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Lesko Blog
Science May Have Found a Cure for the “Adjunct Syndrome”
The challenges, struggles, poor pay and non-existent institutional support continue to crush the life out of hundreds of thousands of non-tenured faculty. Will the general public ever care? I don't think so. While mainstream media continue…
Venting About Students on Twitter May Be Re-Wiring Your Brain (and Not in a Good Way)
There are two types of complaints: chronic complaints and venting. According to psychological research, "in one series of studies, researchers tracked people’s moods before and after hearing a complaint. As predicted, listening to gripes…
Why Being a Hard-Ass Prof is Bad for You and Your Students
To be sure, every syllabus includes rules, such as outlining when assignments are due and the consequences of plagiarism. That being said, why do so many faculty members view teaching college as an opportunity to impose and enforce "the…
When Social Media Posts Cost Adjuncts Their Teaching Jobs
Run-ins with students who then complained used to be one of the main reasons adjunct faculty found themselves out of work. However, with the growing reach of social media, adjunct faculty who take to Twitter and Facebook to express their…
Of Course Tenured Faculty Are Responsible for the "Adjunct Crisis"
by P.D. Lesko
On Feb. 22, 2017, Blaine Greteman, an associate professor of English at the University of Iowa, penned an essay for The Chronicle of Higher Education titled, "Don't Blame Tenured Academics for the Adjunct Crisis." In his…
Barnard Adjuncts Just Showed Us All Why It’s Time for the $25K Manifesto
We all know that $10,000 per course is a giant step closer to equal pay for equal work than $5K per course. We also know that $15,000-$25,000 per course would be equal pay at most two- and four-year public and private colleges and…
How Your Student Evals Are Killing Your Chances for a FT Job (And Better Pay)
by P.D. Lesko
What are the most credible methods and evaluative tools to use when deciding whether to rehire an adjunct faculty member? This is a question that should be asked by hundreds of thousands of college administrators…
How California's "Part-Time Faculty Job Security" Bill Will Hurt PTers
by P.D. Lesko
California State Senate Bill 1379. Where do I even begin? SB-1379 was sold to California adjunct faculty as the so-called Part-Time Faculty Job Security Bill.
However, the legislation on Gov. Brown's desk waiting for his…
LIU-Brooklyn Faculty Lockout: Why Americans Don’t Care
by P.D. Lesko From The Atlantic (Monthly) to the Pacific, newspapers, magazines, online education news sites, columnists, bloggers, pundits, activists, unionists, Facebook friends and Tweeps worked the “Je Suis Charlie” angle hard on behalf…
Why Every Adjunct Should Be Watching Friedrichs v. the California Teaching Association
by P.D. Lesko Agency fees, or as education union officials refer to them, “fair share fees,” are paid to faculty unions by individuals who either choose not to belong to a union, are barred from belonging to the union, or who…