By Darren Johnson
Campus News
I belong to a few adjunct gripe groups on Facebook, and every now and then someone will come on and say – HEY! HEY! If us adjuncts have it so bad (with low pay, no benefits and little job security), why don’t we all quit? What can they do but acquiesce to our demands!
It’s kind of a childish way to look at workplace economics.
Their gist is, adjunct instructors are cheap scabs manipulated by college administrations to save money. Typically, an adjunct might cost the college a fifth as much per credit hour compared to a full-time professor with benefits.
So if all the of adjuncts suddenly quit, the administration would be screwed, the gripers think.
They (the administration?) would have to cave in and give adjuncts some hidden pot of gold.
Yeah, except whenever adjuncts try to strike, they are the ones who always end up caving.
The problem is, adjuncts really are expendable. The minimum qualification to be an adjunct usually is a master’s degree. Thirteen percent of Americans have at least that. In towns with colleges – where adjuncts are hired – the number is even higher.
So, while it would be painful for a college to suddenly lose all of their adjuncts, it would not be catastrophic, because:
Full-time faculty could pick up the adjunct courses as overtime. I was a full-time instructor for a couple of years, and it was easy for me to pick up extra hours. The added pay was on par with what an adjunct would get for those hours.
College administrators themselves could pick up adjunct courses. I did this a lot when I was a college administrator. I’d use the extra money for family vacations.
Professionals in town – say MBAs, lawyers, doctors, etc. – all have advanced degrees and would love to pick up a course just to brag to their cohorts about “giving back.” A lawyer could certainly teach political science. A doctor, biology. A newspaper editor, freshman composition.
I got my first adjunct gig when I was a reporter at a small town newspaper. The college in the town put a simple ad in a different local paper looking for a Writing With Computers instructor. Three credits. A couple of grand. Sure, why not? I just fit it into my regular schedule.
And now with Zoom being more accepted, adjuncts have even less leverage. A college could find temporary instructors from anywhere in the world!
That being said, colleges really don’t want to lose their adjuncts and start over. The adjuncts already are vetted – they have had years of decent student and peer reviews – and know the culture of their school well enough to not really cause many issues.
And, during this pandemic, local adjuncts have been more willing to teach in-person classes than full-time faculty, it apparently seems, and it’s the in-person classes that give students that “college experience” promised in glossy brochures.
So, while the nation talks about “The Great Resignation” – people leaving their low-paying, headache-causing jobs en masse – it might be wise for colleges to throw a few bones to the adjuncts to keep their interest.
Let me suggest:
How about offering adjuncts a guaranteed two full courses each per semester? Even if there are only a few students who sign up for that course? One of the most precarious things about being an adjunct is that courses can be cut, and the adjunct loses that expected revenue stream, but doesn’t have time to pick up a different course at a different college because of the late notice.
Tuition remission for whole families. Many colleges offer tuition remission for the families of full-timer faculty and staff, but most not for adjuncts. A college I adjunct for offers some tuition remission for the adjunct only – but that school only goes as high as a master’s, and adjuncts already have one, by definition. Offering this perk for the immediate families of adjuncts wouldn’t cost the colleges much, and would help them better retain these adjuncts.
Fully paid health benefits. This should be a God-given right, especially in a prosperous nation like ours, but adjuncts usually don’t get any health benefits. Some colleges will offer adjuncts these at an exorbitant rate. As the economy becomes more “gig” based, many adjuncts have side careers like writer, actor, musician, that also don’t carry benefits. Someone has to look out for them – why not the Ivory Tower?
If you’re an adjunct – or a concerned student, faculty or staff member – send this article to your college president. Write a letter to your school newspaper, as well. It’s the least the college can do for these beleaguered, underappreciated instructors – who lend their talents to improve the college, if not their own financial best interests.
Darren Johnson is publisher of this newspaper, and also teaches a couple of sections of Journalism at a small liberal arts college Upstate.
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