Colleagues Abroad

This issue marks the third time the Adjunct Advocate has devoted an entire issue` to the theme of “colleagues abroad.” Our first “colleagues abroad” issue was published in May/June 2002. Two years later, in our November/December 2004 issue, we again examined the use of part-time faculty at colleges and universities outside of the United States. So why focus on part-timers who don’t teach in the U.S.? For starters, it’s easy to get entrenched in one’s job–particularly if that work is done without regular contact with colleagues–and believe that there’s no one else out there who’s in the same ivory tower. These theme issues not only demonstrate that part-time faculty in the United States are not alone, but that a part-timer could travel to just about any university in the world and find a fellow part-timer with whom to share lunch and have a chat about teaching.

In our May/June 2002 issue, we published an interview with David Petrie, Chair of the Association of Foreign Language Lecturers in Italy (ALLSI). In that piece, readers learned about the legal battle being waged between Italy’s 1,500 foreign-born language lecturers and the Italian state. In this issue, Henry Rodgers writes about the culmination of the 19-year legal battle.

In Japan, one-third of part-time college lecturers earn less than $18,000 per year, and fully half of college lecturers in that country have seen their contracts terminated. Both of our previous “colleagues abroad” issues have had pieces about Japan’s part-time faculty. In this issue, we asked writer Alice Gordenker to investigate the formation of part-time faculty unions in Japan.

Part-time lecturers in India earn less than $45 per month, and have resorted to hunger strikes to draw attention to their professional concerns. In Sahana Ghosh’s feature we get a compelling and poignant portrait of a part-time professorate under siege, but nonetheless committed to pressuring the Indian government for necessary reforms by using extraordinary means.

In the May/June 2002 issue, writer Amy Rosenberg looked at minority lecturers in the UK and the obstacles they face in their quest for tenured and tenure-line positions. We’re revisiting the UK in this issue. British writer Augusta Wilson and I investigated an absolutely riveting tale of betrayal and open revolt in the land of Manners and Protocol. At the Open University, where some 7,800 part-time faculty work on campuses spread across Europe, the local union leaders negotiated a less-than-favorable pay package for the part-timers. Not big news to many part-timers here in the States, I know. What happened next, though, is big news. A group of 100 part-time lecturers appealed to the union’s national headquarters and, when they didn’t get satisfaction, called an emergency meeting of all 7,800 part-timers in a bid to oust local union leaders. Today, a part-time lecturer serves as the Vice President of the Executive Committee of the Open University’s faculty union.

I want to take a moment and tell you about our new essayist. Oronte Churm is a writer of whom we expect the unexpected. His dispatches and essays benefit from a dry wit and a keen eye, and examine academe from an unique perspective. I am sure readers will enjoy his contributions.

I also want to mention our new “analysis” column. Assistant Editor Elizabeth Carter suggested the column, and will continue to write for it. Liz, who holds both an MFA and a degree in law, is not only able to craft her pieces well, but in addition brings some sharp analytical skills to the pages of Adjunct Advocate. Liz’s previous pieces amply demonstrate her ability to parse out very complicated issues. Her next essay will analyze the efficacy of academic association policy statements on the use of part-time faculty.

Finally, I am proud to tell you that this Adjunct Advocate and my Adjunct Advocate were profiled in the March 17, 2006 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. Writer John Gravois did a terrific job of capturing the essence of what it is I strive to accomplish. Have a look. –P.D. Lesko