Activism to Apathy to . . .

In 1970, Duquesne University was in the midst of a financial disaster and felt forced to decide between closing the doors and raising tuition significantly. Then president Father McAnulty* met with student leaders and another solution was found: The Third Alternative to Save Duquesne.

Students put together an amazing fund raising program, including door-to-door solicitation, which raised almost $600,000.

When I was a high school junior searching for a college in 1971, I knew the story well and put Duquesne on my list. I was accepted and offered a generous financial aid package.

By the time I arrived on campus in August of 1972, there were no lingering signs of student involvement, or even concern. Although the program was still in progress to some degree, I never heard a word of it on campus, and the students I met knew nothing of it - and cared even less. Duquesne had become a party school - at least one mixer on campus every weekend: all the beer you could drink for a dollar. No carding.

Saturday nights, students crawled up the hill from the bar of choice, Frank and Wally's (famous for gravy-covered fries), to go to 2 a.m. mass at the university chapel.

So I was interested to read this article about student support for adjuncts from USA Today. So far, no word from the Duquesne students, but I will say this.

In my seven years as an adjunct, I always told my students exactly what that meant. It was the reason I had to meet them for conferences in the cafeteria; it was the reason I was only on that campus one day a week; it was the reason I sometimes returned papers late. Seven courses, three schools, five locations. I'm running as fast as I can.

I had a student at one college who had five courses - and five adjuncts. And this a private university with a hefty tuition rate.

So, yes, students: get involved. Save the professoriate the way you saved Duquesne.

And now - who will save Duquesne?

*I want to point out that Father McAnulty was a great leader. He knew my name and the names of most of my classmates. He regularly visited all the offices on campus and knew his staff. I was not happy at Duquesne, and that is partly because it was too big for me - I graduated in a class of 241, still the largest class to ever graduate from my high school. Even so, it was not the school that The Third Alternative had led me to expect.