MASS #ADJUNCT FIRING AT BALTIMORE CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Maria Maisto writes...

Our colleagues at Baltimore City Community College report that there has been a mass firing of adjuncts at Baltimore City Community College with just a few weeks to go before classes start. We are still trying to get information about how extensive the firings were and the reasons behind them, but it appears that the official explanations are "credential checks" and reduced student enrollment by as much as 45%.  It also appears that the targeted adjuncts are those who signed cards in support of unionizing with SEIU Local 500.  

The Associate Dean of the English, Humanities, Visual and Performing Arts department, who authorized these firings and reassignments, has resigned effective August 1.  

Adjuncts' classes are being reassigned to full-timers, none of whom are on tenurable contracts (there is no tenure at BCCC).  It looks like the full-timers will be teaching as many as double the number of courses they usually teach -- and some of them don't even know it yet.
We are still trying to find out more and to provide more information as we get it.  Please contact us if you have any information, and help us support our BCCC colleagues.

Maria Maisto
President, New Faculty Majority
Executive Director, NFM Foundation
maria.maisto@newfacultymajority.info
maria.maisto@nfmfoundation.org
Ph: (216) 262-4375
NFM Web: newfacultymajority.org
NFMF Web: nfmfoundation.org

Petition Junction... supersized

Check & click petitions listed below. Do you have an adjunct or highered petition? Send us the link to add to our list, plus adjunct heroes for a hat tip here too ~ 


Reinstate Fired Adjunct Professor Sissy Bradford is next on featured "pin to the top of the page" list: New Faculty Majority petitions Texas A&M University at San Antonio, presented by Matt Williams.

Adjunct Pay Petition, presented by Ana Maria Tamayo Fores, whose monumental persistence inspired me to start this project, current "pinned to the top" on our Facebook timeline. Currently at 1,867 signatures


Another equal pay for equal work  petition to Obama for part time college teachers. Petitioner Carol Jordan of California Part-Time Faculty Assoc. (CPFA, in CA CCs) writes, 

"Part time community college instructors earn, on average, 50 cents on the dollar compared to full timers. Moreover, we receive no benefits, no tenure, and no pension. We need pay equity NOW! That's why I signed a petition to President Barack Obama asking him to: Stop balancing college budgets on the backs of part time faculty. Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name.

Support forgiveness of student loans, presented by Robert Applebaum. There are also a number of other student loan petitions. Campaigns for student loan debt reform recommend signing all of them or as many as you can ~ separate posts on this issue to follow.

Tell Vice President Biden: Don't Blame Faculty for the High Cost of College; Most Are "Working Poor!" (a New Faculty Majority petition, yes it's still up)

The CREDO Current Actions list includes a student loan forgiveness (scroll to the bottom), probably not the one (I hope) you already signed. The list also includes a number of petitions worth your attention. Spend some of it CREDO is also on Facebook. 

Hat Tips to (adjunct) Heroes... 

• Judy Olson for bridge building and tireless work on cooperative NFM/NEA project to pass NEA Action at 2012 RA formally requesting clarification of pesky "reasonable assurance"), now joined by AFT to for an official group letter to DoL signed by all three (NFN, NEA, AFT)
• Jack Longmate for ongoing resistance to bullying by tenured bargaining unit colleagues at Olympic College and refusal to knuckle under to pressure
• Robin Sowards, adjunct faculty, linguistics, at Duquesne University, for actions organizing adjuncts, patiently navigating resistance, shepherding the process through multiple NLRB review. We're waiting for board member and blog contributor Alan Trevithick's definitive article. In the meantime, follow Alan's coverage here.
• Ross Borden, board member, for unsung (because allergic to social media) work on NFM research projects, the Unemployment Compensation Initiative, Student Loan Debt issues (which he and I hope will become a full fledged initiative) and many other projects.  You may not be able to find his footprint online (unless someone else makes it on his behalf), but he's there and making a difference.

Past hat tipped heroes (still heroic) include Josh Boldt, Sissy Bradford, Lee Bessette (whom we are rooting for to leave our ranks), among other usual suspects. Could this become another, separate feature with a subcategory for non/adjunct heroes? I'm thinking of supporters like Peter Brown, Pablo Eisenberg, Jonathon Rees, Karen Kelsky, Seth Kahn, Kate Bowles and others. Separate profiles would be neat but, until such time as I clone myself, not realistic. Until then, this would help fill the gap and express our appreciation. 

Nominations please... submit names with brief description, plus link/s if available.

The Future of Higher Education

 PEW report on the Future of the Internet by Janna Anderson, Jan Lauren Boyles, Lee Rainie. Jul 27, 2012, surveys some stakeholder expectations for the future of higher education. 

OVERVIEW

Don't rob poor to educate rich

…#UCB Chancellor Birgenau tells Times Higher Education, UK... and there I was thinking I'd have to pass on posting today, tired early and not guest contributor on the horizon to give me a break.... then this in my feed reader, irresistible blog manna from cyberspace. Ever so many thanks Elizabeth Gibney for this treasure, more confirmation than surprise.

Vox populi: US now sees the academy as a private good. Higher education should not be free even if the funds permit it, according to the chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley. Tuition fees for in-state students at the public university have almost doubled in three years. But Robert Birgeneau, who steps down at the end of the year, told Times Higher Education that he does not mind tuition going up for the wealthy...."If you do any economic analysis, if education is free it simply represents a transfer of income from poor to rich...I think that's a social injustice," he added.


Read the rest at Times Higher Education - Don't rob poor to educate rich. There is also a comment section should you feel so inclined. 

NFM UCI State Coordinator Application

New Faculty Majority is currently seeking State Coordinators for the NFM National Unemployment Compensation Initiative These are currently UNPAID VOLUNTEER positions. We understand, as keenly as anyone can, that adjunct & contingent faculty already have their hands full with other responsibilities. We hope that, through the efforts of the organization's many volunteers, New Faculty Majority might affect change in the academy which will benefit future generations of scholars and students.

We are getting quite a few inquiries from folks who would like to serve as volunteer state coordinators. Be assured that we will find a role for anyone who is willing and able to help. Please take just a few minutes to complete the application and tell us a little about yourself and why you want to become involved in advocating for adjunct & contingent faculty rights.