…yesterday was to have been a post day but turned into Disconnectivity Day for area telephones and internet via their fiberoptic cables. I would have missed #AdjunctChat but with the experimental all day "facilitated by us" format, I was able to make part of it and brought up +Laura Gibbs' idea about an instructor Learning Commons hub that she introduced on #ccourses. It keeps growing too.
As for blogging, today it is then ⁓ and a jumble at that. With the draft pile is growing, I should finish off a few before starting another post (potential draft for the pile). Meh. I'm still in recovery mode from yesterday's stress and in the meantime...
…labor history (1998 Syracuse U strike, pictured: Ben Shahn mural at SU), strikes, adjunct unions, organizing, censorship, social media, academic freedom, adjunct blog posts, Labor Notes Conference, unpaid academic labor, retirement, higher inequalities, two-tier system, adjunct response to NYT Op-Ed
… initiates a regular series, this week's links collection opens with a 2009 article that benchmarks where we were then and still holds important observations. Despite significant advances and increased public awareness, not as much has changed as we'd like to think. There's a lot of déja vu all over again to be read in:
In January, 2009 Gregory Zobel wrote in Inside Higher Ed, "Adjuncts must lead their own labor reform movement. We need our own national movement separate from the AAUP, AFT, and NEA."
recent reports on academic labor by the American Federation of Teachers and Modern Language Association.…Exploitation of contingent academic laborers is growing in scale.…Most essential – the larger picture – is that more adjuncts are being hired, exploited, and abused at more community colleges and universities around the United States than ever before
…are they precursors of change or another round of promises? Will momentum continue to build, moving toward a tipping point, a major swerve? I'm still working on another change post, building off the last. The concept no sooner gels than something pops up to change it. Change is like that. This is not about change but not quite not about change. Starting as a gap fill post, it has come to feel more like watching for the wave.
With a month and a half to go, a new Campus Equity Week page launched. What did Mission Control used to say? We have lift-off. Later than advised but well ahead of the 2009 and 2011 late starts.
From its inception, CEW was as a genuine grassroots effort. Yet without the focus of a dedicated home base and a point person designated to round up, report, announce and share resources, it was not thriving as it had earlier. Not that anyone wanted to see it go, but there was no concerted effort for a large scale push. Pockets of activities persisted on scattered campuses.
A trio of strong speakers, in remarks moderated by New Faculty Majority President Maria Maisto, opened up with powerful views about education. Speakers railed against the current intolerable conditions of the majority faculty, preached on the need for alliances between adcons and other communities—both more and less exploited—and robustly defended higher ed's true character as a public right and a public good--the only context in which the rights and working conditions of adjunct and contingent faculty will be genuinely addressed.
…cutting course loads to duck covering adjuncts because it is the most effective tool for comprehensive coverage and to do justice an important story with its many voices and implications for the future of adjunct labor.
Judy Olson's first hand account and detailed analysis of contingent faculty success at NEA Assembly on unemployment support item, also covered by CHEand briefly in IHE
New blog post by NFM veep Matt Williams, Wet Tinder or the contingent faculty movement catching fire?
...news & links about#ContingentFaculty & #organizing in #highered. To subscribe to regular Updates, email joeberry@igc.org. More aboutJoe Berry. Updates are also archived at chicagococal.org. Follow COCAL International on Facebook. As a personal favor, Joe asks your to read and consider an appeal from a friend and fellow activist.
Going Global... COCAL X early registration date has been pushed back to July 1: register online at cocalinternational.org
Class War University is new site collecting articles on the struggle in higher ed worldwide. "Yo soy 132: Student-led Uprising," the most recent post on the site, is an interesting interview with a professor at Univ. Metro in Mexico City about the current student movement, its history and prospects. Although the only "international" story, the blogroll on the right sidebar shows a good international selection.
"The extraordinary student mobilization in Quebec has already sustained the longest and largest student strike in the history of North America, and it has already organized the single biggest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. It is now rapidly growing into one of the most powerful and inventive anti-austerity campaigns anywhere in the world."
Current issue of World Wide Work, Matt Witt's compilation of good labor related literature, music, film etc. Published by the American Labor Center, an independent nonprofit founded in 1979. Subscribe to receive copies by email.
What does it mean to do progressive work today? What are the core qualities of successful organizers? How do we build the organizations and movements that these times call for?
For folks in and near Chicago, Eric Mann of the Strategy Center and Bus Riders Union in LA will be in Chicago March 22, 5:30 - 7:30 PM, at the Jane Addams Hull House on the UIC campus to do a talk onTransformative Organizing: A Theory and Practice for a Social Justice Revolution. He will talk about his new book, Playbook for Progressives: 16 Qualities of the Successful Organizer, a very good book distilling his 40 years of organizing experience. He has been very supportive of contingent issues and one of his children is a contingent faculty person.
About: Eric Mann is the director of the Labor/Community Strategy Center in Los Angeles and a founder of the Bus Riders Union. The Strategy Center is a "think tank/act tank" that trains organizers and initiates high visibility environmental justice, mass transportation, and civil rights campaigns. The BRU is the largest mass transportation group in the U.S. and the subject of Haskell Wexler's feature length documentary: Bus Riders Union.
He has written seven books and is the co-host of the weekly radio show, Voices from the Frontlines, on KPFK Pacifica 90.7FM in Los Angeles. He has published more than 200 articles that have appeared in the New York Times, L.A. Times, Boston Globe, Boston After Dark, Worldwatch, Socialist Register, Black Agenda Report, Black Commentator, AhoraNow, and The Nation.
Union staff job opening (organizer) for grad union, AFT 6300, at U of IL, Chicago
WEST COAST
More on CA Fed Of Teachers deal with Gov. Brown on dropping the Millionaire's Tax for a compromise with his less progressive initiative, Labor Notes
INTERNATIONAL
Mexicanprivate universities growing fast, quality concerns [not sure how many of these are for-profit or who the faculty are exactly, but I can guess] World University News
Appeal for info for research project on grad employees: Nancy Poole,LIS/Educational Studies, UNC at Greensboro, is collecting stipend.tuition/responsibilities information for graduate assistants at all levels, nationally. I would like to include our Canadian colleagues as well. Please visit the The Graduate Assistant Project site and fill out the form (it can be as anonymous as you want ;=) You can see the results of all the data collection at once by clicking on the spreadsheet link. Please pass this on to all of your graduate assistant contacts. This information is open to all who may have a need to be informed.
Universities moving tooutsource instructionto outside private entities, not just hiring contingents internally on second tier. [This is a serious threat, which Fox, of course, really likes. No longer having the institution as the employer would make organization of these faculty much harder]Fox Business News
Yes, these are a week late. There's another set of updates from Joe waiting in the email box for formatting, link embedding and perhaps an image or so to perk it up. I'm experimenting with layout and organization too. Email joeberry@igc.org, to subscribe to regular updates in brief and links by email. More about Joe Berry, Updates, COCAL, publications, links.
This is about the proposed Fischer Legislation, in Colorado, which would in Dr. Doe's words, result in real benefits for adcons, in time, as institutions do the right thing, "take the plunge, make a five-year commitment, and reap the benefits of a more secure teaching faculty."
Wonderful testimony about our issues. Congratulations, Sue. Let's get some comments up.
Let's be into everything. Now is our time. Again, thank you, Sue.
UPDATE: Sue Doe writes with the following: "I have to correct the record a bit in terms of the House Bill. I didn't testify the way that Don Eron and Suzanne Hudson (CU-Boulder) and Ray Hogler (CSU) did, which was in the actual Colorado House chambers. I was insufficiently courageous for that. I just sent in my written testimony! Ray Hogler, Don Eron, Suzanne Hudson and Representative Fischer are the people who showed the real guts. You may have met Ray at the Summit and you may know Don and Suzanne from their work with AAUP on the notion of teaching tenure."
Thanks for that, Sue—but we're still marking yours as more than sufficient, and we're glad to have everyone else here to be congratulated as well, on their courage, commitment and vision.
Beautiful news here about SEIU Adjunct Union at American University. The strength and gathering momentum of the nationwide movement for adcon visibility and empowerment!
And check out Julian Bond voting for the new union—now that's how star power Adjuncts should do it! Jill Biden, take note! (PS sign the petition too!)
Yes, today is the day. Can't be there? Got it covered: Twitter, Facebook, live blogging, social media team at the ready and other attendees armed with mobiles. Follow #newfac12on Twitter. Lee Bessette will be liveblogging the Summit at College Ready Writing. Check out her pre-Summit post with resource links and listing the team so I don't have to again here.
Check @NewFacMajority and NFM's Facebook wall for introductions and links. We'll add others as they come up. I'll be here and there, dropping in on Twitter and Facebook, checking mail and rss feeds. All from New Mexico...
Alas, no livestreaming video. Who knows, maybe there will be mobiles with web cams in the crowd. Never discount serendipity. Audio will be available after the event.
Talking Points: plus a great late add from Gary Rhoades, visibility
Saturday, Nov 19, 9am-1pm, Washington DC. See below for details on topics and calls for presentations. This is late getting this out (my bad), so contact Anne McLeer to make sure the Forum is still accepting presentations.
Great day today at Union County College in Cranford New Jersey. Our AFT Local's Executive Board hosted a 5 hour marathon for Campus Equity Week in the main hallway of the main building.
Within the first 2 hours we gave away over 100 AFT "I Make a Difference Every Day" T-shirts while the Board wore our Scarlet Letter 'A' is for \Adjunctt-shirts. By the end of the day we went through several large urns of coffee, about 300 cookies and pastries, and a lot of explanation to students about how the adjuncts add to the success of the students.
Yours truly, Bill Lipkin, far left
We harvested over 500 signatures on our petition for proportional compensation for adjunct faculty. The President of the College and several of the VPs actually joined us for a short time and shared cups of coffee. The chapter Executive Board of AAUP (our full time faculty) actually sat at our tables for most of the day to show support for us.
If nothing else, with all of our signs and posters, we did make a statement, and hopefully we can build off of the start we made today for equity for adjuncts.
Welcome to #CEW2011. Past midnight, Campus Equity Week is now officially underway. What could be more appropriate than to start the week with the film that is probably a CEW signature event. If your group is hosting an information table, set up a laptop to screen Degrees of Shame and other videos. A large HD monitor, if you can finagle one would be a plus.
And if there is no table or special campus activity, don't let that stop you. Why not do something on your own or with a few colleagues? CEW originated as a grassroots, local initiative event. Share the video (and others ~ we'll be posting a playlist), blog it, host an informal movie night, ask your local Occupation to show it, email the link to the press with a cover letter (to the editor) and / or to legislators ~ and elsewhere.
In 1960 Edward R. Murrow made Harvest of Shame a television documentary about the plight of migrant farm workers. To Barbara Wolf the economic situation and working conditions of adjunct professors suggested an information economy parallel to migrant farm workers.
Following the logic of Harvest of Shame, Wolf interviews a variety of adjunct faculty to make visible the working lives of these least respected but absolutely vital faculty members who now do more than 40% of the teaching in America's institutions of higher education. Interviews with university administration officials, union leaders, legislators, and other observers document both the problem and possible solutions.
Murrow concluded Harvest of Shame by asking his viewers to cultivate “an enlightened,aroused and perhaps angered public opinion” and to demand a change. Wolf sees her documentary as both informational and, in Murrow’s tradition, as a tool for change.
If you are just tuning in, look at some previous posts on the matter of misreporting, here, and here.
Ok, we’ve done Peterson’s and Collegeview, now let’s look at some Federal numbers. Again, this is just for one of the places where I work—Westchester Community College—but you should ask questions about your institution(s) as well. Maybe everybody but WCC is reporting more thoroughly?
Maybe.
Remember from previous posts that I think there are more than 1000 faculty at WCC, and that 85% or more are adjuncts-or “Part-time” in the reporting. So, look at WCC:
That’s from the National Center for Education Statistics, US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences.
Therein, for 2009, we find that part-time faculty are listed at 311. Full-timers are said to be 167. That’s 478, no? Check my math. Now off you go to the WCC Facts and Figures-Faculty for 2009? 170. All full-time. No part-timers at all. Where are the missing faculty?
Shouldn’t they all come out, like ghosts, for Campus Equity Week?
… initiates a regular series, this week's links collection opens with a 2009 article that benchmarks where we were then and still holds important observations. Despite significant advances and increased public awareness, not as much has changed as we'd like to think. There's a lot of déja vu all over again to be read in:
With a month and a half to go, a new Campus Equity Week page launched. What did Mission Control used to say? We have lift-off. Later than advised but well ahead of the 2009 and 2011 late starts.
around the adjunctiverse
O Canada!
