In (and Out of) New Orleans, Part-Time Faculty Struggle to Rebuild Careers and Lives

When Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans on August 29, 2005, it damaged not only the city and the campuses of its 11 accredited, non-profit four- and two-year universities, but also the careers of their part-time faculty, who numbered more than 1,300. Almost a year after the disaster, part-timers who survived the hurricane are still struggling to rebuild their careers and lives.

Tulane University, with a pre-Katrina enrollment of approximately 13,000, has instituted sweeping changes in its use of part-time faculty since the hurricane struck. In 2004, Peterson’s 4-Year College Guide reported that 442 of Tulane’s 962 faculty members (or 46 percent) were part-time. By September 30, 2005, a month after the disaster, the New Orleans Times-Picayune was reporting that Tulane had terminated all of its part-time faculty who were not eligible for benefits, as well as all of its part-time faculty who had been hired after May 1, 2005 and were eligible for benefits. A December 25, 2005 report in the Philadelphia Inquirer cited Tulane’s plans to cut 200 part-time and adjunct faculty in order to mitigate the burden of $200 million in Katrina-recovery costs.

Tulane’s Renewal Plan, released last December in response to the devastation wrought by Katrina, sets forth the university’s goal to reduce its use of part-time faculty post-Katrina:
“In order to improve students’ learning experiences, most undergraduate courses will be taught by full-time faculty. Rather than use adjunct or part-time faculty as in the past, Tulane is recommending that current faculty be supplemented with ‘Professors of Practice’ where needed. These will be full-time, non-tenured faculty members whose primary assignment is instruction….”

As explained in a March 24, 2006 article in Tulane’s student newspaper, The New Wave, part-time faculty will not be completely eclipsed by professors of practice. Says the report:
“That is not to say that Tulane won’t have some part-time instructors. Part-time instructors often have special expertise to teach a particular course, or at the last minute they are needed to teach one course.”

Southern University, which terminated 19 of its programs as a result of Katrina, also laid off “quite a number of adjuncts,” said the university’s Vice Chancellor, Dr. Rose Duhon-Sells. According to Peterson’s, Southern employed 60 part-time faculty members in 2001—22 percent of its total 270 faculty members. (More recent editions of Peterson’s do not include statistics on the composition of Southern’s faculty.) Dr. Duhon-Sells was unable to confirm the exact number of part-timers laid off, but told the Adjunct Advocate that, if any or all of the terminated programs are revived, adjuncts will be hired again.

Loyola University, a Jesuit institution comprising sixty degree programs and five colleges, was also hit hard by Katrina. As reported in April on the website InsideHigherEd.com, Loyola announced its plans to cut 17 tenure-track jobs and 16 degree programs. Its part-time faculty have been affected too, however. Assistant Provost for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development, Dr. Brenda Joyner, confirmed that, before Katrina, the university employed 131 part-time faculty. By this spring, 68 of those part-time faculty, or 52 percent, had been cut.

“We expect this situation to remain the same for the foreseeable future,” said Dr. Joyner.

The University of New Orleans has also seen a reduction in its part-time faculty, some of it due to layoffs and some due to part-timers’ relocation. According to Gabrielle Gautreaux, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at UNO, the number of part-time faculty dropped from 197 before Katrina to 122 after—a reduction of 38 percent. Gautreaux noted that “the reductions are not because anyone was laid off. Because people were so far-flung after the hurricane, many opted not to teach when we re-opened in October.”

At least a handful of faculty at UNO were laid off, however. Dr. David I. Beriss, Chair of the Department of Anthropology, estimated that the department laid off approximately seven adjuncts after Katrina. Two adjuncts were rehired, however. Another three are scheduled to teach in the fall of 2006. Beriss said that “[b]eyond next fall the future is quite murky,” but that “if enrollments return and we are going to survive, we will certainly hire adjuncts.”

Adjuncts at Our Lady of Holy Cross College (OLHCC), a co-educational Catholic university with a total enrollment of approximately 1,450, fared unusually well. According to Dr. Judith Miranti, Acting Vice President of Academic Affairs, 100 percent of the college’s 71 part-timers have been retained. Miranti said the college had been “very fortunate” in its recovery from Katrina.

In his March 2, 2006 message to the college community (downloadable at http://www.olhcc.edu/presidentspage/index.shtml), the OLHCC’s President, Reverend Anthony J. De Conciliis, C.S.C., Ph.D., expressed cautious optimism about the recovery process for faculty and students:

“Six months have passed and we are grateful for all that we have been able to do for others and ourselves. Almost all of us on the faculty and staff have incomes and positions for the future. I acknowledge that some have had to make financial sacrifices in these difficult times. I also know that we are doing as much as possible to keep ‘the ship sailing’ into the future.”

At Xavier University, only a handful of part-time faculty were terminated because of Katrina. Dr. Elizabeth Barron, Vice President for Academic Affairs, estimated that, before Katrina, Xavier employed a total of 20 to 35 adjuncts per semester. It now employs only 12. Of those 12 part-timers, five were formerly employed as full-time faculty. Barron explained that, because it is difficult to find a place to live in New Orleans, some adjuncts are no longer in the city, and are therefore unavailable for employment. As the city rebuilds and recovers, said Barron, the university may increase its use of part-time faculty so that it is closer to its pre-Katrina levels. Barron confirmed, however, that Xavier’s use of part-time faculty has traditionally been very limited.

A review of faculty job listings at institutions in New Orleans revealed scant employment opportunities for part-timers. At Tulane, Loyola, and Xavier universities, no part-time openings were posted, although Loyola’s advertised openings did include four positions for visiting assistant professors—two in accounting, one in economics, and another in international business. At the University of New Orleans, two visiting faculty positions (in film studies and video and film writing/production) were posted, but no part-time positions. On a more hopeful note, however, Our Lady of Holy Cross College’s postings showed openings for adjunct business instructors, and Delgado Community College was recruiting adjunct instructors for the summer semester.

Part-timers who spoke to the Adjunct Advocate described their frustration at being laid off suddenly, and without benefits, or simply having to leave the city for lack of anywhere to live. They also expressed an awareness, however, that many others in the city had been hurt far worse.
Said one former adjunct in Tulane’s Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, “I am currently unemployed and received no benefits or compensation. The future does not appear to hold any opportunities for me, as many of the universities [in New Orleans] are financially stressed due to the reduced number of students and rebuilding efforts.”

One of her colleagues, laid off without warning in December, managed to find work in her field—only, however, by moving to Houston, where she is now employed at an engineering firm.

Armin Diblin, who at the time Katrina struck was working as a full-time adjunct professor in the anthropology department at the University of New Orleans, showed as much concern for his neighbors and students as for himself. Said Diblin: “All of us have been [a]ffected by Katrina, knowing many people who lost everything….I was fortunate. I only had two trees on my house and the repairs are close to being completed. I find not only myself, but also my students [a]ffected. Everyone knows many people in bad situations since the storm.”

Diblin said he is not sure what he will do in the future, but plans to stay in the city, which means being “stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Dr. Donna Bonner, another former adjunct in UNO’s anthropology department, was not given any official notice of her termination, but notes that the city was in a state of chaos, and that “[c]ommunication was rough.” Bonner said the chair of her department, Dr. David Beriss, regularly and promptly emailed both her and her colleagues of official university news. Bonner is now living in Austin, Texas, and using her savings to fund her own scholarly research and writing.

Like Diblin, Bonner shows an acute understanding that, although her predicament is difficult, others are facing equally or even more difficult circumstances.

“I’m lucky to have savings….Other folks have had to scramble to make a living.”

As for part-timers’ future employment opportunities in the city, Bonner is not sure. She noted the likelihood that many of the city’s universities will restructure and scale back their departments, and also pointed to the reality of soaring expenses statewide and uncertain student enrollments. Bonner summed it up simply: “The future is scary.”