Adjuncts Respond-Putting an End to Exploitation
Nels P. Highberg, Assistant Professor, University of Hartford
Introduction — In the last issue of Lore, several writing program administrators (WPAs) described the concrete ways in which they try to stop the exploitation of adjunct labor in their particular departments. In this issue the adjuncts respond. Several of them comment directly on the WPAs' postings, with many of those comments expressing the wish to be working in these programs! All of these responses detail what adjunct faculty would like to see happen in their institutions.[MORE]
Heather McIntosh, Ph.D. Candidate, Pennsylvania State University
In a decision less about financial wisdom and more about soul searching, I left a comfortable (read: boring) position as a technical editor to become a roving instructor teaching four classes between two institutions. The independent nature of adjunct work appealed to me, and the experience was so positive I decided to return to graduate school and pursue a Ph.D. Reading comments made by the WPAs about their efforts to accommodate part-time faculty reminded me of some of the reasons I enjoyed it so much, for several of their suggestions speak directly to my own experience.[MORE]
Laura Valeri, Temporary Assistant Professor, Georgia Southern University
What is happening at Georgia Southern is only one example of a strange nationwide pretense that there is some kind of equity being applied to adjunct/temporary/part-time treatment measured on a scale of merit and benefit. Tenured faculty are theoretically engaged in research and community service that far exceeds the involvement of nontenured faculty, and this entitles them to higher pay and benefits, as well as workload reductions and allowances for community services. In reality, the job-threatened, underpaid temporary faculty thirstily pursues involvement in both scholarship and community if not out of commitment to teaching, then as a simple necessity to maintain professional competitiveness.[MORE]
Cliffton Price and Tina Whittle, Temporary Instructors, Georgia Southern University
Suddenly, what temporaries do at Georgia Southern no longer matters; our teaching isn't "real" enough. This same instruction is real enough, however, to impose on more than half of the students currently enrolled in first-year composition?a percentage that will increase to nearly two-thirds if the change goes into effect. Ironically, our university is also rewriting our mission statement to target the "culture of engagement" offered here and using a strategic plan guided by the quest for "academic distinction" and a "student-centered" environment.[MORE]
K. S. O'Donoghue, Adjunct Instructor, New York City
Despite the high-minded claims of educators, most of whom belong to extremely powerful local or national unions, the adjunct system continues to perpetuate the equivalent of sweatshop workers for academia. Adjuncts are highly educated and (often) talented teachers, yet they toil daily teaching the lowest courses to students, usually without any benefits and very little in the way of job security. Ironically, one of the biggest things keeping adjuncts down is the tenure system that so many teaching unions fight to uphold.[MORE]
Brenda Tuberville, Adjunct Instructor, Texas A&M University-Commerce
This is by no means a full treatise on the plight of the adjunct; I am grateful that someone thought to ask adjuncts how we feel about our plight-too often articles and books are written about adjuncts by those who have never been adjuncts or were adjuncts so long ago that the circumstances are much too dissimilar for a real comparison to be valid. And this plight is not likely to change, either, until some recognition is shown for the valuable work that we do. For now, I guess, we'll remain the unseen; if you listen closely, though, you'll hear us teaching.[MORE]
Diana Hornick, Adjunct Instructor, Community College of Denver
Our biggest accomplishment has been a "newly formed" committee (after a failed attempt a few years back). The Part-time Faculty Relations Committee is all about building rapport, as Jennifer Morrison from Niagara University discussed in a recent Lore article. Through this committee, I can promote the idea of paying part-timers on a full-timer's scale, as per Michael Hennessy's recent article. Or I can introduce the "soft cap" enrollment process being used at Illinois College as discussed by Nick Capo in the last installment of Lore. This committee has proved useful for all part-timers because it has placed us on the Academics Standards Committee and the Faculty Council, where we bring our concerns before influential audiences.[MORE]
Gail Folkins, Graduate Student, Texas Tech University
I taught during the last four years as an adjunct instructor at Texas State University in San Marcos and St. Edward's University in Austin. Because I taught night courses in English for these universities while working full time as a writer/editor, the experience could have proved isolating in terms of integration with the university community. Nonetheless, a combination of strategies helped make these teaching experiences rewarding. Program options for adjunct faculty and a commitment to communication on the part of both university and adjunct can help make the experience a more connected one, even for night-owl adjuncts who only teach evening courses.[MORE]
Missy Nieveen Phegley, Community College Adjunct, Missouri
My experience as an adjunct is quite different from the situations described by WPAs in the previous issue of Lore. The institution for which I work is a community college in rural Missouri. Most of the courses offered on the satellite campuses are staffed by adjuncts, and the situation is certainly not ideal for the instructors. We are paid $1,290 per course (a recent raise from $1,200), but the deal is sweetened because we are paid mileage to and from the campus from our homes (note my sarcasm). Based on advertisements for adjuncts at community colleges in this region, this pay actually seems pretty standard.[MORE]
Tracy Clark, Continuing Lecturer, Purdue University
I was one of the dozen or so attendees at the Bedford/St. Martin's focus group of which Nels Highberg writes in the last issue of Lore. The WPAs in attendance said they believe adjuncts are being short-changed and do what they can to welcome contingent faculty as colleagues and professionals but that their hands are tied because they must answer to department heads, deans, and boards of trustees. They also cannot force other faculty members, department staff, and graduate students to acknowledge adjuncts as full-fledged members of the community; they can only hope the others will do so. As Highberg mentioned, the dialogue was highly productive. As the conversation at the focus group unfolded, I found it quite distressing that while there were a few of us "non-tenure-track" faculty, no one was present from that especially marginalized group I described earlier that we usually think of when we hear the word adjunct. Too bad the people who really needed to participate weren't there. We could have learned a lot from them; unfortunately, we were left to fill in the blanks through what we didn't hear and whom we didn't hear it from.[MORE]
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