The teaching and work loads of both full-time and adjunct faculty are occasionally affected by last minute course or assignment cancellations. When cancellations occur, faculty are often placed in a situation in which they must "bump" an assignment from another faculty member.

Please read this entire document about the bumping process first, and contact the FA with any questions.

The "bumping" procedure outlined below was developed jointly by the FA and administration in the late 1970s to address the faculty-related issues that arise from course or assignment cancellations, namely to ensure that all full-time faculty have full teaching loads and work assignments before anyone is assigned overload or adjunct courses/work where ever possible, to comply with the contractual provisions that affect the assignment of courses/workload, and to be as least disruptive as possible to the schedules of other faculty. 

Overview: Basic Load, Overload, and Adjunct Assignment Scheduling Guidelines

In general, the first priority in scheduling is to provide each full-time faculty member with a full load during the day program in the discipline on the campus to which they are assigned. This scheduling of basic load assignments should accommodate the contractual provisions of seniority, compact scheduling (wherever practicable), and maximum number of course preparations. After full-time basic load assignments are made, all other unstaffed courses are assigned as overload or adjunct courses on the basis of seniority to faculty within each discipline, first to full-time faculty and then to adjunct faculty according to the contractual provisions affecting such assignments and the overload request NORA form submitted by each faculty member.

However, once a course or assignment is cancelled, regardless of whether the course or assignment is staffed by a full-time faculty member or an adjunct, the procedure known as "bottom bumping" should be implemented.

The following is a general outline of this procedure. Specific questions should be directed to an FA officer.

Bumping Issues Involving Full-Time Basic Load

1. A full-time classroom faculty member who has lost a regular day section may select any section in the master schedule that they are qualified to teach and that is either unstaffed or part of an overload or adjunct assignment. A faculty member who is thus removed from an overload or adjunct assignment may then take a section from the least senior adjunct. 
2. In the event that there are no unstaffed, overload, or adjunct day courses available, a full-time faculty member may bump a course assigned to the least senior faculty member in the discipline on their home campus. 
3. When an insufficient number of courses or contact hours is offered on a campus to provide a full-time faculty member on that campus with a full load during the day program, that faculty member may bump a course assigned to the least senior faculty member in the discipline college wide.
4. When an insufficient number of courses or contact hours is offered on a campus and when a course cancellation results in less than 3/5 of a faculty member's basic load on their home campus, that faculty member may bump the least senior full-time faculty member in the discipline on their home campus in order to maintain their home campus designation.
5. No full-time faculty member may be bumped from more than two section in their schedule. 

NOTE: Obviously, when a shortage of courses  in any one discipline on a campus occurs, the administration will try to work with the affected faculty members to allow for light loading, split loading between the day and evening programs and between campuses, etc., so that the basic load requirements of a full-time faculty member can be met in a reasonable manner, given both individual and institutional constraints.

Bumping Issues Involving Overload Assignments

A full-time faculty member whose overload course or assignment is cancelled may bump an overload course or assignment from the least senior adjunct in the discipline. In the event that the only course or assignment available is an overload assignment of the least senior full-time faculty member in the discipline, bumping may occur only if the more senior faculty member does not have an overload assignment. If the more senior full-time faculty member has only one assignment but had requested two, they can only bump a second overload course of the least senior full-time faculty member who has been assigned two overload courses. The guiding principle is that no full-time faculty member gets two overload courses or assignments before another full-time faculty member in the discipline gets one. 

One complicating factor to the overload bumping scenario is that bumping assignments will be allowed only on those campuses that a full-time faculty member designated in their overload request form.

Bumping Issues Involving Adjunct Assignments

For adjuncts, the bottom bumping process is also followed. A more senior adjunct who has lost a course may bump the least senior adjunct in the discipline on the campus(es) that they designated in the NORA form and for courses/assignments for which they are certified. The guiding principle for adjunct bumping is the same as for full-time overload bumping, namely no adjunct faculty member on the A list gets two courses or assignments in the discipline before another adjunct faculty member in the discipline gets one. Here are some common scenarios:

Bumping Issues Involving Online Courses

A faculty member who has lost either an on-campus or an online course may only bump another faculty member teaching an online course under the following circumstances: The faculty member who wishes to bump into an online course must be certified and have already developed that course. A faculty member may not be bumped during the first two semesters they are teaching an online course or teaching an online course that has not been previously developed in the DE format.

Bumping Issues Involving Special Topics and Honors Courses

A faculty member whose special topics or honors course is cancelled may bump the least senior adjunct in a course or assignment in which they are qualified. The rules cited above for bumping based on basic load, overload, or adjunct assignments apply.

Since special topics and honors courses are assigned based on a unique proposal created by a specific faculty member and not assigned based on seniority, a faculty member whose regular course is cancelled may not bump a less senior faculty member's special topics or honors course. Rather, the faculty member whose course is cancelled may bump the least senior adjunct or full-time faculty member, whichever applies, who has a regular course for which they are qualified during the times indicated in their overload request or NORA form.