Lately the pages of The Chronicle seem to have had even more articles, editorials, and blog entries than usual on the use and abuse of adjunct faculty members. The economic downturn has had effects ranging from painful to devastating on college and university budgets, and whenever budgets come up in conversation, the issue of adjunct hiring is sure to be close behind.

One major argument often mounted against the extensive use of adjunct faculty members is that they reduce the quality of the education students receive. Sometimes those arguments are well motivated, and sometimes not. Some commenters assert that adjunct instructors, as a class, do not teach as well as full-time faculty members, basing that argument on an array of factors ranging from adjuncts’ often lower academic qualifications to simple prejudice.

In my supervisory and evaluative experience — nine years as a department chair, three as dean, and one as vice president for academic affairs — the range of teaching quality found in adjuncts is about the same as it is for full-time and tenure-track faculty members, at least in terms of undergraduate courses and especially in general education. Some adjuncts are genuinely brilliant teachers, bringing their students rich and valuable experiences that can be part of an outstanding education; others are just plain lousy. The same can be said of full timers.

However, there are other aspects of a high-quality education that are indeed damaged by an overreliance on adjuncts. At a small residential campus like mine, for instance, full-time faculty members participate in all sorts of activities with students that make a real difference in the quality of the community and what might be called the “texture” of campus life. Numerous studies have also shown that sustained interaction with faculty members beyond the classroom directly correlates with measures of student success such as retention and progress toward degree. Full-time faculty members are certainly required for such attention.

It is unjust to expect adjunct faculty members to perform the kinds of duties, beyond teaching, that are expected of full timers. One of the main justifications for paying adjuncts less per course than full timers is that adjuncts don’t have such extracurricular duties or research obligations. That argument has pluses and minuses, but on the whole it’s true.

Beyond these points, there are huge issues of economic justice, institutional integrity, and inexorable budget realities behind concerns about the use of adjunct faculty members, and I’m planning to continue to discuss these in my next several entries. I look forward to your comments.