An Open Letter to Martha Kanter, Under-Secretary of Education re "living as an adjunct"

Thanks to Betsy Smith from the Contingent Academics Mailing List (adj-l@adj-l.org) for letting us know Martha Kanter, Under-Secretary of Education, is interested in knowing what adjunct life is like. Here's my take on it (see the letter below) -- if you'd like to let her know what you experience, also, here's the address:  Martha.Kanter@ed.gov

Dear Secretary Kanter:

Thank you for expressing interest in adjunct, or contingent faculty, life. After years of using my M.A. to teach "on the side," while pursuing my primary profession, my company consolidated and laid everyone off. When I had no luck finding an equivalent position in the Detroit area (I chose not to move for family reasons), I decided to try piecing together a full-time living teaching in multiple universities and colleges. This began about 12 years ago--the point at which I ceased having job security, a decent wage, health care benefits, dental coverage and hope of ever retiring. Because the job market is so tight, I hope to have classes to teach next semester, but I usually don't know for sure until a week or two before those classes start.

Despite this insecurity, this past year I've worked longer hours than ever (60 hour work weeks are not unusual when you teach 3-4 freshman writing courses), all for gross wages under $30K. I worked throughout the year (had one week off in the summer, in between assignments), picking up teaching and tutoring assignments piece meal as they become available. No matter what an outstanding job I do in the classroom (I take my job very seriously), my experience actually works against my ever getting hired full-time by a university. Even a short stint as a contingent limits an instructor's hopes of ever being hired full-time or getting tenure--it's like we wear a big red "A" on our chests, too, like Hester Prynne. As an adjunct I truly am a "day laborer" in the academic world: working far more than full-time hours semester after semester for mostly the same schools (a so-called "perma-temp,"), but for part-time, temporary conditions.

I enjoy teaching (why else would anyone put up with this?) but I resent more and more the disparity between the expectations placed upon me as a professional, and the sub-standard wages and non-existent benefits handed out. Universities couldn't function without our collective efforts (and they know it), yet they are allowed to continue cheapening the value of higher education with their treatment of us, and their eliminating of more and more full-time positions every year. As schools are forced to further corporatize because federal and state funds have become less available, this situation will only get worse, and chances are very real that the U.S. will stop being the destination for international students seeking quality education. U.S. students would be wise to go elsewhere, too.

Adjunct life is not just about universities -- it's a wake-up call for anyone who feels secure in his/her full-time job. Any professional function can be broken into part-time fragments, and while there should be, there don't seem to be any laws in place to prevent this from happening to American workers. I hope the federal government wakes up and does something to reverse this destructive trend soon.

Thank you for listening,

Raye Robertson
Michigan

"The Add-On Voice: Adjuncts in Academia"

Wish me well on Thursday -- I'll be carrying the adjunct "message," as best I can, to the CEA Conference in San Antonio. The presentation is called "The Add-On Voice: Adjuncts in Academia,". You're welcome to view the slides and the survey results (Raye's Survey & Raye's Survey2) that are also attached. Please note that the Reference pages of the presentation (at the end) contain a wealth of good information and leads for more information! Don't miss the "Voices" pages just before the References pages, too -- my favorite part of the presentation will be to make the comments available that I received from all of you who participated in the survey. The comments say it all better than I ever will!

To everyone who participated in this project, my sincere thanks! Let's keep the message out there!

How about a funny?

Sorry for the absence -- a lot has happened in a couple weeks and a lot more is going to happen in the next two weeks, so here's a link to some fun (we can use this, can't we?):

http://www.phdcomics.com/.

I saw a bright red cardinal who was singing his heart out this morning, and the first yellow crocuses are just popping -- Spring, beautiful Spring is almost here!

It's nearly midterm...do you know how to apply for Unemployment?

If your illustrious adjunct career is anything like mine, midterm is about the time you start thinking about the plan for next semester's cookie money. After 15+ years of never even thinking about claiming unemployment benefits, last year at this time I gave it serious thought. I even attended classes for Michigan's "No Worker Left Behind" program, but it soon became clear that the money in that program was intended for those who need to attend the types of classes I usually teach! I looked at ways I could approach this fleeting opportunity for a grant of $10,000 over 2 years of schooling, but nothing that looked good to me fit the program parameters well enough. Besides, a last minute class assignment surfaced that put me squarely back on the adjunct hamster wheel of life for at least another few laps.

Even so, I know the day may come (and with today's economy and the troubles in Higher Ed staffing, it may come soon) when I have to swallow my pride and apply for unemployment benefits. The good news is, according to the feedback some of you have given on this page--and a document I'd recommend to all (link to come), I can finally state with certainty that it is possible to get unemployment benefits as an adjunct!

COCAL (The Chicago Coalition on Contingent Academic Labor) offers a very helpful guide for this process, entitled "Access to Unemployment Insurance Benefits for Contingent Faculty," by Joe Berry, Beverly Stewart and Helena Worthen. The guide gives you precise language to use when speaking about your reasons for applying, how to handle your employers' inevitable attempt to challenge your claims by saying you have "reasonable assurance of reemployment," and so on. The truth is, by definition, adjuncts are CONTINGENT workers, which means there is no reasonable assurance of anything! We serve at the pleasure of a lot of ifs, ands, and buts, (as my mother would say), so never fear...we have a case! 

According to the guide, however, there are good, better and best ways to go about applying, if you must. I recommend reading this guide thoroughly before launching your effort...and please share your results with other adjuncts (and me!) if you do go through the process!

I think we need to stick together on this issue and at least, get informed of what our rights are. Then, stepping up and exercising these rights might help establish us as a cohesive group of academic workers with special working conditions and needs--who deserve the same safety net offered to other American workers! Let me know what you think, please!

March 4th Actions to Defend Education!

What's happening in your neck o' the woods?

From Vanessa in New Mexico: NEW MEXICO @ UNM, UNM-AAUP chapter is sponsoring a forum on the "Crisis" in Higher Education. March 4, 3-5, SUB Acoma A+B. Panelists include Michael Mauer, Director of Organizing and Services, AAUP; Beverly Burris, Sociology Chair; Lissa Knudson, GPSA President; Elisha Allen, President UNM Staff Council; Stephen eGiulio, NMSU-AAUP; guests from the legislature. Open to the public, no charge.

From UPTF at Wayne State U (Detroit): Fund Education, Not Banks and the War Machine! Rally and march from Wayne State's Gullen Mall to the New Center. 4 p.m. rally; 4:30 march; 5 p.m. picket outside Cadillac Plaza and the Fisher Building.

EMU part-timers are fighting the good fight!

This article from LaborNotes.org says it all: "A ‘Nice Experience’ or a Job? Lecturers at Michigan School Say Part-Timers Need a Union, Too." The national attention that EMU adjuncts are getting is encouraging, and the article does grit its teeth a bit, especially when the focus turns to how EMU's lawyers are attempting to derail EMU adjuncts' petition for unionization in both demeaning and divisive terms:

“'The part-time employment of adjuncts provides them with a little money and a nice experience,' said attorney Craig Schwartz of the Butzel Long firm, representing the administration on a recent conference call with representatives of the state’s labor commission and the union.

The part-timers, Schwartz said, 'have no community of interest' with the full-timers. Not surprisingly, this is the same argument the lawyers made to create divisiveness between professors and lecturers before full-time lecturers won their union in 2001."

What planet are these guys from? Click here for the full text...worth reading and passing along!

Day of Action for Education event heating up for March 4

The beat goes on...here's the latest organizing info from Student Activism regarding the March 4 Day of Action to Defend Education. At the risk of restating the obvious, I'll just say we have a lot at stake in this action, too!

Let us know if anything's happening on March 4 in your areas, please!