The Best Made Plans

I didn’t plan for all of the features in this issue to deal with part-time faculty unionization, but sometimes the best plans simply aren’t made—they happen. So it was when I read about the efforts of the part-time faculty at the Community College of Vermont. There, all of the classes are taught by part-timers. The organizers are all long-term, part-time faculty, and the number of part-time faculty teaching in the multiple campus system being tops 700.

Then, I had an e-mail from a part-time faculty member at the New School about the work of the part-time faculty there. I found the thought of a feature about the New School particularly interesting given the school’s one-time reputation as a seat of intellectual dissent. After all, in the early 1900s, many of the institution’s original faculty members had fled what they had perceived as intellectual oppression at Columbia University. The New School piece was a dog bites man story if ever there was one.

Then, I needed a bit of a break. When I need a break, I do free-lance writing. The piece I wrote for this issue about the lecturers’ union at the University of Michigan is a longer version of one which was published in the Ann Arbor Observer this past February. My interest in LEO, the University of Michigan Lecturers’ Employee Organization, was both professional and personal. Before launching the Adjunct Advocate, I had taught on both the Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses of the University of Michigan. Many of my friends from my teaching days still worked at the University; in fact, several were involved in organizing the union. Writing the piece was an opportunity to catch up with colleagues.

Next, our cartoonist, Matt Hall, submitted a panel for this issue which touches on the union theme, as well.
So, as often happens with these things, the issue contents just fell into place.

In future issues, we’ll publish other features which address unionization efforts around the country:
Why, I wonder, have the part-time faculty at George Washington University in Washington, DC., chosen not to affiliate with any of the higher education unions—unions whose national headquarters, I might add, are in Washington, DC.?

The 1,000 Lecturers at the University of Cincinnati have been trying to hold an election since 2000. What, I wonder, is holding them up?

Then, there was the e-mail I received from the part-timer at NYU. Did I know about the merger? At New York University, where the UAW roosts atop the largest part-time faculty union golden egg in the United States, with over 2,000 members, there is a move afoot to merge the NYU affiliate with another. How unhappy are the NYU part-timers? Is there a chance that the UAW could lose its NYU affiliate to the AFT or NEA?

Finally, we will continue to look at the California Part-Time Faculty Equity Fund, the California Federation of Teachers, and its affiliates within the state. Are millions of dollars from the Part-Time Equity Fund still being paid to CFT members who teach full-time?

As always, if something newsworthy is happening with the part-time faculty at your college or university, drop me a line at editor @ adjunctctadvocate.com.–P.D. LESKO