Establishing Detente

In a response to one of my blog posts, a faculty member lamented the strained relations between the Republic of Faculty Off the Tenure Track, and the United Kingdom of Tenured Professors. “Why, oh why,” asked the faculty member, “can’t we just all get along?”

It’s an interesting question, and I agree that a serious diplomatic divide persists.

Are adjunct faculty members viewed as “less than” simply by virtue of the fact that they teach off the tenure track? Several commentators on my blog entries have made such claims: Full-time faculty members deserve X because they publish, do research, advise students, advise student clubs, serve on committees, participate in governance, etc. Those duties are integral to well-run institutions. Are full timers simply envious of the fact that part timers don’t have to do any of those things?

To be sure, part timers are not carrying their fair share of nonteaching responsibilities. But let’s not forget that they frequently are not allowed to carry their fair share of much of anything. Are adjuncts in your department invited to participate in governance? Do they serve on hiring committees?

I know, I know. How can they be included in decision-making? Part-time faculty members come and go.

Except, you see, they don’t. That’s a myth. A study by the National Education Association concluded that the majority of part-time faculty members stay at their jobs for seven years or more. That’s longer than the guy in the office next to yours whose bid for tenure you just voted against. In reality, the turnover rate is almost identical between tenure-track faculty members who are denied tenure and adjuncts who choose to leave their jobs.

Perhaps the reason for the great divide between the two groups of faculty members is that they don’t speak the same language. After all, in the two worlds words such as “professor,” “office,” and “due process” have very different meanings. It’s only outside of academe where the title of “professor” is used to describe anyone who teaches in a college classroom.

So how can we foster détente? First off, those on the tenure track are going to have to treat adjuncts as helpmates, colleagues, and equals as opposed to somewhat inept sherpas who managed to stumble and mumble through master’s and Ph.D. programs, but who couldn’t then land “real” jobs. Next, let’s stop pretending there are enough “real” jobs to go around, and accept the fact that teaching off the tenure track is a real job. Non-tenure-track instructors are not a collective threat to tenure; they are a tremendously powerful ally.

Meanwhile, adjuncts need to view tenure-track faculty members as an endangered species in need of protection. Standing up in support of tenure and tenured colleagues will eventually benefit all faculty members.

I’m not implying that any détente between the two nations will come easily. But considering that faculty members in both camps are, essentially, twins separated at graduation, resolving their political and social differences would unite those who teach the nation’s undergraduates behind two crucial goals: student retention and student success.