their skills, training, salaries, fringe benefits, working conditions, and the high degree of coordination and integration in the use of their training and skills in for- mulating and implementing the employer's educational program In the instant case, we have found that the graduate assistants are primarily stu- dents and they therefore do not share a similar community of interest with the faculty members and professional librarians. On the other hand, some similarity does exist between the graduate assistants here and the technical laboratory assistants whom the Board excluded from a professional teaching unit in Long Island University (Brooklyn Center), 189 NLRB No. 110. Thus, like the graduate assistants, the technical assistants in that case held bachelor's degrees, with master's degrees in progress, and worked in the science laboratories assisting regular faculty members in preparing demonstrations and experiments in connec- tion with the faculty's regular science course They also assisted the regular faculty in maintaining laboratory equipment ' The center for foreign languages consists of separate departments of French, German, and Spanish, each of which is headed by a chairman, as well as smaller "programs" in Italian, Russian, and Latin, each of which is headed by a "director." In the Russian and Latin programs, the directors are the sole faculty members and Dr Kelly testified that the Latin program will be discontinued upon the retirement of its director this year The Italian program has two full-time faculty members, including the director Dr. Kelly further testified that the director of the Italian program has the same au- thority as department chairmen with respect to the hiring of part-time faculty. There is no evidence, however, that the directors of the Russian and Latin programs have similar authority The foreign language center itself is headed by a "coordinator" whose status is discussed, infra versity's personnel plan. Department chairmen serve for 3-year terms but are eligible for reappointment in- definitely. The president may remove a chairman before his term expires only with the concurrence of a majority of the department's faculty. As full-time mem- bers of the faculty, department chairmen work under the same 9-month teaching contracts as do other faculty members, but are relieved of one-half of the normal 12-hour teaching load. They do not, however, receive additional compensation for their extra respon- sibilities. The chairmen perform many. functions in the ad- ministration of their departments, most notably in the recruiting, screening, and recommending of applicants for appointment and reappointment to full- and part- time faculty positions; negotiating new faculty mem- bers' salaries, albeit within the established limitations; preparing their annual departmental budgets; deter- mining the courses to be offered and making faculty assignments within the department; and generally in- suring high levels of instruction. Most, but not all, of these functions are performed in consultation with, and upon agreement of, the department's entire faculty. The procedure for faculty hiring depends on whether the vacancy is for a full- or part-time position. The University's personnel plan provides for broad faculty participation in all personnel action affecting full-time faculty. With respect to the appointment of part-time faculty, however, the chairman has authority to act virtually on his own, subject only to his dean's and Dr. Kelly's approval. Thus, when a part-time vacancy ex- ists, he compiles a list of prospective candidates from among previous applicants, conversations with col- leagues, and advertisements in professional journals. The chairman then contacts and interviews the candi- dates and makes his recommendation for appointment to the dean and to Dr, Kelly. These recommendations are generally accepted. Rates of pay for part-time faculty are established by the University on the basis of teaching experience and faculty rank, but the chairman may recommend (to his dean and Dr. Kelly) a higher rate if he thinks that the individual has special qualifi- cations. The chairman also makes the initial determination as to whether a part-time faculty member will be reap- pointed and, if so, whether for 1 or 2 years. He also recommends the granting of merit raises to members of his department and the dean generally accepts such recommendations. The chairman is responsible for preparing the de- partment's annual budget and submitting it to the dean. In this connection, he generally consults with the faculty, considering and evaluating their needs and re- quests in light of the anticipated available funds. The chairman is also responsible for making all course as- signments within his department. In so doing, however, 642 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD he is guided by the faculty members ' preferences and areas of special expertise . However, where more than one professor is capable of teaching the same course, the chairman's assignment controls . If a faculty mem- ber is aggrieved by the chairman's action, he has access to the University's grievance committee discussed in- fra. Since the record shows that chairmen have the au- thority effectively to recommend the hire and reap- pointment (or nonreappointment) of all part-time faculty members, and to allocate merit increases, with- out the approval of the department's faculty, we find that they are supervisors within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Act.10 Accordingly, we shall exclude from the unit all department chairmen , as well as the direc- tor of the Italian language program. B. School of Social Work Sequence Chairmen and Program Directors The school of social work, consisting of 31, full- and 22 part-time faculty members, is headed by Dean Virgil Vigilante who also has an associate dean (for academic affairs) and an assistant dean under him. The school is divided along subject matter lines into seven sequences which, like departments in the college of arts and sciences, are headed by chairmen. In addition, there are four interdisciplinary programs (i.e., field work, under- graduate studies, admissions, and the social work ser- vices clinic) headed by directors. And, finally, there is the North Queens training center which is headed by a coordinator. The chairmen and directors (as well as the coordinator who will be separately discussed, infra) are appointed for indefinite terms by Dean Vigi- lante after full consultation with the appropriate se- quence faculty members involved." Sequence chairmen work under the same 9-month teaching contracts as other faculty members in the school of social work, but they are relieved of about 20 percent of the normal teaching load and receive ap- proximately 10 percent more in pay because of their added responsibilities. The program directors, al- though also full-time faculty members, work under I1- month administrative-type contracts;" like sequence chairmen they are relieved of a significant portion of '° C W. Post Center of Long Island University, 189 NLRB No. 109. Inasmuch as this authority alone is sufficient to constitute chairmen super- visors, we need not consider or decide whether, absent this authority, they would be within the statutory definition. " Although the selection of sequence chairmen is not covered by the University's personnel plan, Dean Vigilante's appointments are made pursu- ant to the sequence faculty's recommendation. With respect to selecting directors, however, the dean has explicit authority to reject the faculty's recommendation and to require that they make recommendations accepta- ble to him. The dean also has authority to terminate a director qua director. 12 The professional librarians within the unit also have 11-month con- tracts. their normal teaching load but, in addition, receive from 15 to 20 percent higher salaries than the rest' of the school's faculty. Sequence chairmen have essentially the same general responsibilities for, and perform similar function within, their respective sequences as the department chairmen in the college of arts and sciences. Thus, they are responsible for the overall quality of teaching within their sequences and may assist new faculty members in their classroom performance. Chairmen schedule all courses within their respective sequences and assign professors to teach them. With respect to personnel matters, they share certain responsibilities with the directors, as more fully discussed below. The directors have responsibilities which cut across subject matter boundaries. Thus, the director'of field work is in overall charge of the school's clinical pro- gram, in which there are 28 full-time faculty members of whom 8 have full-time field assignments. The pro- gram places students in outside social work agencies under the supervision of "field work instructors."" This director, in consultation with a student-faculty committee, the dean, and officials of the agencies in- volved, selects the social work agencies which are will- ing and able to provide field instruction for the Univer- sity's students. He then assigns both students and faculty advisors to such agencies and, when asked, as- sists these faculty advisors in their jobs. In making these assignments, the director always tries to match the faculty members' special competence with the stu- dents' fields of interest. The director develops seminars at the University for the outside field work instructors and has authority to select and terminate them as in- structors in the program. He also hires, directs, and has authority effectively to recommend the termination of a full-time secretary. The record is not entirely clear as to the exact func- tion performed by the director of the undergraduate program of this school.14 There are four full-time, and two to four part-time, faculty members in that pro- gram, in addition to the director, but the record fails to disclose their precise roles. The record does establish, however, that the director has authority effectively to recommend the hire of one or two secretaries, as well as the selection of two graduate teaching assistants, and shares some authority with sequence chairmen for faculty personnel actions, as discussed more fully be- low. 13 There are approximately 50 "field work instructors" who are em- ployees of, and paid by, the outside social work agencies. The parties stipu- lated to exclude them from the unit (see fn. 4, supra) since they are not employees of the Employer. 14 Unlike other directors and chairmen in the school of social work, who are listed in the University's bulletin only under the heading of "Faculty," the director of the undergraduate program is listed under both "Officers of Administration" and "Faculty " ADELPHI UNIVERSITY 643 The director of admissions is responsible for screen- ing all under-graduate and graduate students applying for admission to the school of social work. He assigns the job of screening applications and interviewing pro- spective students to the 20 faculty members who are involved in the, admissions program. In so doing, the director determines which faculty members are best suited to interview which students, and may reassign particular applicants from one faculty member to another. The director also has authority to recruit, to select, and effectively to recommend the hire of a full- time secretary. The director of the social work services clinic man- ages a clinic which provides assorted counseling ser- vices to University-related individuals and their fami- lies, as well as to the surrounding community. The director is classified as a full-time faculty member, but works full time at the clinic and is the only full-time employee there. In addition, there are seven full-time faculty members who spend from 10 to 50 percent of their time at the clinic. The director assigns "cases" to these faculty members on the basis of their special competence and availability and may terminate such assignments, albeit only after consulting with the faculty member and with persons in related clinical service facilities." The director has authority effectively to recommend the hiring and termination of the clinic's full-time secretary. With respect to personnel matters, the sequence chairmen and the directors (excepting the director of admissions) are jointly responsible for recruiting and initially screening applicants for faculty positions and for having prospective, appointees interviewed by other faculty members. Where a vacancy exists for a full-time faculty position, both the sequence faculty members and the chairman make recommendations to the dean, who presents these to the school of social work person- nel committee or to the University's personnel commit- tee, depending on the rank of the vacancy. Dean Vigi- lante testified that no faculty member will be hired if the sequence chairman or the director of the program within which the vacancy exists opposes the appoint- ment. He also testified that, with the exception of the director of admissions, the directors and chairmen have authority to negotiate and, within budgetary limita- tions, to fix the salaries of new faculty appointees. They may also request the dean's permission to exceed the salary limitation if they consider the candidate particu- larly outstanding. 19 The social work services clinic is one of four clinics, each of which is under the jurisdiction of a school or the University. The other three clinics provide psychological, reading, and hearing and speech services Many of the social work service clinic's "cases" are referred to it by the other three clinics. The sequence chairmen and the director of field work have authority to recruit, interview, and effectively recommend the hire of all part-time faculty members, subject only to the dean's approval. Although they might discuss such proposed appointments with other faculty members in the sequence involved, or ask them to participate in interviewing candidates for part-time positions, the chairmen and director of field work are not required to do so and have authority to act without the faculty's consensus in such matters. Dean Vigilante testified that the chairmen and directors (except the director of admissions) have authority to hire and ter- minate the various guest lecturers who are invited to the school of social work. Although such hiring is al- ways done in consultation with the dean or associate dean of the school, Vigilante testified that he has never reversed the actions of chairmen and directors with respect to guest lecturers. Sequence chairmen make annual evaluations of new faculty members (i.e., those with 1- to 3-year contracts) for purposes of recom- mending whether to renew their contracts. Chairmen and directors also have authority to adjust certain faculty grievances. 16' As the record establishes that sequence chairmen and the directors of the field work program, under- graduate program, and social work services` clinic in the school of social work have authority effectively to recommend the hiring of part-time faculty members and guest lecturers and to adjust faculty grievances, we find that they are supervisors within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Act.'7 The director of admissions, on the other hand, does not have such authority. His authority to assign and reassign work to the 20 faculty members involved in the admissions program is not, in our view', of a supervisory nature. Although the director of admissions does have authority to recruit, select, and effectively recommend the hire of a full-time secretary, we find this insufficient to constitute him a supervisor within the meaning of the Act. It is well settled that the mere fact that professional employees have secretaries does not alone necessarily constitute them supervisors." Thus, in Fordham Uni- versity, supra, we held that department chairmen, al- though playing a role in selecting their secretaries and exercising some direction over them, were not super- visors since they lacked authority directly to hire and fire the secretaries. The Board, however, has not previ- 11 These grievances generally involve such faculty complaints as exces- sive workloads, assignments to teach undesirable or new courses, and early morning classes and requests to attend conferences 11 As with department chairmen (fn. 10, supra), we find it unnecessary to decide whether, absent their authority with respect to part-time faculty appointments, sequence chairmen and program directors would qualify as statutory supervisors. 11 Fordham University, 193 NLRB No 23, citing AirLineFilotsAssocia- t,on, International; 97 NLRB 929, 931 644 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ously considered the limited question presented here: whether a professional employee is rendered a super- visor within the meaning of the Act solely because he has authority to hire and fire, as well as to direct, a secretary. The issue of supervisory status usually arises where authority is regularly exercised on the employer's be- half, over employees sought by the union, such as fore- men in a production and maintenance unit . To include in such a unit persons who exercise statutory super- visory authority would clearly create the conflict of interest which Congress intended to avoid . This does not mean, however, that a similar conflict of interest is necessarily created whenever persons occasionally ex- ercise some authority over other employees of the em- ployer. We have held, for example, that employees in an employer's personnel department who interview and actually hire, on behalf of the employer, applicants for nonskilled or semiskilled jobs are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act. 19 On the other hand, where professionals regularly (more than 50 percent of their time) supervised nonunit employees, they were nevertheless excluded from a unit of professional em- ployees,20 since under such circumstances the principal interests of the excluded professionals were so allied with management as to establish a differentiation be- tween them and other employees in the unit. The underlying rationale of this body of precedent is that an employee whose principal duties are of the same character , as that of other bargaining unit employees should not be isolated from them solely because of a sporadic exercise of supervisory authority over nonunit personnel. No danger of conflict of interest within the unit is presented, nor does the infrequent exercise of supervisory authority so ally such an employee with management as to create a more generalized conflict of interest of the type envisioned by Congress in adopting Section 2(11) of the Act. Moreover, we have made clear that such an employee is considered to be in the unit only to the extent that his interests as a nonsupervisory employee are involved. Thus, in Westinghouse, supra, we noted that, if, a bargaining representative were se- lected, it would not represent such employees with re- spect to their supervisory duties. For these reasons, we find that the director of admis- sions is not a supervisor within the meaning and intent of Section 2(11) and we shall include him in the unit. The North Queens training center in the school of social work is an experimental field work unit , consist- ing of five independent hospitals and social work agen- cies combined under one umbrella to enable students to obtain a more diversified clinical experience. It is headed by a coordinator who is appointed by Dean Vigilante. Eight full-time faculty members are assigned to the center on a part-time basis to work with the students. In addition, there are 20 to 30 field work instructors who, as previously noted,21 are employees of, and paid by, the participating social work agencies. The coordinator of the center, together with the direc- tor of field work, approves the selection of field work instructors, assigns them to supervise students' work, and may terminate them as instructors in the center's program. The coordinator teaches only part,time at the University and his salary, is paid in part by,the Univer- sity and in part by the cooperating hospitals and agen- cies which comprise the center . In addition to supervis- ing the field instructors , the coordinator also provides guidance, as needed, to the full-time faculty members who are assigned on a part-time basis to the center. Since the coordinator supervises only persons who are not employees of the University, we, find that he is not a supervisor within the meaning of the Act . And,, al- though he also assists the faculty members in their work at the center, this does not appear to be responsi- ble direction of such faculty members and hence does not constitute him a supervisor. Accordingly, we shall include in the unit the coordinator of the North Queens training center. C. Other Directors and Coordinators Within the University 1. The director of the instructional media center, Mrs. Marian Fuller, is a part-time instructor in the college of arts and sciences , with the rank- of 'lecturer, who usually teaches one course per semester. She is also the only faculty member attached on a full-time basis to the center and is directly responsible'to Dr. Kelly, the vice president for academic affairs. The center pro- vides audio' and visual equipment for use throughout the University and the director consults with, and in- structs, faculty members in the use and operation of this equipment. In conjunction with Dr. Kelly, the director prepares the center's annual budget. Within the budgetary limitations, the director has authority to hire, direct, discipline, and fire the center's part-time employees, who are students of the University . She also has authority effectively to recommend the hiring, firing, and salary increases of the center 's part-time secretary . In her role as lecturer, Mrs. Fuller works under the standard 9 -month teaching contract, but she also has an 11-month administrative-type contract for her duties as director of the center. Although a part-time instructor, it appears that Mrs. Fuller devotes by far the greater portion of her time to providing and servicing audio-visual equipment for use throughout the University. In addition, she is one of six Northrop Aircraft, Inc., 106 NLRB 23, 25-26 (employee Faranda) Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 163 NLRB 723, 726-727. 11 See fn 13, supra. ADELPHI UNIVERSITY nonacademic directors who work directly under the vice president for academic affairs. As previously stated (at fn. 6, supra), the parties stipulated to exclude the other five such directors who, apparently, do not teach any classes. In these circumstances, and on the record as a whole, we find that the director of the instructional media center shares a greater community of interest with the University's administrative personnel who were excluded by stipulation than with its teaching staff. Accordingly, we shall exclude her from the unit. 2. The director of the motion picture studies pro- gram, Mr. Paul Pitcoff, is a full-time instructor in the college of arts and sciences who teaches a course in film making. Although not 'part of any particular depart- ment, the course involves, working with students in producing, editing, and generally putting together films. As the only faculty member in the program, Mr. Pitcoff rents or purchases the necessary equipment and has the films commercially processed. Until this year, the program has been on a semester-to-semester basis without a regular budget of its own. Next year, how- ever, the program will become a regular part of the University's curriculum and, to that end, an annual budget has been prepared by Mr. Pitcoff and Dr. Kelly. This budget includes not only the director's salary, but also a sum of money to,pay salaries of part-time em- ployees (who are students of the University)' and the cost of film and equipment. At the time of the hearing, however, Mr. Pitcoff had no employees under him, although future employment of students22 is contem- plated. The Board has not previously considered whether, in a university setting, professional employees are ren- dered supervisors if they have authority to hire and fire, as well as to direct, students as part-time employees. In other settings, however, we have held that professional employees who, although supervising non-professional employees part of their time, had devoted 50 percent or more of their working time, to their professional, non- supervisory, duties during the 12 months preceding our Decision were properly included in a professional unit and were eligible to vote in an election therein.23 The record herein does not establish the type of work which the student employees will perform, the regularity of such employment, or the proportion of time, during one academic year, which the director will devote to supervising them. It is clear that he ' will continue to perform professional duties, and no showing has been made that over 50 percent of his time will be required by his supervisory duties. Under the circumstances, we shall include the director of motion picture studies in the unit at this time. As in Westinghouse, supra, if a 22 Students who are now employed by the University work part time and are paid at an established hourly rate Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 163 NLRB 723, 727 645 bargaining representative is selected it may not repre- sent Mr. Pitcoff with respect to his supervisory duties. We believe our rationale also makes clear that whether or not he may properly continue to be included in the unit in the future will depend upon the amount of time he regularly spends in the, performance of supervisory duties. 3. The coordinator of the center of foreign languages is a full-time member of the faculty in the college of arts and sciences whose teaching load is slightly reduced to compensate for his extra responsibilities.24 As previ- ously stated (see fn. 9, supra), the center is composed, of the French, German, and Spanish departments, and the Italian, Russian, and Latin programs. The coor- dinator is selected by the dean of the college of arts and sciences on the recommendation of the constituent lan- guage department chairmen. Dr. Kelly testified that, unlike department chairmen who are really administra- tors of their departments, the coordinator " . . . acts like ... a referee among the various foreign language departments to ... see that all the requirements are reasonably the same.... " In performing his role, the coordinator necessarily consults with the chairmen of the language departments which constitute the center. Unlike these chairmen, the coordinator as such has nothing to do with personnel action affecting the faculty members within the language departments, un- less his recommendation is specifically sought. In these circumstances, we find that the coordinator of the for- eign language center is not a supervisor within the meaning of the Act, by reason of such functions, and, therefore, we shall include him in the unit.25 4. The director of the accounting program, Associate Professor Neale Kurlander, is a full-time faculty mem- ber in the school of business administration, but carries only half the normal teaching load.26 Unlike the college of arts and sciences,,the school of business administra- tion is not divided into departments but consists of 22 full-time (and 23 part-time) faculty members, including 5 who teach in and comprise the accounting program. The school is headed by a dean who has two associate deans under him and who, together with the school personnel committee or the University's personnel committee (depending on the faculty rank involved), makes all decisions affecting the school's teaching staff. And, although Mr. Kurlander's advice might be sought 26 The present coordinator, Assistant Professor Romano Giachetti, is also director of the Italian language program. In', the latter capacity, according to Dr Kelly, Professor Giachetti has the same authority as department chairmen (see fn 9, supra). " This does not detract from our earlier finding that the incumbent coordinator is a supervisor by virtue of his authority as director of the Italian language program 2' The director of the accounting program was appointed by the dean of the school of business administration before Dr. Kelly came to the Univer- sity. Dr Kelly testified, however, that the dean "probably" consulted, at least informally, with the accounting faculty before making the appoint- ment 646 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD with respect to personnel actions affecting the account- ing program, all decisions are made by the dean and the personnel committees . Mr. Kurlander's recommenda- tions with respect to course assignments among the accounting faculty is generally approved by the dean. These assignments, however, are largely governed by the faculty members ' academic specialties and, there- fore, are fairly routine. The director's principal role is placing students in apprenticeship training programs with private account- ing firms and making sure that students meet the-re- quirements for and pass the CPA examinations . This is not a supervisory function-And, as the record as a whole fails to establish that Kurlander has or exercises supervisory responsibilities within the meaning of the Act, we shall include him in the unit. 5. Thedirector of the Black studies program, Warren Smith, is a part-time instructor (with rank of lecturer) in the college of arts and sciences who works under an 11-month administrative contract . He was appointed by Dr. Kelly on recommendation of the dean following full consultation with, and the consensus of, the Uni- versity's Black academic community (including stu- dents), as well as certain faculty members in other de- partments with which the program is most closely allied. The program is an interdisciplinary one which includes a major in Black studies but which has no full-time faculty. The three or four part-time faculty members who teach Afro-American studies, and the guest lecturers , are largely recruited and hired by the director, albeit with the participation and consensus of the University's Black academic community. The di- rector also negotiates and fixes (within established lim- its) salaries of new faculty appointees and he may sug- gest payment of a higher rate where he considers a candidate particularly well qualified . The director, in consultation with the University's Black academic community, is responsible for formulating the Black studies courses to be taught. Although the director's decisions regarding course content and staff are generally grounded on a broad consensus, it is clear that the director is responsible for initiating actions and plays a predominant role in securing and implementing any approved plan. In our opinion, the director's overall responsibility for the Black studies program, its contents, and its staff, and particularly the recruiting and hiring of part-time faculty members and lecturers , is like that of a depart- ment chairman and constitutes him a supervisor within the meaning of the Act . Accordingly, we shall exclude him from the-unit. 6. The director of the graduate sociology program is an appointive position accompanied by a 25-percent reduction in teaching load. Its present occupant, Professor William Spinrad, testified that as director he screens and decides upon all applications for admission to the program. He also assists the graduate students in finding suitable faculty members to supervise them- in writing their masters ' theses. Until this year, the direc- tor has been responsible for screening and selecting the three graduate assistants allocated to the program. His recommendations in this regard have always been ac- cepted by the chairman of the sociology department and the dean of the graduate school who , with Profes- sor Spinrad, had to sign the appointing papers. This procedure, however, has been changed and the applica- tions for next year's graduate assistantships were sub- mitted to, and voted on, by the entire sociology depart- ment faculty. As "leader" of the graduate program, Dr. Spinrad seeks faculty agreement in planning and sched- uling the program's courses. With respect to hiring of part-time faculty members and guest lecturers , Profes- sor Spinrad has no greater role than other faculty mem- bers in the sociology department . As the evidence thus fails to disclose that Professor Spinrad possesses or exercises supervisory authority , we shall include him in the unit. 7. The directors of the institute for advanced psycho- logical studies, the institute of marine science, and the postdoctoral program in psychotherapy are appointed and report to the dean of the graduate school of arts and sciences.27 There are 10 full-time (and 23 part-time) faculty members in the institute for advanced psycho- logical studies, including the codirectors of the post- doctoral program in psychotherapy, which has no full- time faculty members attached to it . The full-time faculty members in the institute for advanced psycho- logical studies are at times required to teach in the postdoctoral program. Similarly, the institute of ma- rine science appears not to have a separate faculty as- signed to it and its director, Professor Brenowitz, is listed in the University's bulletin as a professor in bi- ology. Although Dr. Kelly testified that his description of the functions of department chairmen applies equally to the foregoing directors in the graduate school, specific evidence of the directors' functions and responsibilities, particularly with respect to personnel matters, is extremely limited . Thus, Dr. Kelly testified that the codirectors of the postdoctoral program "par- ticipate" in the hiring , of full- and part-time faculty members, but admitted to no direct knowledge as to the extent and scope of such participation." 2' Professor Gordon Derner is director of the institute for advanced psychological studies as well as codirector of the postdoctoral program in psychotherapy. 28 Although the University 's brief asserts no position with respect to the status of the graduate school directors, it took the position at the hearing that they were akin to the department chairmen in the college of arts and sciences. And, as the Petitioner and the Intervenor took the opposite posi- tion at the hearing, the issue of the directors' status is before us for consider- ation. ADELPHI UNIVERSITY 647 From the evidence presented in the record we are unable to determine whether the aforementioned direc- tors are supervisors within the meaning of the Act. Accordingly, we shall permit them to vote in the elec- tion subject to challenge. III UNIVERSITY'S PERSONNEL AND GRIEVANCE COMMITTEES Created by the University's personnel plan, the per- sonnel committee is composed of 11 full-time faculty members (department chairmen are eligible ) who are elected at large by the University's several schools for 3-year staggered terms. Members of this committee are ineligible for reelection and may not serve concurrently on any other university committee or council. The function of the committee is to pass on all matters of tenure, hiring at or promotions to associate or full professor, granting sabbatical or honorary leaves-of- absence, and suspending or terminating full-time faculty members during the term of their contracts. Guided by the University's personnel plan and its own bylaws, the committee meets weekly and acts as fol- lows: In determining whether or not to grant tenure, the committee receives a list of faculty members who, by length of service, are eligible for tenure . It assigns one of its members to evaluate the candidate according to standards set out in its bylaws. The evaluator reviews the candidate's curriculum vitae and his publications, if any; he interviews the members of the candidate's department, including its chairman , plus a representa- tive number of the candidate's students, and possibly, members of the administration and persons outside the University. The evaluator presents a written summary of these interviews, together with his own recommen- dation, to the committee which, after discussing the matter, takes a secret ballot vote on whether to grant or deny tenure. The committee's vote, together with a summary of its evaluation, is transmitted to the board of trustees for final action. According to its current chairman, Dr. Margaret Wittmann , all of the commit- tee's approximately 10 recommendations with respect to tenure in the past 2 years have been accepted. In passing on promotions from assistant to associate, and from associate to full professor , the committee acts on recommendations made to it by the department chairman or the department or school personnel com- mittee involved. The committee evaluates the candi- date and proceeds in the same manner as with respect to tenure, but judges the individual's qualifications against different standards prescribed in its bylaws. Dr. Wittmann testified that, during the 2 years of her ex- perience on the committee, the board of trustees has accepted all of the committee's approximately 40 recommendations concerning promotions . In this re- gard, the committee has agreed with the department chairman's or the dean's recommendations in about 36 of the approximately 40 promotion cases considered. With respect to the hire of new faculty members at the associate or full professor level, the department chairman, or the dean of the professional school in- volved, physically presents the candidate to the com- mittee and remains present during the committee's in- terview. The candidate then leaves, and the chairman's or dean's views are solicited. Thereafter, the committee further discusses the candidate and the chairman's or dean's comments and takes a secret ballot vote on whether or not to recommend the candidate to the vice president for academic affairs and the board of trustees. The committee has accepted the department chair- man's or dean's recommendations in all of the approxi- mately eight cases considered during the past 2 years. A person will not be hired as an associate or full profes- sor without the committee's affirmative recommenda- tion. As to sabbatical and other leaves-of-absence, the faculty member presents his reasons for wanting leave to the committee which, after reviewing the merits of the request, votes its decision and makes it recommen- dation to the vice president for academic affairs. Such leaves-of-absence will not be recommended by the com- mittee unless they are also approved by the chairman of the department or the dean of the professional school of which the applicant is a member. The grievance committee, also created by the Uni- versity's personnel plan, consists of three tenured faculty members who are elected at large for 2-year staggered terms. They may seek reelection. Depart- ment chairmen and members of the personnel commit- tee are ineligible to serve. It is the function of this committee to hear and recommend the adjustment of all faculty grievances, excepting dismissal proceed- ings.2' Both full- and part-time faculty members may present grievances, which are submitted in writing and which, according to Dr. Kelly, might arise from failure to achieve tenure or promotion or from alleged dis- crimination by the administration. The committee ini- tially determines whether the facts merit a detailed investigation and whether a settlement is possible. If informal settlement of the grievance is not possible, the committee reports its investigative findings and recom- mendation to the grievant and, according to the bylaws, "to whatever administrative officer or faculty body it chooses." If the grievant or the grievance committee does not concur in the disposition of the grievance by the administrative officer or faculty body, either or both may appeal to the board of trustees, which makes a final determination. Dr. Kelly testified that in the 3 " The parties stipulated that the committee has authority to adjust griev- ances 648 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD years of its existence , the committee has considered no more than six grievances and its recommendations have been accepted in all cases either by the grievant himself or by the board of trustees. The committee does not hold regularly scheduled meetings, but convenes intermittently as grievances are filed . The members of the grievance and personnel committees are not com- pensated for their service nor do they receive a reduc- tion in their teaching load. As stated at the outset of this Decision, the Employer takes no position with respect to the inclusion or exclu- sion of the personnel and grievance committees' mem- bers, but asks that the Board determine their status in light of the uncontroverted facts. The Petitioner and Intervenor, on the other hand, contend that these com- mittees' members should be included in the unit as they neither possess nor exercise supervisory authority as individuals. It is clear from the record that the personnel commit- tee has considerable and effective authority with re- spect to a wide range of actions affecting the status of the University's professional personnel. We have held in C. W. Post Center30 that such authority exercised by the faculty as a group on the basis of collective discus- sion and consensus was not sufficient to render the individual members of such group supervisors within the meaning of the Act. Although the group having some supervisory authority in the Post case consisted of the entire faculty, whereas here it consists of 14 persons elected from and by the faculty, the underlying principle is the same. The difficulty both here and in Post may have potentially deep roots, stemming from the fact that the concept of collegiality, wherein power and authority is vested in a body composed of all of one's peers or colleagues, does not square with the traditional authority structures with which this Act was designed to cope in the typical organizations of the commercial world. The statutory concept of "super- visor" grows out of the fact that in those organizations authority is normally delegated from the top of the organizational pyramid in bits and pieces to individual managers and supervisors who in turn direct the work of the larger number of employees at the base of the pyramid. Because authority vested in one's peers , acting as a group, simply would not conform to the pattern for which the supervisory exclusion of our Act was de- signed, a genuine system of collegiality would tend to confound us. Indeed the more basic concepts of the organization and representation of employees in one group to deal with a "management" or authoritarian group would be equally hard to square with a true system of collegiality. Nevertheless, both here and in " ° 189 NLRB No 109 Post, the collegial principle is recognized and given some effect. In this case, as in Post, the ultimate authority does not rest with the peer group but rather with the board of trustees. Thus, although the facts indicate that much respect is paid by the trustees to the recommendations of the collegial body, it is equally clear that the trustees reserve the ultimate authority for themselves. It is also clear that the board of trustees, even if it had such power, has not attempted to convert the committees into managerial or supervisory entities. They are not advised to advocate management's interests in making their decisions, nor are they advised that they are management's representatives in making them . Rather, the board of trustees (the top of the pyramid) has seen fit to seek, in a formalized manner, the advice of the faculty (the base of the pyramid), and the faculty, by agreement with the trustees, has seen fit to channel its collective advice through these elected committees. It is therefore apparent that these faculty bodies- the more inclusive one in Post and the smaller, repre- sentational one here-are not quite either fish or fowl. On the one hand they do not quite fit the mold of true collegiality. But on the other, surely they do not fit the traditional role of "supervisor" as that term is thought of in the commercial world or as it has been interpreted under our Act.'t We are not disposed to disenfranchise faculty members merely because they have some meas- ure of quasi-collegial authority either as an entire faculty or as representatives elected by the faculty. We therefore find that the several members of the Univer- sity personnel and grievance committees here are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act solely by reason of such membership, and we shall include them in the bargaining unit. In accordance with the above, we find that the fol- lowing unit is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: All full- and regular part-time faculty including professional librarians and research associates, but excluding all other employees, administrative per- sonnel, deans, associate deans, assistant deans, as- sistants to the deans, support personnel such as counselors and technicians, the director of con- tinuing education, director and associate director of the computer center, registrar, research ad- " The delegation by the University to such elected groups of a combina- tion of functions, some of which are, in the typical industrial situation, normally more clearly separated as managerial on the one hand and as representative of employee interests on the other , could raise questions both as to the validity and continued viability of such structures under our Act, particularly if an exclusive bargaining agent is designated We have not been asked to pass on these lurking issues and , in any event, would not do so in the context of a representation proceeding Our finding here is limited solely to the effect of membership on these committees on unit placement and voting eligibility. ADELPHI UNIVERSITY 649 ministrator, director of admissions, director of in- tercollegiate athletics, director and assistant direc- tor of libraries, directors of the school of nursing, director of the children's theater, coaches except those who are engaged in full- or part-time faculty functions, guest lecturers, field instructors in the school of social work who are paid by outside agencies, graduate teaching and research assist- ants, the director of instructional media center, guards, and supervisors within the meaning of the Act. 5. Adelphi University is in regular full session from September until June and, although it may conduct summer sessions , many faculty members do not teach during the summer. Accordingly, and pursuant to the parties' request, we shall direct that the election be held at a time between September and June when the Uni- versity is in full session, on a date to be determined by the Regional Director for Region 29, among the em- ployees in the appropriate unit who are employed dur- ing the payroll period immediately preceding the date of issuance of the Notice of Election. [Direction of Election32 omitted from publication.] MEMBER KENNEDY, dissenting in part: I disagree with the conclusion of my colleagues as to " In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their ad- dresses which may be used to communicate with them Excelsior Underwear Inc., 156 NLRB 1236, N . L . R B v Wyman-Gordon Co, 394 U S 759 Accordingly, it is hereby directed that an election eligibility list, containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 29 within 7 days of the the status of members of the University's personnel and grievance committees. I would exclude from the unit in which the election is directed the members of both committees. As is more fully stated in the majority opinion, the 11 faculty members who constitute the personnel com- mittee pass on all matters of tenure, on hiring at or promotions to associate or full professorship, and on granting or denying sabbatical leave to faculty mem- bers. The members of the committee would clearly be supervisors under the Act if they exercised their au- thority as individuals. In my view, it makes no differ- ence that they exercise this authority on a collective basis through committee decision rather than as in- dividuals. If the committee, when considered as a whole, would satisfy the definition of a "supervisor" under the Act, then a conclusion that each member of such a committee is imbued with some supervisory authority is logically sound, and I would so find. Diffu- sion of authority throughout the entire faculty, as in the Post case, is not analogous to the concentration of that authority in an 11-man committee within a faculty of 600 members. It seems to me, moreover, that individuals do not have the right under our statutory scheme to sit on both sides of the bargaining table in the collective-bargaining process. It seems to me that members of the grievance committee who hear and recommend the adjustment of faculty grievances by the University should be excluded from the bargaining unit. date of issuance of the Notice of Election. The Regional Director shall make the list available to all parties to the election No extension of time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are filed.