Letter to the Editor

Waiting for the Green

I teach at a community college in Iowa. At the end of the Winter Term last year, someone got the idea that we adjuncts could go from eight checks every semester to four. Of course, there’s money to be saved, from using less paper, to fewer hours spent processing our paychecks. All in all, the administration made out like bandits. In the meantime, I am having a hell of a semester fronting all of my expenses while I wait for my first paycheck.

It’s inhumane not to pay employees in a timely manner for the work they do. Simply because it’s legal, doesn’t make it just. The adjuncts at MTSU who’ve gone from four paychecks per semester to just three have my sympathies.

Name Withheld

Anyone who’s teaching part-time and waiting around for a paycheck is a dope. It’s bad enough being paid a smaller salary for doing the same work that a full-timer does. Waiting around for a paycheck is just plain ridiculous. If MTSU couldn’t hire adjuncts, maybe someone there would get the message. Only a fool works for an employer who doesn’t cut checks at least every other week.

John A. Sarajian,
Adjunct Assistant Professor,
St. Petersburg, Florida

I just finished reading the piece titled “Waiting for the Green….” It was an incredibly compelling argument as to why no one should ever teach part-time and piece together full-time work. It’s a disaster waiting to happen, and all it takes is some administrator who gets the bright idea that he or she should change the pay schedule. In today’s economy, many Americans are forced to live from paycheck-to-paycheck. Sickness can wipe out one’s savings and a layoff can mean the loss of one’s home. Part-time faculty don’t have to live paycheck-to-paycheck. We are among the most highly educated members of our society, and there are many other work arrangements open to us.

Those who piece together full-time work from part-time teaching jobs, and who live from paycheck-to-paycheck, should take a moment and reevaluate their career options. Don’t leave the classroom. Leave the system, and teach part-time because you want to do so.

Charlene E. Edmonds,
Adjunct Associate Professor of Finance,
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Course Development Contracts

What has P.D. Lesko been smoking? Since when do adjuncts negotiate their contracts? The course development contract is slapped down in front of the faculty member. A pen is produced for the requisite signatures and the part-timer signs on the dotted line. To do otherwise would be to risk not getting hired to do course development. In theory, yes, every clause in every contract in open to negotiation.

However, to imply that part-time faculty have the option to negotiate their own contracts is mean-spirited and misleading. I signed my last contract which paid me $2,000 for developing a course, and counted myself extremely fortunate to have had the chance to earn a bit of extra income. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had sat down and started dictating the terms of the deal. I would have been out $2,000 dollars. Thanks for the advice, but no thanks.

Dex Miller,
Atlanta, Georgia

I’d never read the Adjunct Advocate before, but a colleague left a copy in the part-time faculty office. I enjoyed the Distance Education issue, in general, and I really appreciated seeing an article about how to negotiate course development contracts! Thank you. I am just getting into course development, and it’s handy to have an idea of what a course development contract might include. It’s always best to be prepared.

Nancy Vance-Mitchell,
Fort Collins, Colorado

Got Copyright?

Ohmygod!!! I’m new to teaching. Well, after reading “Got Copyright…” by P.D. Lesko, I can tell you that my course Web site and list of course materials are going into the shop for a thorough overhaul. And I pinned up the article (notice I did not photocopy it and stuff it into everyone’s mailbox) on the faculty bulletin board for all to read. I’ve been slowly making my way through the U.S. Copyright Office Web page materials, and have found Indiana University’s on-line Copyright Management Center a truly invaluable resource. Thanks very much. Adjunct Advocate is a life saver.

Name Withheld
Los Angeles, California