Cat Herding and Windmill Chasing

by Lee Shainen EVER SEE THAT commercial about herding cats? It reminds me of trying to get adjuncts to organize. Faculty members, in general, are an independent and eccentric lot. Off the top of my head, I'd say they are right up there with quirky inventors and solitary gold miners on the wacko scale. But adjuncts are not only weird (imagine going to college for six to ten years and then picking a profession that pays less than the national poverty rate and provides no benefits, or that pays a decent wage and benefits, but is a complete dead end); they are also paranoid. The typical adjuncts are afraid that one wrong move or word will mean that their contracts will not be renewed. They are reluctant to join anything or to sign anything, and most feel incapable of paying dues or membership fees of any kind. This is a difficult group to organize. Oh yeah, and all that education makes us opinionated as can be. No poverty consciousness in the opinion department, no sir, which means getting faculty to agree on anything (besides wanting more money) can be a hair-pulling, frustrating exercise in endless verbal volleyball. Despite all of that something is happening, something wonderful. Following the success of California's part-timers' "equal pay of equal work" campaign that has added $62 million for part-time faculty compensation to the state's budget, and last year's success in Washington State to add $20 million for part-time equity, a joint U.S. and Canadian movement for equity throughout higher education is underway. Get this: faculty and representatives from all of the major faculty unions, associations, and disciplinary organizations from Canada and the U.S. have banded together, formed a binational steering committee, and are designating October 28 to November 3, 2001, as Campus Equity Week. This is a first! Nothing of this magnitude of organizational energy has ever been mustered before. It is an amazing opportunity to focus the collective attention of two nations on the issues that educational activists and this magazine, the Adjunct Advocate, have been championing for years. Now is not the time to assume that others will do the important work. This is our turn in the spotlight, an educational Harmonic Convergence of sorts. Given our unique, peculiar, and maverick make-up, it is unlikely to get so many cats chasing the same windmill at the same time again. Take advantage of it. Make sure you and your college are involved. Contact any of the organizations involved in the planning, check out this Web page, www.cpfa.org, or join the discussion at CEWAction-subscribe@topica.com. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP), The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), The California Part-time Faculty Association (CPFA), The Canadian United Part-time Faculty Association (CUPFA), The Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor (COCAL), The Communications Workers of America (CWA), The National Alliance for Fair Employment (NAFFE), The National Council of Teachers of English/Conference on College Communication and Composition (NCTE/CCCC), and The National Education Association (NEA), are all part of the organizing effort with more coming on board all the time. Here in Arizona, on May 12, 2001, adjunct leaders, union organizers, and concerned educators from around the state met, swapped stories and strategies, and agreed to make Campus Equity Week their number one priority. If you know anything about the Arizona "Right to Work" state consciousness, you know what an accomplishment this first step was. In other words, if it can happen in Arizona, it can happen anywhere. I'm grateful, impressed, even humbled by what is happening. However, for years I have said that I would like to give more attention to my teaching and writing rather than forever campaigning and lobbying for change. So, shut me up. Please. Get organized!