Higher education institutions increasingly rely upon a contingent workforce of professors who are inadequately supported in every way--in pay and health benefits and in resources for the classroom and student advising. The AFT calls this burst of adjunct/part-time faculty an academic staffing crisis. It shows no sign of abating as U.S. Department of Education data indicate that close to half of four-year university courses and well over half the classes offered at community colleges are taught by temporary faculty. The steady deterioration has occurred as the cost to families for higher education has soared. In the next year, the AFT higher education program and policy council will prepare a national action plan to document the staffing crisis and develop a strategic campaign to restore full-time tenure lines and bring fairness and equity to contingent faculty. The plan, fleshed out at the Jan. 28-30 meeting of the higher education PPC in Washington, D.C., includes publications, legislative and bargaining models and a national campaign to mobilize members, students and the public. Linked to the staffing crisis is the overall trend of states cutting back on higher education funding.