Can New Jersey Adjuncts Break Down a Stone Wall? by Bill Lipkin

On October 26, as part of the start of Campus Equity Week activities in New Jersey, United Adjunct Faculty of NJ held its Delegate Assembly meeting. Present were 68 delegates from 10 Community College Chapters and members of the AFTNJ Executive Board. A major focus of the Assembly was on the Affordable Care Act and how it was already affecting adjuncts in the state.

The State of New Jersey had issued a letter several weeks before concerning the ACA and the four year Colleges and Universities in NJ. This letter instructed HR directors to determine hours worked for adjuncts by crediting them 8 hours for every day they had a class on the campus. In other words if you had one Monday/Wednesday/Friday class (3 credits) that would count as 8 hours per day or 24 hours a week. You would not be able to teach on Tuesday or Thursday. We did convince the State how ridiculous this was since an adjunct would be able to teach all day on those three days, teaching 18 credits and still be credited with 24 hours a week. Plus this did not address on-line courses.

Education International Newsletter HT @eduint…

because education is a global issue & we are all in this together… November 2013 News highlights from the global education scene

COMPROMISE BETWEEN COLLEGE AND ADJUNCTS

Since April our Union leadership has been in discussions with the administration of Union County College in New Jersey involving adjunct teaching loads in relation to the Affordable Care Act. At first these discussions were quite contentious, and our members were motivated to write letters to the editors of local newspapers and stage a threatened walk-out at a 'Adjunct Forum' where the administration was ready to take the hatchet and drastically reduce our teaching loads. The presence of local news reporters and health care experts from AFT National forced the administration to back off a little.

Fordham #Adjunct @eValerick aka +Alan Trevithick explains

…Faculty Exploitation, #StudentDebt, Origin of Universe…lagniappe…

In addition to the usual adjunct issues, conference/ news/ personalities coverage, this post is also a combination BYOP (Bring Your Own POPCORN), "meet your New Faculty Majority board member," testing improved YouTube sharing to Blogger, and participating in Alan's experiment .

Interesting and worth following, like the legendary floating crap game,  the experiment is worth looking for even if you're never quite sure where to find it. That last may not be a social media plus but adds a certain something to the adventure. We'll be entertained and learn a lot. I'm skeptical about explaining all the other and still having time for the origins of the universe but remain open minded

HE media recaps #CALconference

…in CHE/IHE…in case you missed live #socialmedia coverage, multiple twitter streams, Facebook coverage, SEIU's outstanding CAL Conference Storify (which gets my personal better reporting than usual media award) …now that the fat lady has not just sung but left the building …HE media tells us and the rest of higher ed what to think. It remains to be seen if mainstream media even notice Local 500's conference. Based on previous events, my guess would be that CAL conference organizer Anne McLeer, Adjunct Action's Mariah Quinn and the rest of their DC crew will not drop the ball on sending out press releases. One thing at a time: we'll get to those…

Conversations: #highered, #adjuncts & chatting up Mr Ed.Gov

…because they want input. Yours. Mine. Ours. Input is not just for organizations and individuals who can make it to the various "college affordability" hearings around the country. You can read about CFHE testimony at the California one just past in the Academe blog. NFM will be represented at the DC area hearing at George Washington University, this Wednesday, aka tomorrow. There will be additional hearings at LSU in Baton Rouge and another at an Iowa campus.

So where does that leave the individual adjunct in the usual throes of feeling voiceless?

Notice has been relatively short on hearings. Some but not all organizations have canvassed members. There is a form for members on the NEA Higher Ed page but moderated, which means your voice may be heard, but then again maybe not. Also membership pages and closed groups are less than open fora.

To finish answering the question:

#CEW2013 reflections HT @USAS & others

USAS "Thriller" Flash Mob - video

…in a word, hectic. Others would be productive, exhilarating, strenuous, downright fabulous (would that be two?). Making connections and gains, large and small. The large may count for more in some eyes, how many signatures, followers, shares, likes, RTs and so on, not to mention the status of who by/to/from. It's the social media version academic citation syndrome. There's a whole 'nother post there about that syndrome and what it says about being network clueless ~ but that and counting digital coup is another post. Today we celebrate them all.

The small, often personal and sometimes even private actions are as precious as the large. No one can know which will be looked back on as the tipping point 20 years on. Chaos theory and the butterfly. Cherish, revel in and celebrate all of them. Large or small, all take a bow...follow the lead of USAS flash mobs across the country and dance in the streets