Oh, Canada

To the Editor:
Good article and confirming to me just to hear how common the adjunct dilmena can be. Your article echoes everything I have experienced over the last 10 years as an adjunct at two different community colleges in Texas. Most recently, while teaching an adjunct load, I found a full-time job that required I stop teaching and work in the industry I prep students for–Multimedia. It was an opportunity I had been seeking, to make nearly 3 times as much money, steady pay and with some benefits. The job is contract work again, although leading to full-time employment. So I took the job.

The head of our department at the college was not happy, given it was in the middle of the semester. Now he refuses to be a good reference for me, and told me he could not attest to my commitment as a teacher at the college because I broke a contract and quit. And the quality of my work? That evidently doesn’t get consideration. I developed teaching web sites over the past four years, a load of course materials and handouts, regularly communicated with my students, wrote recommendations for them, even hired one of my students at one time, and attended every faculty meeting I was invited to. Not to mention the hours grading and tutoring students privately outside the classroom. My attendance was good, rarely missing a class. There was one other instance when I had to leave in mid-semester to work a full-time contract in industry. Isn’t that to be expected when you are active in your field? Yet, I can’t get a decent reference from this department head? It’s outrageous.

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