Fourteen adjunct activists from both coasts and points in between met via conference call today to hash out the preliminary details of forming an organization that would be a national voice for contingent faculty members.

The new group, with the working name of the National Coalition for Adjunct Equity, invites other adjuncts to participate in the creation of what organizers hope will “educate the public about the need for just and equitable treatment” of those not on the tenure track, Maria Maisto, an associate lecturer of composition at the University of Akron and co-chair of the group’s organizing committee, said in a written statement.

Over the next three weeks, the group expects to develop a mission statement and fine-tune how the organization will be structured. Tasks like fund raising and other priorities will follow, organizers said.

With nearly 70 percent of professors at the nation’s colleges and universities working off the tenure track, all three national faculty unions have stepped up their efforts to reach out to adjuncts. But because the unions also represent full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members, many adjuncts say that their issues don’t get the attention they deserve. The new group’s appeal, they say, is that it would be run by — and solely for — adjuncts.

Efforts to get such a group off the ground last summer at a meeting of the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor didn’t succeed. Previous attempts among adjuncts to make the national group a reality fell short as well. However, starting a national organization has become a more urgent priority for some adjuncts as the rocky economy has caused colleges nationwide to shed contingent faculty jobs to cut costs.

“We have a tremendous amount of talent, experience, and dedication here,” said Deborah Louis, an adjunct professor who teaches political science, criminal justice, and women’s studies at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and Eastern Kentucky University, in a statement. She is also co-chair of the organizing committee. “I’m confident this effort will be fruitful. None of us has time to waste.” —Audrey Williams June