Just a quick entry to let folks know that I am blogging about part-time faculty at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Click here to read my February 26, 2009 entry. I’m very excited to have an opportunity to blog about part-time faculty there, as some of the entries I read on the site written by tenure-line faculty about part-time faculty issues are maddeningly inaccurate. For my first entry, I talked about pay parity and part-time faculty.
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26 Feb 2009 / on blogging
Tags: blogging, Chronicle of Higher Education, part-time faculty, pay parity
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25 Feb 2009 / AdjunctNation.com, on publishing
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I suppose. Sometimes, it’s annoying. However, I try to be good-natured and remember that as a publisher I have led the way for the past 18 years on the coverage of issues of importance to the nation’s faculty off the tenure-track. Adjunct Advocate was talking about adjunct faculty when people were still unclear about what, exactly, an adjunct was. The other higher ed. pubs. still have a lot of catching up to do.
So, the other day, when I got my daily email update from InsideHigherEd.com about their redesigned web site, I was curious to have a look. In the past, the folks at InsideHigherEd.com and I have, let’s say, had some of the same ideas (well, I had them first, and then the lightbulb went on over someone’s head over at IHE). For instance, we posted cartoonist Matt Hall’s work online, then InsideHigherEd hired Matt to contribute to their web page for the “Teachable Moments” feature. We published the work of Oronte Churm, and had approached Churm to blog for us, then IHE hired him to blog at their site.
The latest “redesign” of their site is, well, flattery at its best. If you pull up their site, and look at it side-by-side with ours, you’ll see several striking similarities. I’ll leave them to you to identify, but pay attention to the design and placement of the navigation tabs, the way the page “floats” on the gray background, as well as the curved lines. The placement of the company logos is identical.
One important difference between our two sites has nothing to do with the look of the sites. InsideHigherEd serves up, on average, a single page to each of its individual users. I’m somewhat mystified as to why that is, because the site is awash in editorial content. Our site, over the past six months, has served up, on average 5-15 pages to each visitor. This is really what I care about most, of course. You come and you look around. You search for jobs; you read posts in the Forum; you read pieces from the magazine archive; you read the blogs; you play the games; you take the quizzes. In a sense, AdjunctNation.com is a place where our users hang out and connect with other faculty off the tenure track.
What this tells me is that we are right on target as far as delivering to our users what they actually like, want and need. That’s not to say we couldn’t do a better job, and we work all the time to tweak and modify our web page offerings. Right now, we’re working to add links to the Adjunct Family e-Newsletter. So, when the jobs are updated, Adjunct Family members who choose to receive the Family e-Newsletter, will get notice of the job postings and links to the jobs on our site. The same will happen when there are postings to the Forum, and blogs. There will be links to the materials presented in the Family e-Newsletter.
Tags: AdjunctNation.com, blogs, e-Newsletter, InsideHigherEd.com
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Several adjunct faculty, including Keith Hoeller, Ross Borden, Gregory Zobel and Deborah Lewis, have announced the launch of the National Coalition for Adjunct Equity. Ross Borden was quoted as saying, “The new organization ‘is not a substitute’ for the unions.” The group members stressed that the National Coalition for Adjunct Faculty will not engage in collective bargaining. Just what the group will do is still being discussed.
I spoke with Keith Hoeller many weeks ago about the National Adjunct Faculty Guild, which I founded in 1994. I told Keith that despite everything the Guild offered to its members, professional development opportunities, a conference, national discounts, access to health insurance, etc…I decided to fold it for one reason. People called, wrote and told me at conferences over and again that what they were looking for was a union to represent part-time faculty. Shortly after I formed the NAFG, I got a call from the then-Vice President of Higher Education at the American Federation of Teachers. Over lunch, the man gently, then with increasing bluntness, suggested I was taking a major step toward forming a national union for part-time faculty. I was absolutely flabbergasted. I had gone to Washington, DC to see if there was any way the AFT and NAFG could work together. There was definitely synergy between NAFG and the three education unions, and at the time AFT represented 40,000 part-time faculty, a little over 10 percent of the nation’s part-timers. Ok. Next.
The truth was, at that time, the thought to form a national union hadn’t entered my mind. My logic was, in 1994—when those off the tenure-track were still the minority of college faculty—that forming a professional association that encouraged adjuncts and spoke out on their behalf was the best route to bettering their working conditions. Time has proven me wrong. Over and over again.
Today, some 17 years later, the number of faculty off the tenure-track has skyrocketed to 700,000 individuals, out of the 1.3 million faculty employed in higher education. Pay, as the recent MLA study on adjuncts in the humanities suggested, has stagnated. The national average per course pay is less than $2,800 per course. The number of part-time faculty who’ve been organized by the three national education unions is less than 10 percent of the total number of faculty off the tenure track now. The percentage of unionized temporary faculty has actually fallen over the past 17 years.
In California and Washington state, where the AFT state affiliates secured so-called equity pay for part-timers, tens of millions of dollars of the money has been funneled to full-time faculty teaching overload courses. Today, the three national education unions are all behind the AFT’s FACE program that aims to build the ranks of the full-time faculty who belong to the unions, and offers part-time faculty little tangible help, hope or reward. FACE has dashed any hope I had left in the national education unions that the leadership of those organizations actually cared about the people in those part-time teaching jobs. FACE is primarily about falling union revenues, and money, not about what’s going to help ameliorate the pay and working conditions of the nation’s 700,000 faculty off the tenure track, or improve the quality of instruction offered to the 13,000,000 undergraduates whom they teach.
In my discussions with Keith Hoeller about NAFG, I was frank about the failings of the NAFG.
Perhaps it’s the way the reporter chose to report on the new National Coalition for Adjunct Equity (a working name), but I was disappointed to see those people head down the path they’ve chosen. The article about the launch of the group outlined no national, political or pedagogical agenda for the NCAE, nor even listed the names and affiliations of all of the founding members. The group is set to be formed on Sunday, February 22nd. The name is a “working” title. In short, the big roll out looked much like a stalled-out car being pushed out center stage at the North American Auto Show. There’s a group of non-tenured faculty who have formed a National Coalition to speak out on behalf of the nation’s 700,000 non-tenured faculty.
As much respect as I have for all of the men and one woman (or so it seems from the article) who formed this group, I feel compelled to say to that the time for the Lorax has long passed. There’s a National Coalition of Adjunct Equity who’ve announced they’re speaking for trees, but the trees are being (and have been for the last 20 years) slashed and burned at an astounding rate. No amount of “speaking” is going to stop the slashing and burning. No National Coalition without a well thought-out national agenda, political agenda, fundraising savvy, and enough mendacity to do something shocking and bold is ever going to change the lot of our country’s non-tenured faculty.
These are good-intentioned, brave and valiant people. Make no mistake. They’re also terribly naive about politics and public perception.
What is needed is an organization to substitute for the national education unions. It was needed when I launched the National Adjunct Faculty Guild and attracted thousands of members. I don’t regret much in my life, but I do regret not picking up on the actual meaning and significance of the nervousness of the AFT Vice President sitting across from me at lunch that summer afternoon in Washington, DC those many years ago. I regret not having formed a national labor union for the nation’s then-400,000 non-tenured faculty. It was a lost opportunity to change the face of higher education forever, much like Samuel Gompers changed the face of labor history. If such high-minded ideals don’t appeal to you, think about this: Right now, the AFT has just over 835,000 members, and the group earned $200,000,000 dollars last year. The President of the AFT is paid close to $400,000 per year. How much did you earn last year? Slightly less than $400K. Yeah, me too.
My guess is that a national labor union just for faculty off the tenure-track would rival the AFT and NEA in power, money and political clout in a relatively short time—perhaps 10-15 years. Such a union would create sweeping change in higher education as faculty off the tenure-track systematically wielded the power created by their own national labor union. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Creating such a national union would be gritty, ugly and messy as the AFT, NEA and AAUP tried to slit the proverbial throat of the group. It would be demanding, tough work, but adjuncts would flock to such a union, particularly if the union were run by a founding group truly committed to a sweeping agenda of change, as opposed to personal gain. Because believe me, a small national union with just 20,000 members who paid just 1.5 percent of gross pay in dues could generate millions annually in revenues. Resisting the the path of leadership that has created education unions (NEA/AFT/SEIU) at which it pays more to work for the union than to be represented by the union would be very difficult indeed.
Of course, I send to the founders of the National Coalition for Adjunct Equity all my best wishes. I will watch with interest and hope as they move forward with their efforts to speak out on behalf of the nation’s part-time faculty.
I will also urge them to put up a web page, and make sure writers who cover their group always include contact information.
Tags: AAUP, AFT, Deborah Lewis, Gregory Zobel, Keith Hoeller, National Adjunct Faculty Guild, National Coalition of Adjunct Faculty, Russ Borden
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12 Feb 2009 / research
It’s easy to spread rumors. It’s easy to take myths and, by constant repetition, give them the patina of reality. George W. Bush was a master at this artistic skill. There are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Send in the Marines.
The same thing is happening in higher education. There are these myths about part-time faculty.
Part-time faculty don’t conduct research.
Part-time faculty don’t mentor their students.
Part-time faculty flit from one job to the next.
Part-time faculty don’t publish.
Part-time faculty are __________________ (you fill in the blank).
Send in the Marines (hire more tenure-line and tenured faculty).
All part-time faculty are “drive-by” professors. Did you know that all Asians are excellent at math, all Jews manage money well, and most Muslims are terrorists?
Myths are offensive generalizations. People who indulge in perpetuating myths are a puzzle to me, particularly when they are educated people who should know better and who, one presumes, have the research skills necessary to find the truth. Marc Bousquet is a tenure-line faculty member who has put himself center stage to speak on behalf of part-time faculty in the United States. In his latest blog entry at The Chronicle of Higher Education, Bousquet perpetuates several particularly irritating myths about part-time faculty. That The Chronicle published Bousquet’s error-filled generalizations on their web site is nothing short of editorial negligence.
Under the headline “Stabilize the faculty now!” Bousquet writes:
“There are several hundred thousand educators working part time or contingently filling permanent staffing needs who would prefer to work full time and securely. Most of them are employed at a discount, and many of them do not have the terminal degrees in their fields. There is high turnover among these educators, because the pay is generally poor, status is low, and there is no rational path for recognition or promotion, no reward for better work, etc….Enormous resources are wasted in constantly hiring, re-hiring, training, evaluating, and supervising this quickly churning labor pool.” Getting rid of part-time faculty would create “a better-prepared, more up-to-date, stable, available, and motivated faculty.”
Where do I begin? First of all, he uses no verifiable statistics to support his claims. Bousquet relies on many, most and generally. The assumption is that we’re with him on this, so he doesn’t have to be precise. Well, I’m not with him on anything, and I expect precision when writing for publication. I conclude from his incessant generalizing that he hasn’t done much research regarding the employment of those part-time faculty who want full-time employment within higher education. David Leslie, of the University of Florida, puts the percentage of faculty who want full-time teaching work somewhere around 40 percent of the total.
Bousquet writes that part-time faculty “churn” through job after job. Hardly. The National Education Association conducted a study in the 90s that found the majority of part-time faculty work at their institutions seven years, on average. The same study concluded that about 20 percent of part-time faculty teach for 20 years or longer at their institutions. It is a myth that there is a “high turnover rate” among part-time faculty. It is a myth of convenience, I believe, because if part-time faculty can be pegged as flighty and unreliable, it makes little sense to invest in their hiring, evaluation or professional development. Doing so also leads credence to the argument that only tenure-line and tenured faculty bring much-lauded continuity to the programs at their institutions.
Full-time faculty do bring continuity to their departments and programs. However, according to the Association for the Advancement of Higher Education, almost 20 percent of tenure-line faculty do not receive tenure and leave their institutions after six years. There is, then, just about as much turnover among tenure-line faculty as there is among part-time faculty. However, the average part-time faculty members remains at her/his institution a year longer than does the tenure-line faculty whose bid for tenure is refused.
Bousquet, in fact, relies on many of the current buzzwords tossed around by his colleagues. Part-time faculty aren’t motivated. Part-time faculty aren’t available. Part-time faculty aren’t stable. “Most” part-time faculty don’t have terminal degrees. Well, at least he finally got that right. In his book, How the University Works, the preface claims (Lord help us all) that part-time faculty are under-employed Ph.D.s. Yes, the majority of part-time faculty hold Master’s degrees. Is that a problem? For Bousquet it is. He writes, “One reason we have community colleges with single-digit graduation rates and major metropolitan universities who can’t graduate 30 percent of their first-year students six years later is because we have been trying to teach them with a drive-by faculty.”
Research by the American College Testing group into the percentage of students who move from freshman year into sophomore year is really where Bousquet loses any remaining credibility. According to the ACT study, the percentage of freshmen who move onto sophomore year has fallen from 74.5 percent to 74 percent. According to a recent study by the American Federation of Teachers, part-time faculty typically staff first and second-year courses, about half of the courses offered nationally, in fact.
The ACT study attributes the fall in student retention between those surveyed freshmen and sophomore students to open enrollment policies at two-year colleges, and declining student preparedness. In short, the ACT researchers conclude that when colleges chose to increase overall enrollment levels by relaxing standards for incoming students, it should have been understood that there would be an increase in first-year student attrition. That the attrition rate has risen only .5 percent in 14 years is, I think, a testament to the excellent work of the nation’s non-tenured faculty, to their reliability, devotion to their students, and their skill in the classroom even under the duress of poor institutional support.
Bousquet argues that we need more full-time faculty with Ph.D.s. We need, in short, more college faculty just like him. Marc Bousquet writes about part-time faculty like we all need to cross the street so as not to get robbed when a part-timer comes walking our way. Because, you know, all part-time faculty are “drive-by” professors. Did you know that most African-American men are criminals? Well, except the one currently serving as President of the United States.
Tags: AAHE, ACT, Chronicle of Higher Education, David Leslie, Marc Bousquet, National Education Association, University of Florida
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02 Feb 2009 / AdjunctNation.com, on blogging, on publishing
If you don’t have a clue about Listservs, you’re in good company. This Wikipedia entry should give you an idea of what a listserv is, how it works and why you might be interested in subscribing to the brand new Adjunct Listserv (Adjunctlistserv) we just launched. AdjunctNation.com hosted a listserv many years ago, but phased it out when we redesigned our site and added Message Boards.
Unlike Message Boards which a user must visit, listservs deliver emails directly to your inbox. You need only have a device that allows you to get email alerts and/or check email. Posting is as easy as replying to a message that interests you.
I decided to revisit the Listserv idea when I went searching for listservs for part-time faculty, and came up with a scant four choices. A part-timer had sent me an email about one of them, and described the list as populated by “some independent” adjuncts, but mostly by “staff and leaders connected to the three faculty unions.” This mix, evidently, stifles opportunities for the adjuncts to discuss issues openly. I’m not quite sure why, but can imagine that sometimes the union folks might gang up on adjuncts who are critical of their policies and programs.
There’s a lot for part-timers to talk about, and I believe that part-time and adjunct faculty will benefit from an independent space in which to share news, bat around ideas, opinions and (maybe even) a few revelations! Everyone with an interest in part-time issues is welcome, of course, and the AdjunctNation.com Adjunct Listserv will be open to part-time faculty from from around the world. All postings will be in English.
To join the AdjunctNation.com’s Adjunct Listserv, please click here. If you’re worried about spam, rest easy. The Listserv will be moderated so that we can keep spammers at bay. This means a (short, I hope) delay between when a message is sent to the group and when it’s posted, but it also means spam can be deleted quickly and before it ends up in your email inbox.
In other news, we’ll soon be offering a weekly “Nation Talk” news & opinion podcast. The podcast will bring together four nationally-recognized adjunct faculty activists to discuss a wide variety of topics of interest to contingent faculty. The group will discuss such issues as the recent studies done that have drawn conclusions about the “dedication” and “impact” of part-time faculty on student retention. The Nation Talk team includes long-time Michigan adjunct activist Marjorie Lynn, as well as Washington State activist Keith Hoeller. Together, Hoeller and Lynn have over two decades of experience within higher education as national activists and organizers. Marjorie Lynn has written for Adjunct Advocate since the early-90s, and helped organize thousands of adjunct faculty at two Michigan universities.
Tomorrow evening, I’ll host an AdjunctNation Family gathering in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If you live near Ann Arbor, and want to join us, but didn’t get the email invitation that went out last week, email me for more details. We’re keeping the gathering small, but there’s still a bit of room left!
As always, thanks very much for visiting AdjunctNation.com.
Tags: Adjunct Listserv, Adjunctlistserv, AdjunctNation, Keith Hoeller, Marjorie Lynn, Nation Talk, podcasts
