Adjunct Unions in the World of Catholic Higher Ed

by Menachem Wecker When Ben Stork applies for full-time teaching jobs, the adjunct film studies professor knows his résumé lands in voluminous piles. “When I’m granted a rejection letter, it almost always comes with the first line, ‘We received between 300 and 500 applications for this position,’ ” he said. “That gives you a sense of the sort of competition for tenure-line jobs.” As an adjunct, Stork faces a Sisyphean workload. Contracts, which are short-term, can arrive mere days before classes start. Adjuncts aren’t paid for preparation time when courses that miss enrollment benchmarks are canceled. And Stork has retooled […]