In this paper, the authors call for an approach that, in recognizing the economic realities facing most institutions, attempts to put aside objections that funding is simply not available to support an expansion of the current tenure system. In calling for the changes in faculty working conditions, the authors recognize that change will necessarily occur in local contexts, but they also recognize the role that National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), its affiliate organizations and assemblies, and its members can play in supporting change at the local institutional level. Their argument rests on two observations. First, they believe it is necessary to change the relationship between instructors who are currently employed in contingent positions and the institutions which employ them. Second, they believe it is necessary to fully involve faculty members who do not have tenure-line appointments in the programs that employ them. They offer position statement on the status and working conditions of faculty members serving in contingent positions in the hope that they can build on previous statements, while shifting the argument from expanding the current tenure system to creating a structure that provides long-term security of employment for faculty who are not hired into traditional tenure lines. This policy statement from a committee of the NCTE College Section identifies problems with the discipline's dependence on contingent faculty and makes recommendations for better treatment of them. (Contains 2 notes.)