Wet Tinder: Will the Adjunct Movement Ever Catch Fire?

NFM vice president Matt Williams tells how and this Republican adjunct teaching business and marketing became an adjunct activist and joined the New Faculty Majority. Matt (pictured below "swimming in a sea of non-Republicans" at 2010 NFM Retreat in Akron Ohio. Left to right: Ross Borden, Research Chair, SUNY Cortland; Matt Williams slaving over a hot laptop; NFM President Maria Maisto, U Akron, Anne Wiegard, then Secretary, now President NFM Foundation, SUNY Cortlandt). 


Matt writes....

I have struggled from time-to-time over the past several years that I have been involved in the adjunct & contingent faculty movement, occasionally reflecting on the question of when, if ever, the movement will achieve meaningful change.  The sparks–which have been plentiful–have thus far failed to ignite the tinder and yield a useful flame.  Why is this?  Will it change?  It it the right time?  What am I doing here?  Is all this merely a waste of time and resources?  Are we really just spinning our tires?

My late night ruminations have included the following:

What is equity for adjuncts? Will it ever become a reality?

New Faculty Majority Treasurer & (founding) board member William Lipkin asks, explaining, 

I am currently 'celebrating' my 50th years of adjuncting. Why would I subject myself to such exploitation for such a long period of time? Well for the first 35 years I had a 'real' job in the private sector, not teaching, which allowed me to raise 2 sons and give me and my wife a good lifestyle. During that period I taught a couple of courses a semester at night or on Saturday and had very little interest in pay, benefits, support, governance, etc.?

Once I realized my real passion was in teaching I left my other job and became a professional adjunct, or as we call ourselves in New Jersey - 'Roads Scholars' - traveling the state between schools in order to earn a living.

Then came the wake up call!

News from New Faculty Majority, Issue: #7

Table of Contents

• Continuing to Move Forward

• NFM's Health Insurance Plan Launches

• Meet the NFM Board

• NFM and the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education

• How to Organize or Raise Awareness on Your Campus

• Present the Facts

• My Experience as an Adjunct: A Tale of 2 Faculties

• A Word from NFM's Treasurer

• Follow Your School's Re-accreditation Process

• Announcements

Continuing to Move Forward by Maria Maisto, NFM President

Dear Colleagues: One of the lessons that every teacher learns is that you can't be a good teacher without being attuned to what it feels like to be a student. Over the last two years as we have worked to get NFM up and running, all of us on the NFM Board have periodically found ourselves feeling very much like our students: alternately confident and confused, often elated and occasionally dejected, determined but exhausted, sober but energized. We try to remind each other that while our objectives are ambitious, every step we take is instrumental, and every new member who joins us is a reminder of the first steps we all took to become activists for change and of the hopes that we all had, and continue to have, for NFM as an agent of change. That's why we're especially proud to announce that, after some unexpected delays, our health insurance initiative has officially launched! Thanks to the tireless work of Board member Tracy Donhardt, NFM members can now obtain health insurance in most states. As Tracy explains, some states are excluded, so we are working to see what might be available in those states excluded by the carrier with whom we have partnered. Keep checking back for updated information, and if you know of plans (or other solutions) that might be accessible to contingent faculty, please let us know. We are also thrilled to report that our nascent 501(c)3 foundation will be receiving grants from The Ford Foundation and the French American Charitable Trust to support the educational, outreach, advocacy and research effort embodied in our January 28, 2012 "summit" on contingent academic employment in Washington DC. This meeting, to be held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, will launch a nationwide effort to mobilize all stakeholders in higher education - faculty, administrators, students, legislators, and the public - to work together to achieve FTE - Fair Trade in Education for faculty and students. Naturally, we want to have a healthy contingent of contingent faculty at this event, so keep up to date on plans for this summit at the NFM Foundation website: www.nfmfoundation.org.

Newsletter ToC

News from New Faculty Majority, the NFM bi-monthly newsletter went out to members this morning. Usually I wait until the next day to post here on the blog and sending contents winging out to connected social media. First in line for the newsletter is a membership perk. Later, back issues are archived on the blog. Consider this a less than subtle reminder to join. This time, you get the ToC in advance.

President's Message: Continuing to Move Forward

Maria Maisto's newsletter message recaps recent and upcoming notices, activities and projects: new health insurance initiative; nascent 501(c)3 NFM Foundation; grants from The Ford Foundation and the French American Charitable Trust; our January 28, 2012 "summit" on contingent academic employment in Washington DC; ongoing efforts encouraging faculty unions to include and support contingent/ adjunct faculty members; our participation in the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education (CFHE) advocating faculty-led reform; CFHE's November 4-6 Boston meeting; Campus Equity Week 2011 (October 24-28). 

Campus Equity Week 2011, October 24-28, is a week-long, national campaign to highlight the problems associated with contingency and the lack of equity on campuses across the country. Start planning now for events on your campuses, and let us know of your plans so we can help publicize them.

Keep up to date on plans for our Summit to Confront Contingent Employment Practices in Higher Education at the NFM Foundation website