NLRB issues another complaint against @EWUChicago

…we call for a letter writing campaign & your support for United Adjunct Association at EWU and Curtis Keyes, our Chicago board member, chapter organizer and determined organizer... blogged about here for his determined struggle, first to organize EWU adjunct faculty and since then to gain EWU's acceptance of the union. Yet again, EWU is trying to get NRLB rulings to recognize the union and not place continual obstacles in their way. Here's the latest, NRLB complaint (attached below). Curtis writes, 

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

You'll find the latest NLRB complaint against East-West University in the attachment. We go back to Labor Board court on Feb 4. The East-West struggle is truly a battle for contingent faculty rights. I'm doing my best to hold on and keep fighting. Happy 2013 to all!

Bro. Curtis

About doubling student loan interest rates

New Faculty Majority board member Ross Borden reminded us recently about the July 1 deadline for setting Stafford loan rates. Unless Congress acts before July 1, the fixed rate for all new subsidized Stafford loans will be doubled, from 3.4% to 6.8%. The House has already voted to keep the present rate, but by cutting funds to implement the Affordable Care Act. The Senate is divided between Republic and Democratic plans.

Student loan debt is not just a student issue but an adjunct / contingent faculty issue as well. NFM is discussing an official letter writing or fax campaign, perhaps coordinated with other higher education advocacy groups or another campaign for maximum effect.

In the meantime, we can each take action as individuals and urge others to join us.

• Join "tweetout" using the hashtag #dontdoublemyrate. Send and RT messages, petitions, updates, links. Tag your Senators, relevant committee members and @whitehouse so they get copies. Check here for an idea of tweet volume to date. Student associations are also participating.

• Sign Progressive Secretary letter, "Tell Washington to Keep Low Student Loan Interest Rates"

This letter supports the more than 130,000 students who delivered letters to Congressional leaders asking them to stop student loan interest rates from doubling from 3.4 to 6.8 percent. The letter will be sent to the Senate and to the President.

• Sign Change.org petition, "Tell Congress: Act before July 1st, don't let student loan interest rates double."

I'll be adding more to the list between now and July 1 ~ send me yours to include ~ and I'll keep you updated on our campaign too. 

in our own write: word•river review and others

Have you seen word•river review, a juried literary journal for adjuncts only, published yearly. Submissions are accepted year round, final deadline: October 31, 2010. Issues 1 & 2, Spring 2009 & 2010, can be ordered online.

word•river

We define adjunct instructors as anyone teaching part-time or full-time under a semester or yearly contract, nationwide and in any discipline. Graduate students teaching under part-time contracts during the summer or who have used up their teaching assistant time and are teaching with adjunct contracts for the remainder of their graduate program also are eligible.

This morning, looking for something else (isn't that always the case?), I came across a 2001 adjunct ezine, Part Time Post. From Editor Abby Lynn Bogomolny's dedication:

Will conditions change if enough people become aware of the great disservice being done to students, our colleges, and contingent-academics workers? Will a fruitful triad of actions-litigation, local negotiation and lobbying of state representatives-tip the balance to remedy the conditions? We know the human impact of present policies.

Now, do we laugh or do we cry? Abby Lynn Bogomolny, wherever you are: yes, we think so too. We're still working on it. Our written landscape continues to expand: adjunct blogs (not all are just for advocacy. organizing), online publications like Adjunct Nation and (often juried) group blogs with the non-tenured sharing masthead space with the tenured. 

Among them:

Sage to Meadow: 

Jack Matthews writes, 

Sage to Meadow is my ecological reflection about living with the land and people of the American Southwest. It encompasses historical narratives of the past and immediate present. The most important element in this blog is nature. The second most important element is humanity's presence in nature. The dynamic between the individual and nature is my focus.

Wordsanctuary and Wordsanctuary Revisited, Maria Shine Stewart's two blogs. Surely. you've seen her her Adjunct ABC's / abcedarium renderings on the Contingent Faculty Email List, in Bosquet's Brainstorm column, or on Raye Robertson's The Adjunct Voice. 

Have you written Martha yet?

Write Martha Kantner, Under Secretary of Education and former adjunct, that is. In her IHE comment and on the adj-l listserv, Betsy Smith urges adjunct faculty to write Martha Kanter about living as an adjunct.

Speaking at the Saturday lunch, Martha Kantner, also a former adjunct, assured all present that she reads all of her e-mail personally - and gave her e-mail address. I know of at least one that she has read and answered.  As Raye Robertson at the The Adjunct Voice might say, It's good to have a voice.

if you haven't written yet, go to the Inside Higher Education article about adjunct issues at the 2010 NEA/AFT higher ed conference in San Jose. To get the email address, scroll down to Comments or just text search the page for "Write Martha Kantner."  Then write Martha. Betsy encourages members of the Contingent Faculty listserv to cc adj-l@adj-l.org. If you prefer the contents of your letter to remain private, that's your choice, but do let your letter be counted.

The more letters written, the better: the louder; the clearer and the more polyphonic the adjunct voice, the better ~ whether from individuals or representing groups. 

SAFRA ~ Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act

Briefly, HR 3221 amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 that authorizes most highered federal spending. Skimming brief overview ~ student loans, Pell Grants, Perkins Loans, college affordability issues, community colleges, retention/ completion stats, online education.

Contingent faculty issues? As ever conspicuous by their absence ~ the point of mounting a campaign. Ever the cynic, I somehow doubt solons will be keen to consider college affordability and ad-con issues on the same plate. Debra Leigh Scott has been pushing this too. It will take more than a few organizations and a handful of individuals to do this ~ coordinated mobilization of a mass letter writing and social media campaign.

Here’s a 12 page GOA cost estimate ~  http://www.nchelp.org/elibrary/BudgetReconciliation&HEAReauthorization/Legislation/2009Legislation/SAFRA.CBO.SCORE.July24.pdf    

Fact Sheet summary ~ http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/SAFRA-FactSheet.pdf. The full bill should be online, no telling how long … Google on.