Second-class Professors

[Lionel Mandrake]

Most of the teachers in US colleges and universities today do not have tenure, or even the prospect of gaining tenure. They can look forward to tiny, if any, pensions when they retire. They don't hold office hours because they don't have offices. They get no pay if they get sick. In short, they enjoy practically no benefits.

They are called "adjuncts" or "lecturers", not to be confused with the tenured or tenure-track faculty. Their pay is so low that even if they teach a full load, they can't make ends meet. Often they teach at more than one school, which requires long commutes between classes. Some are on food stamps.

Administrators see adjuncts as cheap labor to be exploited for the benefit of the university.

Having once been an adjunct brands a teacher as second class and unworthy of serious consideration for a tenure-track job. Few will ever make it into the academic middle class.

Do these people need a union?

[pscot]

1. But the guy in charge of the football factory

is making $4.5 mil per annum.

[Lionel Mandrake]

3. But he's under terrible pressure.

If the team doesn't win, he might be out of a job next year. Then he'd have to live off of his savings, which might be only a few $million.

[pscot]

5. He has a 4 year guaranteed contract

It cost a bundle to buy out the last guy.

[Lionel Mandrake]

9. Okay, you win.

I admit his situation is not too shabby.

[Doctor_J]

22. 4 year contract that will pay him more than the prof will make in a 30-year career

and it's guaranteed. And he has 15 assistants or so.

[reformist2]

2. When professors are living in poverty, what more do we need to prove the current system has failed?

I'd love to hear a Republican tell one of these teachers that they need more education to make it in the new economy. Retrain, retrain, then retrain again. Retrain in what, exactly? Funny how they never seem to get around to that...

[Generic Other]

4. They are exploited workers

Many are first-class professors. Unfair to characterize them as anything else. And we do try and help them find tenure track jobs. Or at least I do if I have the opportunity.

[Lionel Mandrake]

7. I know one former freeway flier who landed a permanent job.

When I met this guy, he was teaching seven classes at three different schools, besides being divorced and bringing up three small children, one with Down Syndrome.

Against all odds, he now has a reasonably secure job with decent pay and benefits.

[Generic Other]

13. Superhuman efforts

I think more schools are being taken to task at accreditation time for their ratio of adjuncts to tenured.

But remember, Bill Gates envisions a day when there will be no teachers -- just computers.

[Mr.Bill]

15. I think Bill Gates envisions a world

where we won't be able to go to the bathroom without a computer. With his software, of course.

[nadinbrzezinski]

47. Windows to pee and poo

I can see a few issues... dang blue screen.

Gad...

[Brigid]

48. Wow.

How is that even humanly possible?

[Lionel Mandrake]

49. In this case, it was a perfect fit.

The job was at a school affiliated with a particular religious sect, of which this guy is a member. I'm an unbeliever, but I'm happy for him.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. They sure as hell need a union.

I suppose there are historical reasons as to why they don't.

Oh, I know. Professionals don't unionize. It's unprofessional.

[Lionel Mandrake]

8. Actually, adjuncts are starting to join unions.

It's hard to maintain the illusion of being professional when applying for food stamps.

[NobodyHere]

10. How much do these second class professors make?

I'm curious.

[a la izquierda]

12. In some places, $1200/semester for a course.

It depends, of course, on the school. It also depends on their field. The humanities, my field, is the lowest paying of the academic fields. Business, science, and law professors in their first year (as I am) often make double what I make.

[Doctor_J]

23. ours make $1800 for a 3-hr class

so if you do four of those (pretty busy load, and would have to be spread out over at least two schools), for both semesters, you make less than $15K. These are the sorts of people the ACA will be good for.

[mike_c]

32. it varies widely-- I believe the average in the CSU* is about $25K/yr....

That salary level would normally not come with any sorts of benefits, and little or no job security from semester to semester, as even multiyear contracts are conditional upon enrollment, which is usually beyond the lecturer's control.

*California State University

[Aldo Leopold]

37. Where I work it's $1500/semester/credit

And tenure-track faculty are charged 47% overhead on their grants.

[a la izquierda]

11. Yes they need a union...

says this tenure-track assistant professor (in the humanities, the lowest of the paying academic fields). Grad student TAs as well, as they are often used as cheap labor.

[DeadLetterOffice]

17. SUNY Albany's TA/GA's are in fact unionized.

And we have awesome health insurance.

But we still only get $12K a year (at least in my department), and are forbidden from outside employment during the academic year. Which for most of us means working three jobs all summer to save enough food money for the rest of the year.

I'm sure I had a good reason when I went back for my PhD, but as I sit here looking at my prospects when I finish in 2015, I'm having a hard time remembering what they were...

[drmeow]

26. I was involved in that union fight

I was at Stony Brook when we fought for and won the right for the TA/GA's to unionize. Unfortunately it happened after I no longer had a line !

[DeadLetterOffice]

36. I was a GA in SUNY for the first time back in the 90's.

No union back then.
Spent the next 15 years ignoring SUNY as actively as possible. So imagine my surprise when I found out as a new GA/TA in 2009 that I belonged to a union, and could actually get reasonably-priced health insurance for my entire family that didn't suck!

THANK YOU for your fight! It made a huge difference for me and my crew.

[drmeow]

45. Sounds about right

I was a TA from 9/90 to 5/94 and I think we voted on unionization in 94, just as my TA line was ending! Bah!

Glad to have been a part of that fight - wish it could have benefited me but I was doing it as much for the principle of it.

[a la izquierda]

39. Don't give up.

I almost gave up doing what I love because of a depressed market. But I got a really great job in the end.
Good luck!

[mike_c]

33. CSU TA/GAs are organized....

UAW I think.

[a la izquierda]

40. We couldn't unionize in Oklahoma as grad students...

Such bullshit

[Lionel Mandrake]

43. I understand there are three different unions

at California State University (CSU).

Tenure-track and tenured faculty are represented by the California Faculty Association.

Lecturers are represented by some other union.

TA/GAs by a third union (maybe UAW).

The administration likes it that way. Divide and conquer is their motto.

I hope the three unions will support each other.

[mike_c]

50. not exactly....

The California Faculty Association represents all faculty (including lecturers), librarians, coaches, and counselors in the CSU (we're bargaining unit 3). Grad TA/GAs have separate representation. In fact, CFA has for years made expanding rights and protections for lecturers a top priority, but it's an uphill struggle against an administration that views them as a disposable solution to its labor difficulties.

If you're in California, one important way you can support us is to support increased funding for higher ed in general, and an increased appropriation for the CSU in particular.

[Lionel Mandrake]

52. Yes, I am in California and I do support increased higher ed funding.

The problem started with Prop 13, which reduced property taxes in general (and shifted the burden from commercial property to residential property, but that's a whole 'nother story). As a result, the counties reduced their support for community colleges, and the State of California became the main source of their funding. State funding for all higher ed has since eroded. There's a lot of deferred maintenance at community colleges and the CSU. All three segments of higher ed in California have reduced services and increased tuition and other fees on students. That's where we are now, as I see it.

As for the CSU administration, I was glad to see Charlie Reed go. IMO he was and is a complete asshole. Also, I am disgusted with the bloated salaries of the chancellor and other executives and with the additional support the president of each campus gets from the Foundation at that campus. I'd like to see donors put pressure on the foundations to spend their money more wisely.

[pangaia]

14. No adjuncts here.

Infographic: Is Your State's Highest-Paid Employee A Coach? (Probably)

http://deadspin.com/infographic-is-your-states-highest-paid-employee-a-co-489635228

[SheilaT]

16. Yes they need a union. Yes they should be better paid.

But I also wonder why people voluntarily stay in that sort of employment. There really are other jobs out there. Okay, so none of the other jobs are your dream job of teaching anthropology or whatever, but I don't understand why more people don't just look at the economic reality and move on.

[alp227]

18. "why more people don't just look at the economic reality and move on."

Am I sure I'm still on a progressive message board?

But does everyone need to follow "economic reality" without sacrificing their own interests? Really?

[SheilaT]

21. If people think their own self interests are served

by working as adjunct professors for such miserable pay, they they should go ahead and do it. But they need to understand that they are working against their own self interest, much as the vast majority of those who vote for Republicans are voting against their own self interest.

[Lionel Mandrake]

25. Good question.

After getting a PhD, I was a postdoc for two years and decided that since I couldn't get a decent teaching job after that, I would NOT go on to another postdoc, and another, moving every two or three years. I had a family and wanted to settle down, so I got a non-academic job which wasn't my dream job but paid the bills and put food on the table.

But that's just me. Others made other choices. I think it's difficult for many people who spent several years as a graduate student to face the fact that there are too many PhDs and not enough tenure-track jobs out there.

[SheilaT]

41. Unfortunately, the lack of academic positions for new PhDs has been

a problem for decades now. I've been aware of it for more than thirty years. The universities themselves are complicit in persuading people to get a PhD without ever talking about the eventual job prospects.

Sadly, this sort of thing happens in other fields also. Some years ago, 1982 to be precise, a co-worker was quite happy because her husband was going to barber school, to learn to be a barber. I remember thinking, What is the job market for that? but since we weren't very close, I didn't say anything. Sure enough, six months later when he finished his training, he then discovered that getting a job was going to be iffy at best. Around that time I left the job, so I don't know what he eventually did.

[drmeow]

46. Why do people stay in bad marriages?

The hope that something will change is a powerful incentive. Having to give up a dream is really, really hard for some people. The culture of academia makes it even harder. And some people really love to teach. They may feel like they don't have any other skills. They hear about one of their colleagues who goes from an adjunct position to a tenure-track one and their hope is renewed. They've been applying for other jobs but having gotten one. They are a trailing spouse and the options in their little college town are really limited. The list goes on.

And even if people do leave, it doesn't change the fact that they should be allowed to unionize. There will always been people who want to adjunct for any number of reasons. Those people should be paid what their labor is worth.

[Starry Messenger]

19. I'm an adjunct in a union.

Without a union, adjuncts suffer greatly.

[alp227]

20. And you know what kinda bad apples you get with such a low wage?

As PZ Myers reveals:

The University of Idaho needed someone to teach microbiology, so they carried out a ‘national’ search for a temporary microbiologist, offering $6-8,000 per semester for a one year position with no promise of a continuation. Moscow, Idaho is a truly lovely place, but would you pack up and move across the country to spend one year in Moscow for maybe $16,000, and then probably have to move somewhere else again after that year was up?

No, you would not, if you had a choice. If you were really desperate, maybe.

But they hired someone. Someone local. They got Gordon Wilson who teaches at the New Saint Andrews College in Moscow...

The University of Idaho has just hired a young earth creationist, biblical literalist, and racist evangelical Christian to teach microbiology. UI biology students: you are getting ripped off.

But hey, the Republican Party is sure keeping those anti-American, anti-family, anti-Christian, Satanist, anti-gun, anti-military, card-carrying Communists away from our young people, riiight?

If you read The Crash of 2016 by Thom Hartmann you'll find out about the Lewis Powell memo that plotted to reform higher ed for corporate interests.

[Lionel Mandrake]

27. Let me guess,

I'll bet the new prof. of microbiology at U. of Idaho isn't a big fan of Charles Darwin.

[3catwoman3]

44. Probably doesn't think to highly of...

...Louis Pasteur, Anton von Leeuwenhoek, Edward Jenner, Alexander Fleming, or Jonas Salk either. Pathetic

[Mona]

24. Adjuncts here do have a union...

...which they share with tenure track faculty. In fact, to a large degree, the union represents the adjuncts moreso than regular faculty, probably because a higher percentage of adjuncts are full members. TA/GA union here is completely separate.

There will always be a percentage of adjunct faculty. Our target I believe is 30% adjunct, and think we are closer to 70% adjunct, at least as of a couple of years ago.

This follows the continued lack of public support for public education. As a PhD in a STEM profession with over 20+ years as a university professor, my salary now lags many long term public school K-12 teachers and community college teachers.

[RKP5637]

28. Yes! In fact, hell yes! n/t

[drmeow]

29. Unionization for lecturers and adjuncts is

a university by university process. Last month Lecturers of the University of New Hampshire Durham and Manchester campuses voted to unionize (http://www.aaup.org/big-win-new-hampshire-lecturers). Elsewhere, no as good news: http://www.adjunctnation.com/2013/10/28/boston-adjuncts-divided-on-whether-to-unionize/

Awareness is rising and tenure/tenure-track faculty are also adding their voices. Low wage adjuncts bring faculty salaries down and threaten faculty positions. Departing faculty aren't replaced or are replaced with fewer people and very slowly which puts a greater burden on existing faculty.

The ACA even has something to say about it:

http://www.adjunctnation.com/2014/02/19/new-rules-define-workload-of-part-time-college-instructors/

[mike_c]

30. many lecturers in the CSU make less money than fast food workers are asking for....

Fast food workers are asking for $15/hr in many cities, which is about $30K annually for full time work. If I'm not mistaken, the average salary of CSU lecturers is in the $25K range, with no benefits whatsoever and little job security from one semester to the next. Mind you, many of those folks, if not most, are as academically qualified as their tenure track and tenured colleagues. They are truly second class workplace citizens. I don't think most people understand that the application of corporate administrative models in higher education has reduced the professoriate that students depend upon to a part time, contingent and tenuous work force of desperate wage slaves.

On edit-- I should point out that contingent faculty in the CSU have some of the best contract protections of any such workforce in the nation, but they're STILL second class workers and itinerant academicians, trying to mentor the next generation of educated Americans despite being stressed, exhausted, and desperately underpaid.

[mysuzuki2]

31. many years ago i was an adjunct in anthropology.

I had 3 kids and was on welfare. I taught at 3-4 schools at s time. I felt like a migrant laborer. I found another way to make a living.

[honeylady]

34. I have a good friend who is an adjunct professor

in the community college system in San Diego. He has $100,000 in school loans to earn the master degree that qualified him to be a college professor. He can only can adjunct work. He lives basically in poverty. He figures with all the time spent on doing school work at home, he makes about $8.00 per hour. He does have health insurance through the college.

[bkanderson76]

35. I tend to believe any unionization would be of benefit to this cause but I strongly advocate

amassing 'we the people' as a whole to reverse this current attack against education and its funding within our America.
If this trend is allowed to continue it will prove to be of no difference when we are all bent over pullin taters for the gubner.

[Kali]

38. yes

as a first step to repairing a very damaged system

instructors living in poverty and graduates in debt for decades is so wrong

[Gidney N Cloyd]

42. The adjuncts at our college are unionized.

The union allowed them to set up tiers of adjunct status, some of which provide a modicum of assignment security and degrees of benefits.

A lot of our adjuncts are people who have a very specific area of expertise who are asked to teach a specific class at specific times. Of course others are folks who are making up for the college's intentional shortage of FT faculty. There's probably good reason to use a lot adjuncts in the business and tech areas but not so much in the humanities and soft sciences.

[treestar]

51. And yet the cost of going to college goes up and up!