Inside Higher Ed, Punching In at Kean U.:

Kean University’s administration is not exactly beloved by its professors. … Now the university has once again angered faculty members — requiring them to fill out time sheets reporting how many hours they have worked each day, to demonstrate that they are working at least a 35-hour week. …

James Castiglione, president of the faculty union at Kean (an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers), said that the time sheets “degrade the professionalism of faculty by treating them as if they were 19th century workers.” He said he did not know of other colleges that require all faculty members to fill out such forms. Several higher education experts agreed that this is not the norm. …

Cary Nelson, national president of the American Association of University Professors, said he had heard about the threats to impose time sheets at Kean. “The real problem with faculty time sheets is that no administration can cope with the reality of accurate reporting,” he said via e-mail. “Many of us work 12 or 15 hour days, seven days a week. If it became clear how many hours we put in, there’d be an unimpeachable argument for better compensation and more faculty positions.”

While national data don’t suggest many working those hours, they do show most faculty members working well beyond 35 hours. A 2006 study found that full-time faculty members worked an average of 48.6 hours per week, up from just over 40 in 1984. Further, the study found that the proportion of full-time faculty members who work more than 50 hours a week has doubled since 1972 — reaching nearly two-fifths.

• Chronicle of Higher Education, Kean U. Requires Faculty Members to Fill Out Time Sheets