Faculty Senate at Univ. of Cincinnati Gives Unanimous Approval of Report on Adjunct Working Conditions
The University of Cincinnati’s (UC) Faculty Senate voted unanimously on Jan. 14 to endorse the findings of a report on the working conditions of the university’s adjuncts. The adjuncts at are not represented by any union, including the full-time faculty AAUP chapter, but have their own University of Cincinnati Adjunct Advocacy Association.
The report – released by Faculty Senate’s Human Relations Committee on Dec. 20 – calls on university leaders to raise minimum compensation for adjuncts and improve intradepartmental communications regarding eligibility for promotions.
The report’s authors state, “While there is certainly some good news to report, there is much we should do to improve conditions for this important segment of our university community. Many disciplines rely on adjunct faculty to bring expertise and experience from outside academia to enrich education for students. As a matter of basic professional respect, all adjunct faculty deserve compensation and support commensurate with the expertise they bring to the university. In addition, adjuncts nationally are disproportionately female and non-white. Bringing their compensation and support into parity with full time faculty is therefore an issue of critical importance to the university’s efforts at equity and inclusion.”
“The top recommendation we have is to set a minimum pay for adjuncts,” Faculty Senate Chair Greg Loving said at Thursday’s meeting, noting there has been some concern, especially from administrators, as to how that will be funded.
“It is the most core thing a university does is to support teaching and it is a move we need to make,” he said.
Adjunct faculty comprise 38.4% of instructional staff across all of the university’s campuses and often teach course loads comparable to that of full-time faculty, according to data compiled in the report.
However, salaries for adjuncts teaching at UC tend to be lower than those of adjuncts teaching at other large, research-intensive universities.
According to data from the Chronicle of Higher Education, the average pay for an adjunct teaching English at UC was $2,800 per three-credit class.
Adjuncts teaching the same discipline at the University of Kentucky and Ohio State University made an average of $3,100 and $5,000 per three-credit class respectively, data shows.
“Depending on rank, adjunct pay at UC per credit hour ranges from $800 to over $3,000, putting colleges in the position of competing with one another, not only with other universities, for qualified adjunct faculty,” the report states.
Nearly a dozen colleges acknowledged it has been anywhere from two to nine years since they’ve readjusted pay rates to be competitive with other universities, the report states. The report also states, “More than 67% of FT faculty reported in the 2020 survey that they have never received
an increase in compensation at UC.”
Pay also varies widely depending on where in the university an adjunct teaches.
In Arts and Sciences, adjunct salaries range from $900 to $1,200 per credit hour whereas pay in the College of Business ranges from $1,575 to $2,375, according to the report.
These findings are consistent with previous research that shows many adjuncts nationally earn less than $25,000 a year and fall below the federal poverty threshold.
While promotions are the only means for adjuncts to receive raises, the report also found a majority of adjunct faculty have not been informed of their eligibility for promotion.
Loving noted that treatment of adjuncts is not homogeneous, with some colleges being more supportive of their adjunct faculty than others.
“There are some colleges out there doing some really good things,” he said. “So, it’s very hit and miss with colleges and units.”
Provost Kristi Nelson said in a statement to The News Record that her office has received the report and is currently reviewing its findings.
Loving said the provost’s office wanted the report released in time for administrators to use it to inform budget decisions.
Following senators’ approval of the report, the next step is to get it into the hands of deans, directors and department heads, Loving said.
“It’s an issue very close to my heart, it’s an issue nationally that needs attention and we will not let this drop,” he said.
The Ohio Conference of the AAUP estimates the University of Cincinnati would have to add 4.5 percent to its total expenditures to promote half of its adjuncts to the position of assistant professor.
