A decline in ISU faculty members seeking tenure has prompted the Faculty Senate task force to hold two forums this week to discuss the issue.The forums will focus on issues presented in the Report of the Faculty Senate Task Force on Non-tenure Track Appointments. The forums will be held today and Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union.The report recognizes the growing national trend among universities to reduce the number of tenured faculty and to increase the number of non-tenure faculty due to limited funding.David Hopper, Faculty Senate president, said establishing the non-tenure track category is necessary because “a lot of the people who are eminently well qualified do not want to teach on a full-time basis.”A continuing non-tenure track appointment will improve the quality of educational programs, he said, although it is has yet to take effect at Iowa State.Non-tenure faculty members will be classified between temporary faculty, who are hired on a year-to-year basis, and tenured faculty, said Hopper, professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine.”It will open the level of appointments between temporary and tenured faculty, so you could have people to meet the continuing needs of the university,” he said.Hopper also said temporary faculty have not been compensated adequately through pay and benefits. “We’ve treated our temporary faculty not as well as we possibly should,” he said. Chris Schilling, associate professor of materials science and engineering, said temporary instructors “need and deserve equitable labor conditions.”He also said everyone is welcome to attend the forums.”We want everyone to put in their two cents on this issue,” Schilling said.