Irene Schmidt’s pay barely covers her family’s electric bill, and she relies on her husband’s earnings to support her and her two children. An adjunct professor of Spanish at Johnson County Community College, in Overland Park, Kan., Ms. Schmidt can exist on meager pay because of her circumstances, yet she knows that may not be the case for other adjuncts. She has dedicated herself to speaking out for her less fortunate colleagues. “I don’t quit, because I think that there is a need for someone to be a voice there.”
Video and editing by Mike Simons; Reporting by Audrey Williams June; Produced by Rose Engelland
