Today I got an email from a wonderful friend who is an adjunct at a small Catholic university - not Duquesne, for those of you who have been following . . .
She had received an email from her dean asking all the faculty to consider how the addition of more adjunct faculty could benefit the university.
Ha. Why send that to the adjuncts?
So she explained her work load to me (and plans to explain it to the dean . . .) this way:
"One example is what I experienced Fall 2012. I asked for, and taught, 3 sections of College Composition. I had over 75 students, with some sections overenrolled. I taught 9 hours a week for 14 weeks, prepared for each class, spent hours answering student emails, and held office hours. Then on top of that, I graded hundreds of pages of written homework, 375 papers, and 75 portfolios. All for about $7500, a fraction of what the university pays full timers. I get no benefits, no health insurance, and no pension. I must walk sometimes four blocks in all kinds of weather hauling textbooks and papers to avoid paying parking fees."
I warned her about sending the letter. She could end up as a greeter at Walmart. And yet - she's my friend. She's like me: strong, outspoken, with a great sense of reckless abandon (thanks to another friend who paid me that compliment today!). She will speak truth to power.
If we all did - if all levels of faculty from fully tenured to barely hanging on - told the truth to the people who control our destinies, what would happen? Classes for one, or two, or ten adjuncts might disappear; tenure decisions could be delayed or go wrong; early retirement might be encouraged. But ultimately, administration will need someone to teach (I hope!). If we stick together to demand decent working conditions, shouldn't that do something?
I'm a left-over hippie, and I remember the slogan of the 1960s: Suppose they gave a war and nobody came. Well. Suppose they had a university and nobody taught.
And that will be the outcome no matter what. Already people who are outspoken about the state of academic labor are being criticized for pursuing advanced degrees in the first place - if we're so smart, we should have known there would be no jobs.
Soon, young people will listen. They will be smart. They will not become teachers.
Then what?
What can I say to this but YES? (and then go off and share this elegantly simple idea as widely as possible). Not new but stated with powerful clarity. Truth to power emerges from but is more than just bearing witness.
ReplyDeleteMaybe enough of us old hippies will answer the call like old fire horses hearing the alarm klaxon sound
This is my conundrum. I am refusing to do it any longer, but that means leaving the profession which is also hard because the pull of scholarly work is still strong.
ReplyDeleteAnd so it goes...