Insecure, Insulted and Ignored: No Way to Treat a Donor

…Part II in Commentary series by Chessie Green, 2.18.13, who writes,

Let’s throw a bone to the university for just a moment and view the adjunct as a willing and generous donor who gives the students and the university a gift. “It’s a privilege” to teach for the university and “the best adjuncts want to give back.” Place a value on it: let’s say a couple of hundred thousand dollars worth of expertise, and for the students, a priceless amount of caring and attention.  In return, the university gives them a tip and treats them without respect and as completely dispensable. 

Continuing on my riff of the adjunct as donor, I’d like to tell you what happened when I “donated” my time and years of expertise as a last minute substitute for a full-time, tenure-track faculty member.  I had two weeks to prepare, and at the appointed time, on a dark January evening, I arrived at the designated building. 

The building, on a satellite campus, appeared to be closed. Most of the lights had been turned off.  There was a weak light over what turned out to be the entrance. The building was completely unsecured.

The next day, I contacted the faculty liaison for my department (whose offices are on the main campus). I described the fact that the building was dark and unsecured and asked what I should do in case of emergency.  I received no response.

Adjunct as Donors, a series

Intrepid readers, here's a treat for you: a 3-part guest post series on, as noted in the title, "Adjuncts as Donors." No, not organ donors (just couldn't resist the graphic ~ besides, doesn't it seem like the system takes everything and still wants more?). At least there is paying black market in that, something you can't say about all the uncompensated time adjunct donate. We're not even getting a tax break. 

Commentary by Chessie Green,  2.18.13  
Insecure, Insulted and Ignored: No Way to Treat a Donor – Part I  

In just the past few weeks, major gifts by individuals to prominent universities have made headlines.  We have Duke, Columbia, University of California, NYU, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and more.  That led me to think about donors to universities, and in thinking about donors, I remembered the administrator who said that adjuncts aren’t teaching for the money but because “the best adjuncts want to give back.”

Let’s say, for the moment, that the point is legitimate, and we view the adjunct as a willing and generous donor who gives the students and the university a gift.  Place a value on it: let’s say a couple of hundred thousand dollars’ worth of expertise, time, commitment to educational excellence - and for the students, a priceless amount of caring and attention. 

In return, the university gives them a tip and treats them without respect and as completely dispensable. 

 Here are some examples from my experience.
 If an adjunct spoke out about a late payment, or some help that had been promised but not delivered, the university closed ranks.  The attitude seemed to be to let them sink or swim because “it’s a privilege” to teach for the university and because “the best adjuncts want to give back.”

Introducing: Joe Berry's COCAL Updates

We are pleased to announce a new feature here on the New Faculty Majority's blog: Joe Berry's COCAL Updates, excerpted from Joe Berry's well known email list aggregating news and information about COCAL, labor, organizing NTT faculty labor and other contingent faculty issues. 

  

Joe has been doing the list longer than 10 years, since the first Campus Equity Week (CEW) and the founding of COCAL in Chicago. for a more complete picture of Joe's extensive background in higher ed, labor and academic labor organizing, check out this (somewhat outdated since he's in Berkeley now, not Chicago) bio page for Joe. 

Email joeberry@igc.org to subscribe to the complete COCAL Updates

KUDOS: Scott Jaschik, EWA Award, Education Reporting

IHE editor and co-founder Scott Jaschik is among Education Writers of America's 2008 National Awards Contest Winners (in Education Reporting) for his series on adjuncts in academia, which earned a first place for beat reporting in the small media

Scott Jaschik won this award for a set of 2008 articles in Inside Higher Education (IHE) on the rising use of adjunct professors. His articles focus on issus such issues as how colleges treat their workers, the impact on students of being taught by professors without tenure, and the effectiveness of unions and other groups that say they protect faculty interests. Links to the articles can be found here.

His winning entry included the following articles:

• "New Form of Adjunct Abuse”
• “Bias Against Older Candidates”
• “Tenure as a Tarnished Brass Ring”
• “Evaluating the Adjunct Impact”
• “Revolt in the Adjunct Ranks”
• “Exception to the Rule”

If you have not read them, now would be a good time. If you already have, there's always rereading...

Image credit ©Wilson Center 2011. Post edited July 18, 2014 to add labels and replace image gone AWOL.