BULK DIALOGUE

Adjunct professors at universities often have years of experience and qualifications but are not fully utilized. Many struggle financially, with some even sleeping in their cars or turning to the gig economy. Despite their value to the educational system, they are not given the respect they deserve. There is a teacher shortage, yet institutions ignore the issues faced by adjunct professors. However, there is growing momentum for reform and better pay for part-time faculty, with some success in negotiating better contracts. Overall, there is hope for improvement in the future. In order to get to the bottom of what is going on in the world of teaching, I spoke with an anonymous adjunct professor at a premier university to hear about their experience. Like many professors at the university level, adjunct professors often have years of work in their field under their belt, and often have taught collegiate-level courses before. Sometimes, they are even close to overqualified for their position. But despite their qualifications and the ever-present teacher shortage, these professors are not being utilized to the fullest, or at least as much as they could be utilized. For many professors, having only one class to teach can be a serious issue. Many can't afford to only be paid for one class per semester, and there are articles from The Guardian and the National Education Association detailing how adjunct professors sometimes have to sleep in their cars or turn to the gig economy to make ends meet, despite being vital elements of our educational system. Because this teacher is able to rely on money saved from a long and successful career, they are more of an exception to the rule regarding the payment standards of adjunct professors. Most adjunct professors don't have this stockpile to fall back on, however. The average age of adjunct professors hovers around 50 years old, and they have spent most of their young adult and even their early adult lives in academia, where money is often tight, and even without being weighed down with student loans, they face a serious financial uphill battle. And there are still serious questions about how valued adjunct professors are, pay aside. Obviously, this strains an already vulnerable and exploited academic group, and they should have the same respect, as they have the years of experience to teach while also often teaching not for the money, but for the purpose. With all of these issues, one might think that there is a viable course of action for professors who want to raise questions or have ideas for improvement. With academic institutions such as hers completely ignoring their adjunct professors' issues, many don't see a future in continuing to teach. That is such a shame, for many reasons. Firstly, there is still a huge teacher shortage, and in the U.S. alone there are as many as 55,000 vacant teaching positions, up from 36,000 two years ago. In response, schools have had to rely on underqualified teachers filling the gaps to the point that almost 10% of teachers in the country don't have a license or teach outside of their expertise. Adjunct teachers still do have the passion to teach, and many have grand ideas for whole classes and departments. With all of these obstacles, it is clear to see why many adjunct professors are both needed and are hesitant to continue teaching. But institutions have one ace up their sleeve. They can rely on their professors' dreams and moral goals to bridge the gap between what they do and what they should earn and receive. There was also a complete lack of health benefits and any amount of job security, and last week the adjunct faculty unionized and advanced towards a collective bargaining agreement with the college. Most of what they want included a salary floor of $71,000 and professional development funding for non-tenured track faculty plus job security provisions. Skidmore is not alone, as adjuncts at Harvard, Loyola, BU, Fordham, and America University have negotiated better contracts with some success. This is something the adjunct professor I spoke with actually touched upon. There were also recent pushes by both students and faculty at BU for better pay for part-time faculty, and the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Max Page, outlined last month key budget priorities and named adjunct pay as one of the most important. Overall, there seems to be growing momentum for reforming the part-time faculty's apparatus, and with the growing support of teachers' unions by both adults and younger people in university right now, it seems like the momentum will only grow. That's all for today. Thank you for tuning in to Adjunct Abbreviated. You can catch future episodes on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and we also have both an Instagram, at Academia Abbreviated, and a YouTube channel, so feel free to follow us there to catch some exclusive content and stay up to date with our show. Thank you again for tuning in, and have a good one.