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Why I Should Keep My Mouth Shut

March 16, 2011, 9:00 am

By Isaac Sweeney

My wife got mad at me a few weeks ago. Until this semester, I was one of those full-time adjuncts (an oxymoron, I know); I taught four sections at James Madison University and one to two sections a semester at Blue Ridge Community College. This, along with my freelance gigs, my self-published e-books, and my wife’s income, gave our family just enough income to squeak by (as long as we didn’t think about savings accounts or investing or any of those crazy things).

But I couldn’t keep my thoughts to myself.

I went and wrote some honest essays about adjunct work. Seeking prestige and a little bit of extra cash, I decided I would try to publish them and succeeded (The Chronicle published two). I even received checks for a few of them (a welcome addition for any underpaid adjunct). I had considered that my departments, especially at James Madison, wouldn’t like what I had to say about being an adjunct, but I was teaching composition, so I figured that my employers would value that I was honing my craft and presenting valid arguments over the controversial aspects of my writing.

I was wrong.

While I still teach at the community college, I was “not rehired” by the university for the spring 2011 semester. Although I don’t know why for sure –- my department expressed its right not to tell me –- I suspect it was because of the essays. I mean, my students always gave me great evaluations, my observation evaluations came back positive, the department was taking on new adjuncts, and I had even earned a bit of prestige among some of my co-workers. I’m not sure what else it could have been besides the essays on being an adjunct?

I had heard horror stories of adjuncts losing their contracts because they spoke out against the system that devalues them (not to mention their students), but I guess I thought I was invincible. I must admit there’s a little part of me that feels proud that I took the risk.

I started this by saying my wife got mad at me. She finally told me that I never should have published those essays, because it has put our family in such a tight spot financially, and it may have even hurt my chances of getting a full-time teaching job. Yet here I am, blogging about similar things. I want the system to change (partly because I have a son who will probably go to college one day), and I write about it because that’s what I know how to do.

Now I’m not so sure if losing my adjunct contract was worth it.

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  • juliewhite

    Whoa, Isaac. I am so sorry to hear that. Does the institution have a faculty association/union? I know some contracts spell out that adjuncts’ academic freedom rights are protected.

    The bigger issue, of course, is what you raised in your first post, in terms of lack of fairness in general.

  • bigtwin

    Never underestimate the pettiness of faculty in positions of power, especially when it comes to adjuncts. I’ve seen adjuncts blacklisted from depts for much less.

  • http://twitter.com/IsaacSweeney IsaacSweeney

    There’s no union or adjunct organization. I don’t know of any plans to start one either. I didn’t get a reason as to the non rehire, and they don’t have to give me one. There is no job security at JMU for adjuncts.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=570792417 Max Macias

    In the US, if you want to work–you have to self-censor.

  • http://twitter.com/drakosha_cool Irene

    the self sensoring only applies to adjuncts, apparently, not FT tenured folk.

  • 22067030

    More evidence that adjuncts need unions. And that accreditation agencies should get tougher on universities about adjuncts.

    But I notice that James Madison U has a chapter of the AAUP. Did you ask them for advice or assistance?

    GLMcColm

  • 11272784

    More evidence that at many institutions, quality teaching doesn’t matter. Get grants, do research and publish in peer journals (even if no one reads them), or you’re disposable.

  • cweaverking

    I am a former member of the Perennial Part-timer Club, or as I used to refer to myself: Human Kleenex. I kicked myself constantly for even thinking I would ever – as a middle aged woman – ever be hired as a full-time college instructor. I too was a student and department favorite and a damn good teacher! I got interviews to almost every full-time position I applied to but as soon as they laid eyes on me I could tell that they were not expecting someone in their 40′s (I had gone back to school and received my MFA when I was 42) and never have gotten 1 full-time job offer. Meanwhile, back at home in Southeastern Michigan, I couldn’t keep track of the offers I received to teach, part-time. I laugh when someone asks me what area school their kid should go to as all the schools use the same pool of part-timers to teach their beginning level classes. All of my fellow adjuncts taught at 2 or 3 schools at a time and got paid peanuts. One year I taught at 4 different colleges and universities and only made $20,000.00. I drove my car into the ground, lived and breathed teaching 24/7 and finally, after almost ten years, quit. I eventually found another job at a small local company that is related to my field and I wouldn’t touch any job in the snakepit of academia for anything now. I love working with people who work hard, support one another and don’t try to use one another to get ahead. Although the job is part-time, I make my own hours, I don’t bring my work home with me, I don’t have to deal with the politics of academia, my boss and I are (gasp!) 100% honest with one another, he appreciates my abilities, and I am – although still a little bitter – no longer stressed out all of the time. Oh yes, I still don’t make the “big bucks” and never will, but I do have food and shelter and that’s more than a lot of other people can say these days. My advice to you is to quit that racket while you are young enough to do something else. If you are a writer, write. Then some day that school will pay you to come back as a visiting professor. But unless you are young, you will never turn a part-time faculty gig into a full-time one, and, at any age, it never happens where you already are working. Think about it. You did the right thing. Someone has to tell the emperor he is naked.

  • johndenning

    Don’t keep your mouth shut. You should be proud that you have the guts to have written those essays (which I read and still remember). You educated a lot of people who (unintentionally or, I suspect, intentionally) just want to turn down the volume on this issue. I’m not surprised that these hoity-toity professors who claim to value open discourse would rather just shut you down.

  • raza_khan

    Dear Isaac
    Let me be the first one to commend you on speaking your mind and in your resilience in sending this message out loud and clear to the faculty and the administration through Chronicle.
    A majority of the faculty and the administration ,in this country, have stopped valuing what we truly believe and care about i.e. success of the student and the health of an academic institution, to keeping stay low to keep our jobs and fulfilling or checking off the requirements that is put forth by the legislature.
    I commend all the adjuncts who teach in the academics. Faculty members like yourself constitute a large portion of the faculty at higher education so such comments need to be welcomed and moreover, seriously considered.
    Please do not give up on the higher education. We cannot afford one more faculty either leaving higher education or staying quiet. I do believe that there is a platform where all can and should be able to say their minds – is not that one of the foundations of higher education?
    Please do know your family is in our thoughts and I wish nothing but the best for you and your family!

    Raza
    ___________________
    Raza Khan, Ph.D.

  • tdb489

    Good for you Isaac:
    You should be proud of yourself. I do not understand why anyone would accept an adjunct position. I once had a faculty member who quit his adjunct position to work for Ford Motor Company. I don’t remember if it was a wage or salary position, but either way, a wage job which pays more than a so called “prestige” job makes more financial sense to me. I gave him a good letter of recommendation and knew he would be better off at Ford.

  • butteredtoastcat

    Hey, if you can get me a job with a major corporation, I’ll take it.

  • wilkenslibrary

    Dear Isaac,

    Your essay is heart-breaking, infuriating, and inspiring. Thank you for speaking up so eloquently and so often. Changing the system takes a lot of courage, and, whether or not you know it, you have cast a stone into the water that will have ripples. People you don’t know will be motivated to take a stand because of what you have written. There may be a gazillion reasons to keep your mouth shut, but there are even more reasons why you shouldn’t.

    Good luck, and, if you haven’t yet done so, please apply for unemployment insurance. It will help tide you over, and it can provide health insurance payments if that is a worry.

    Best,
    Betsy Smith
    Adjunct Professor of ESL
    Cape Cod Community College

  • nicholasstix

    It breaks my heart to read essays like this one. It’s too late to help Isaac Sweeney, but to all adjuncts considering following in his footsteps: Don’t! If you must write, do so pseudonymously. Don’t even tell editors that you are using a pseudonym, because they will then probably refuse to publish you, unless you use your real name.

    I am convinced that many editors and reporters secretly like the idea of whistleblowers being burned at the stake.

    During the late 1990s, I embarked on a romantic, one-man campaign to rescue my grad school alma mater, the City University of New York, via pseudonymous articles in daily newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals. I would come to work in the morning, and see fliers denouncing me stacked in the English Department office at one of the three colleges where I was teaching.

    However, pseudonymity wasn’t enough. I was a convicted white male, a suspected heterosexual, and given that incompetent leftist hack colleagues forced their work on their students, I had assigned some of mine. I had exposed the ebonics racket, had the temerity to argue for teaching black children proper English, and against encouraging them to throw their lives away on violence and crime, which in academia made me a white supremacist.

    I wish you the best at finding a new line of work, Mr. Sweeney. If you are going to write a book about your experiences, I suggest you strike while the iron is hot, and before forgetfulness creeps in.

  • quidditas

    No, they self censor too, but they don’t talk about it much for 2 reasons:

    1). the need to censor themselves comes from other tenured faculty, both departmentally and in the broader discipline. Stepping on the wrong toes can escalate into psychodrama because some of the usual restraints on anti-social behavior are missing. (ie., consequences) Not only do most people not want to deal with that, but no one wants to talk about it because it gets pretty close to the heart of a toxic academic culture, one that is the exact opposite of what it pretends to be, to wit:

    2). They don’t talk about it because the rationale for tenure is “academic freedom,” therefore they need to sustain the fiction that they honor it and really do have it. (Which they don’t, as every graduate student experiences first hand and then chooses to forget).

  • landrumkelly

    I have long said that “Freedom of speech belongs to the person who exercises it.” That is, anyone who waits for institutional or social protection for freedom of expression will never get it. So, yes, it is risky. Yet, yet, one speaks out anyway–and one must, for the sake of one’s soul, one’s mental health, if nothing else.

    Speaking out is always risky. Doing it through e-mail is even riskier, but e-mail is the most ubiquitous medium of communication of our age. Dissent through any medium has always been risky, and it will always be risky. It is risky in proportion to one’s vulnerability, and one is always vulnerable. Not even tenure is sufficient to protect it. There are not and never will be adequate legal or institutional safeguards for freedom of expression, and so one should always be aware that there will be some unavoidable consequences for being outspoken. On the other hand, there is a moral imperative to speak out on matters of concern where one’s voice might make a difference. In addition, there are grave psychological consequences for stifling oneself. One becomes less than human if one never speaks out. Speaking out is the risk that we take for being authentically human.

    Graduate students, adjuncts, and new hires are more vulnerable than others, but I have seen retaliation against those who would appear to be well-established. Congratulations to you for speaking out. I find great self-fulfillment in speaking out, and I cannot imagine living in constant fear of social repercussions-and there will be plenty of repercussions over a lifetime. Expect the repercussions, but do not let their inevitablity force you into self-censorship.

    Self-censorship is precisely what those in power want the rest of us to practice. Those in power are not always in the administration. They will often be those who claim to be our “peers.” Be prepared to go it alone. I can only say that one must pick one’s battles and avoid personal attacks. Beyond that, say it loud, say it clear, and hope that you survive or land on your feet elsewhere.

    Some environments are unlivable. We speak out anyway. Think of freedom of expression as your own tax on despotism. The despots will likely win in the end, but in the meantime one might actually promote learning.

    Landrum Kelly, Jr.
    Associate Professor of Political Science
    Livingstone College
    Salisbury, North Carolina
    http://www.philosophicalquestions.org

  • aindrias_hiort

    The culture of adjunct profs didn’t materialize from thin air. The inability of the administration to control tenured professors has resulted in this rather draconian system of contract work. If the administration can’t correct instructor behavior by warning letters which lead to dismissals, lay-offs and re-organizations, they’ll make up for it with the policy to hire more and more adjunct faculty. It’s in their best interest. That’s why they have it, but they have it to counter what most people consider the excessive benefits that tenured professors have. If you can’t get hired as a tenured prof, you are merely in the position that most people have as non-academic, public sector employees. As such, there are two points that you may have missed:
    1. You can’t publicly criticize your employer (e.g. Ford) as an individual or you will be disciplined and eventually removed (in some way). Criticizing your superiors publicly is actually against the law in the military. Frankly, it was stupid of you. You aren’t a tenured professor with that kind of freedom; you’re an employee who is damaging the profit-making ability of your company. If you don’t like your company’s policies, go somewhere else.
    2. As a non-academic employee, you have the freedom to go get hired by the highest bidder. Surprisingly, companies (like Ford) actually appreciate your work, have people who need to be training in your field (or something close), will pay you much more, and generally have to follow increasingly stringent civil law which keeps them, literally-and often opposed to academic policy, honest. By having adjunct faculty, academia is unwittingly placing themselves in competition with private firms. They will lose. You need to seize this as an opportunity to get away from a culture where you are treated with disrespect.

    On a tragic, tragic note, there was a homicide yesterday of a woman by a man in Antigonish, NS. Both were employees of the university there. According to a newspaper, the man ceased to be employed around 2009 in the math and statistics department. The woman was currently an associate professor. No one is stating why his employment was terminated, but It may be possible that his motivation was contributed to by his frustration at his employment situation. No one knows, but if that is true, don’t let such a thing happen to you Isaac. It’s a big world. Your talents would be appreciated somewhere. The problem is finding that place. It’s my problem too.

  • sskatz101

    I was an adjunct at various community colleges for 25 years. I also taught for USNavy & Coast Guard. It’s impossible for anyone who is not a rabid “progressive” (America-hating Marxist) to get a full-time teaching job at a community college. The only place there is freedom of speech is military colleges.

  • prairiechick

    Isaac – take heart. The emperor has been naked for a long time, but the audience keeps moving, so the new arrivals don’t know whether to speak up or not.

    Having slaved away at a Midwestern institution of higher education in the 1990s as the classic “fulltime” adjunct, I thought I was paving the way toward fulltime work and collegial acceptance. I was the ultimate team player and took any course assignment at any time…what did it get me? Tired. One term I even agreed to teach 30 hours of classes…and that year I made less than $25,000. When one of my full-time “colleagues” discovered that my teaching evaluations where more positive than hers (I still wonder how she had access to them), she began a campaign to undermine my character that left me with almost nothing to teach. When I was most despondent, a casual acquaintance happened to mention a fulltime faculty/research position at another institution that needed exactly my unique background. Success! The moral of the story…life is too short to keep repeating the same lessons and beating yourself up. Use the adjunct experience for what it is…an opportunity to learn and don’t look back. Better things lie ahead for you!

  • coahuiltejano

    …find a way for a nation wide walk out of university professors, adjuncts, lecturers, etc. There is NO way for the universities to bring in strike breakers without jeopardizing their entire existence…

  • juliewhite

    Before commenting, I would encourage people to go back and read Isacc’s previous post, “Stuck with Adjuncts.” He did not specifically call out his employer; he straightforwardly discussed the working conditions of adjuncts and how they may affect students, all of which points are well-documented in the research literature.

  • nfmorg

    Isaac,

    What you are experiencing is exactly why New Faculty Majority: The National Coalition for Adjunct and Contingent Equity was formed. We are an independent, national nonprofit that advocates for contingent faculty.

    Like you, I decided to speak out in part because I have children. However, all current and future students need us to stand up for the integrity of the teaching profession.

    While it is important for individuals to speak out, there is strength and protection in a collective voice. I hope you will add yours to ours.

    Best,
    Maria Maisto
    President, NFM
    http://www.newfacultymajority.org

  • thechronicle

    AMEN! so thoughtful, sincere and compassionate letter.

  • aindrias_hiort

    Hello aakatz. I found it very, very strange that the greatest proponents of probable cause was the JAG Corps, and that was instilled in most military officers. Civil and criminal court by comparison is shoddy and contradictory. Some of the worst decisions handed down violating human rights and free speech haven’t been by military courts, but by the supreme court. Issues about homosexuality and women in the military have always been driven in the military by a desire to make the military efficient. Sex in any form is terrible for morale (2 people get it, 50 don’t) in combat areas. So they tried to remove the act of sex entirely. It actually works. Today, you won’t find greater insistence of equality between the sexes, races, or religions than in the military. That’s against the stereotype, but true. You don’t see it unless you’ve lived in both worlds. I guess if you’re willing to die to protect free speech, it’s important to you. Imagine that. Of course, I can always go on freedom marches and sign petitions. Then I can do whatever I like with impunity…

  • pamelatodoroff

    Maria, you beat me to it. While I was reading all of these comments to his article, I was thinking how he needs New Faculty Majority right now.

    All adjuncts need to check out NFM’s website and support their efforts so that we may protect “the integrity of the teaching profession” while we continue to do what we were trained (and love) to do—think and write!

  • Kate McCarty

    I wish someone from James Madison would comment; guess that won’t happen.

  • aindrias_hiort

    They did respond. They just did it silently by not extending the contract (he says sarcastically).

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1040801356 Brenda Edmands

    Thank you for being brave enough to continue pointing out the hypocrisy and injustice of the hiring system at universities. I shook my head every time I received a contract that said “temporary” on it–after I’d been teaching the same courses (to acclaim) for the same institute for more than 10 years. However, the system will never change until more of us voluntarily walk away from it and say “No more.” Once university administrators realize they’re not going to be able to hire decent faculty for the poverty-level wages and benefits (and lack of respect) most offer adjuncts, then they will rethink their systems. Not before. We have to acknowledge the labor-practices of most educational institutions are not, and can not be, driven by either altruistic or ethical considerations; they’ll only pay attention when it is reduced to concepts they can relate to: availability of resources, profits, marketability, and image.

    “I write about it because that’s what I know how to do”: yes, keep at it.

  • aindrias_hiort

    I’m a bit ignorant of this, but does the NFM have statistics on the percentage of of adjunct faculty vs. tenure-track jobs, and adjunct turn-over rate? I would think that you’d be cramming the statistics down the throats of organizations (magazines, etc.) who rate universities. If universities knew that they’d get a bad review by having a bad reputation in this regard, I would think that this assault on their bottom line would result in action. For example, how do seniors in high school know of this behavior of James Madison University? If students find out about this, they are less likely to apply; that is, they’d choose another school. Enrollment/quality of students would drop. Reputation goes down as does revenue. I think trying to work with universities is ultimately defeating, but as G. Gordon Liddy said, “Follow the money.” Impact universities’ bottom line, and you’ll get results. I don’t think that high school students look at this dynamic at all. If they did, I think there’d be action.

  • ptandy

    Had a similar experience. You would think that being persuasive enough to end a local controversy in an opinion piece would count for something in an English department, but noooooo. Those who sit on boards do not like being embarrassed about past civil rights misdeeds. In my case, future historians will be the final judges. And I had already begun a new adventure due to adjunct benefit cuts by the time the ax fell on my contract. In your case, please continue to seek higher ground, persuade, and bring about positive change.

  • friendofwisdom

    Keep writing for the Chronicle Isaac! Clearly you are respected here and a fine writer. Us adjuncts need to know the truth and major universities need to hear us and continue to hire us as well. I am glad you were so brave and now I know a little more that I needed to know about James Madison U also. Stay strong!

  • moonbow

    Professor Sweeney,
    I think you’ve been brave, honest, and reasonable in your articles. Your university sounds like it has an insecure, thin-skinned administration, if indeed, your posts are the reason you were not “re-hired.” I would assume that was why you were dropped. You will do something better, more lucrative, and more fun now that you no longer serve at an institution that was not good enough to hear the voice of a good teacher. Thanks for your courage!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Thomas-Polaczek/100000687613004 Thomas Polaczek

    In Europe people call it the basic rights

    in USA it’s called ” the benefits”

  • megaphone

    There are many statistics out there – but not enough. More studies need to be done, but we do know some things – which are shocking enough, I think. I discuss some of this data briefly in another comment on this site (http://chronicle.com/article/Survivors-Guilt/126710/#comment-166653694).

    Unfortunately, the problem is systematic – there isn’t just one or two places relying on adjuncts. They all do. It’s very difficult to change such deep-rooted, broadly-based problems!

    Isaac, I feel for you. I’m writing an article myself about a similar situation that happened to adjuncts at a school in a major, Midwestern city. While I don’t work there (and so, can’t be conveniently not “re-hired” by them), publishing my article might (who knows?) rub even a potential employer the wrong way.

    But I sure as hell am going to do it anyway.

  • snapcase

    Excuse my french, but fuck ‘em. You did the right thing, Issac.

  • pacifica888

    Isaac, you mention that you were teaching composition, which signals an even more pernicious element of your story.

  • dbeach

    Did you ever consider that a budget-strapped Virginia public university, which are stressing more and more that tenure-line folks teach general education courses, just cut the adjunct budget? That’s what happened at JMU’s sister school, George Mason, and other Virginia institutions. I’d suggest learning the facts before speculating.

  • nacrandell

    The author suggests that no reason was given. There are three possibilities:

    1) He was dismissed for cause – his student evaluations had declined, his writings embarrassed the department, or he ate the last glazed doughnut at a faculty meeting before the dean got one.

    2) He was dismissed because of the budget – the position was no longer needed or he had reached the salary cap for the position after teaching ‘x’ years and will be replaced by a younger/cheaper adjunct.

    3) He was dismissed because of the writing – In the previous article, these comments stand out:

    “If they wanted to, four-year institutions could change their overreliance on poorly paid adjuncts. After all, four-year institutions are able to cap the number of students they admit, and they have more control over their money…

    …Why does that matter? It always comes back to students. It matters because students are not receiving the education that they could receive, that they should receive, in a place that calls itself a college.”

    The previous writing did not use graphs, tables or citations; instead, it relied upon emotion to support the thesis. When Gen. George Marshall confronted President Roosevelt on the Pentagon budget and the condition of the military before WW II, he used all of these and earned the begrudged respect of the president who was trying to find departments to cut. Unfortunately, the author hoped that his appeal would be accepted and understood because of the rightness of the argument and he was wrong.

  • stanzie

    As an adjunct, and an ex-business sector employee, this author is an IDIOT! He is hilarious as well. He bites the hand that feeds him under the guise that he is adding important research and information to the field. Hilarious! He deserves to be canned. This is a business people and anyone who doesn’t understand that should be let go. In addition, it is clear from this author’s words about himself that he views himself as an important person in his role as an adjunct at the university. He talks about how he become respected and made a name for himself…really???? This guy has notions of grandeur. YOU ARE AN ADJUNCT! You are in a pool with many other adjuncts who are picked to teach classes based upon enrollment and a rotating list. You are NOT as important as you think you are in your little head.

    But, this is my favorite part about the whole article…this guy is dumb and he doesn’t even know how badly he shot himself in the foot. Whenever he tries to find employment in the future at any other institution…his name will be Googled. His articles and his blog will come up. Guess what??? No job for someone who is a complainer and bites the hand that feeds him!

    Instead of writing about how much he hates adjuncting and how unfair institutions are…he should have written about helping others find employment, writing a better CV, how to teach online, how to become an adjunct, whatever. He is an angry basher who feels entitled and is very angry that his institution hasn’t given him a position of power and importance to feed his vision of himself. Welcome to the business of education and globalization my friend…you are a moron! For those who don’t get it or can’t keep up…this is a weeding out process and not everyone will survive. You need to think of yourself as a business person working for yourself these days and adjuncting is a business.

  • 22097984

    Stanzie,
    Thank you for writing what I was thinking as I read the original post and the flow of comments.

    As the original author said in his title, he “Should Keep My Mouth Shut” and stop thinking that the hired help should or is running the place. He has children, a wife and a job. He put all three at risk so that he could continue “Seeking prestige and a little bit of extra cash”. One obvious result of complaining about your job in a series of published essays is that (surprise, surprise) your employer my decide to not continue the employment of such a valuable member of the team. What most people should learn when they are 16 the author is learning as an adult.

    Hint: Don’t go out and trash your local college on your facebook account. That is not a good idea either.

  • stanzie

    As an addition to my last post and as a helpful tip to the unemployed, adjunct who wrote this article…

    I adjunct online for 8 different universities, I start faculty training at the 9th next week, and I have 2 more on the hook. I am a business woman not a moron like this author! You my friend have been weeded out! Hilarious!

  • simonj55

    Max Macias. “In the US, if you want to work–you have to self-censor.” Bravo.

    Not only do you have to self-censor, you have to be utterly pliant and pliable. Sad, though that it has to happen in academia where you need more independent thinking. Aren’t adjuncts supposed to contribute fully to the mission of universities? Yet it is so easy to let them go.

  • stanzie

    Simon stated, “Aren’t adjuncts supposed to contribute fully to the mission of universities? Yet it is so easy to let them go.”

    Hello???? Am I the only person getting this??? The “mission of universities” is to make money. Let me spell it out for anyone who still is behind the eight ball:

    1. enroll as many students as possible,
    2. keep as many students a possible enrolled,
    3. pass as many students as possible to remain funded,
    4. keep costs down, and
    5. MAKE MONEY!

    What is not clear here for anyone to understand? This is a BUSINESS and it is about making profits. Always has been and always will be. Hello????

    This does NOT mean that the business of education is lesser or not worthy of academic excellence…it merely means that this is about making money and staying profitable and competitive. For anyone who doesn’t understand this…please, go be a Mother Therese in a 3rd world country and stop annoying the rest of us…and, deluding yourself. Unbelievable!!

  • http://twitter.com/IsaacSweeney IsaacSweeney

    They were hiring more, younger adjuncts at the same rate of pay that I was getting. So, yes, I considered that.

  • http://twitter.com/IsaacSweeney IsaacSweeney

    It’s a blog. It’s not a research paper. It’s not an academic journal.

  • http://twitter.com/IsaacSweeney IsaacSweeney

    I was wondering when you would show up;)

    You and I share important common ground: we agree that higher ed is a business. The difference, I guess, is that I don’t think it should be.

  • http://twitter.com/IsaacSweeney IsaacSweeney

    The thing is, the hired help is running the place. It’s about the students, right?

  • squiddude

    Is it possible to both be outraged at the alleged pettiness of JMU and a little bit flummoxed at the apparent naivete of the author?

    Don’t get me wrong, Issac, I feel terrible for you and your family and hope that you can land a copywriter job or a reporter job at CHE in the very near future, or even FT employment at a nice community college which will respect and appreciate your talents.

    And I hope JMU gets enough bad press over this to rethink their treatment of their employees and feels the horns-of-the-bull after messing with a publishable author (I mean, really, you want revenge, start your roman a clef murder mystery in the JMU English department and use all that dirty little faculty gossip as your inspiration!!).

    But I also have to agree with the people who point out that self-censure is part of employment, particularly in the increasingly illogical, immoral wilds of academia–particularly if one is an adjunct. We are valuable to administrations only so long as we are not the squeaky cogs; cogs are cheap and easily replaced–don’t forget that. And I speak from the vantage of someone who was a part-time adjunct only recently promoted to full time non-teaching staff.

    In the end, schools are able to treat us as disposable because we, those not on the tenure track, will work for what we are given. And that’s about the end of the discussion.

  • http://twitter.com/IsaacSweeney IsaacSweeney

    Congratulations. You teach at least 8 courses a semester at a rate of pay that is a small fraction of people who teach less than you.

    And I wasn’t teaching business courses, obviously.

  • http://twitter.com/IsaacSweeney IsaacSweeney

    If it’s about making money then it is lesser and (especially) not worthy of academic excellence.

  • http://twitter.com/IsaacSweeney IsaacSweeney

    Just a note that I did not work for the JMU English department. Their first-year writing class is in a different department.

  • stanzie

    Well, it certainly IS about making money for you. You want, need, and aspire to the money full-timers make. So, it’s about money for you…and it’s about money for the institutions. Everything is about money Dear. If you can’t see that…perhaps you might be interested in replacing Mother Theresa. There are always job openings in that area.

    I don’t want to be cruel and hurt your feelings, but this is the absolute truth and reality of life. There are always winners, losers, and those who are left behind. Don’t be left behind or move on and find something else. One caveat…EVERYTHING is about money Dear.

  • stanzie

    Trust me; I am making more than you think. And, who do you think will be full time before other slackers and whiners?

  • stanzie

    OMG! You are a piece of work. If it’s about the students…then why the heck did you complain about not making your full due? You are a hypocrite and really slow. If it’s about the students for you rather than you making more money and having a full time tenured position, then go teach in a 3rd world country where “the students” really need you.

  • stanzie

    What should be or could be is not reality. I deal in reality. I am a survivalist. If you want to fight for a utopian world, you are in the wrong line of work. BTW, utopian doesn’t exist. I hear there are always openings in religious work and any of the helping professions. Perhaps social work is your true calling. ;-)

  • rickandlisa

    That’s sad…the consensus still is that composition teachers just facilitate a ‘basic skill’ before students take ‘real’ classes…little do they realize language composition is extremely complex and if anything, arguments could be made that other subjects are by comparison ‘basic’…writing is negotiating and creating meanings, not just putting ideas on paper…perhaps in the next century things will improve…thanks to brave individuals like yourself.

  • http://twitter.com/IsaacSweeney IsaacSweeney

    “That’s just the way it is” is never a good argument. I don’t believe utopia exists, but I like to strive for better. As for money, I have to admit that I’d like more. One reason is selfish: more money makes buying things/paying bills easier. Another is that I blieve there’s a causal correlation between the amount of money teachers make, the benefits they receive, etc., and the quality of instruction they can provide.

    And I thought teaching was social work :)

  • stanzie

    Isaac stated, “And I thought teaching was social work”

    If you see yourself as a life coach or morality mentor or social worker more so than an educator of the content you have studied, then I can see why you feel the way you do. I have noticed over time that some educators tend to think about their role more so in terms of life coaching, building moral character, and as social workers to their students more often than as an academic, scholar, and researcher. There are those who see themselves as being responsible for the development of moral character and life skills in their students and there are those who see themselves as academics, scholars, and researchers for their students. I view my role as the latter and not as a life skills / morality coach. I feel those are areas that individuals need to develop in themselves and if they have not learned those skills as adults, they can learn them by watching how others live and decide what type of lives they want to live.

    As for me…I prefer wearing the hat of academic, scholar, published author, and researcher….NOT social worker. If one wants to be a social worker…by all means please go into that field rather than academics.

    BTW, I teach students how to become teachers. I run into the warm-fuzzy, utopian, idealistic types who want to babysit their students all the time. Teaching is not about social work and not about warm-fuzzy notions. It is about providing students with rigorous academic tools they will need to be successful in a career. It is also about telling them the truth and preparing them for a career based on reality…not warm-fuzzy, idealistic, social work notions.

  • andrewhacker

    The above writer assumes that the interests of the tenured are the same as that of adjuncts, lecturers, graduate students, visiting professors. They are not. And that’s the problem.

    We write at length about that in our book.

    Claudia Dreifus
    co-author with Andrew Hacker,
    “Higher Education?”
    http://www.highereducationquestionmark.com

  • andrewhacker

    This is awful. And yet not surprising. Thanks for writing this, Issac.
    Best, Claudia Dreifus
    co-author, “Higher Education?”

  • nacrandell

    1) If it is a ‘blog’ then why did you describe it as, “I went and wrote some honest essays about adjunct work.” First it is an essay, and now it is a blog – which is it?

    2) Next you suggest that it is not an academic journal and yet the audience is culled from academia. You suggested that your purpose was to gain “prestige and a little bit of extra cash.” First you want prestige from your peers and now the pieces weren’t for academic review – which is it?

    The complaining cardinal rule is if you do make a complaint then be in a superior position – either hold a significant job in the company, back up your statements with supportable statements or better yet have both. Instead you wrote the essay/blog as an English department adjunct in a troubled economy with little facts to support your raw emotions.

    Your essays/blogs topic may be the specific reason for your not being re-hired or they may conveniently serve as an excuse to replace you with a new and cheaper adjunct. It is a shame that you will not have those 4 courses to teach for a salary, but is it really a suprise?

    But – what is done is done. Move on and prove the “blanks” wrong about their decision.

  • falmubarak

    We at a newly establishment non-profit university in Saudi Arabia

  • http://twitter.com/IsaacSweeney IsaacSweeney

    I see your confusion now. Please, before you criticize, read more carefully.

    “1) If it is a ‘blog’ then why did you describe it as, “I went and wrote some honest essays about adjunct work.” First it is an essay, and now it is a blog – which is it?” — The ESSAYS I refer to in this BLOG post were written in the past. They were personal narrative ESSAYS. This is a BLOG. They wouldn’t have “not rehired” me for the spring 2011 semester for things published in the last two weeks. That would have had to happen in 2010 and before. Follow me?

    “2) Next you suggest that it is not an academic journal and yet the audience is culled from academia. You suggested that your purpose was to gain “prestige and a little bit of extra cash.” First you want prestige from your peers and now the pieces weren’t for academic review – which is it?” — See my answer to number 1. The spring 2011 semester starts in January. This is a blog you’re reading. If you want to read what I wrote before, a personal narrative ESSAY, here’s one of them: http://chronicle.com/article/Value-Students-Then-Value/48881/.

    So, to your original comment, this is a BLOG. You don’t typically have graphs and charts and formal citations, and only rarely do you have less-formal citations, in a blog.

  • falmubarak

    At a newly established non-profit university in Saudi Arabia who’s mission emphasizes research and being student centered, we rely on adjunct faculty to provide courses that are not offered by full time faculty who are hired on 2/1 load (3 courses for 2 semester academic year). We are still calibrating enrollment and program suitability in a competitive market of free public universities and low tuition private universities. We pay a bit more $10,000, for 3 credited courses for a 17 week semester, almost double the high range pay of $5000 as typically compensated in leading US universities. Will anybody assist me in assessing a fair compensation of adjuncts?

  • skhosa

    Well as they say life is all about resolving situations and not making them. Issues will always be there, you have to learn to identify them in a positive manner, look at the pros and cons and then think of a viable solution and put forth your opinion, yet again think twice before you do that.
    I am sorry I am not making a comment because that is always the easisest way out. In my opinion I agree with how your wife feels about the whole situation. I can see that she highly respects your views but at the same time does not want to hurt your feelings.
    Sometimes diplomacy can do wonders. This is human nature cannot go against nature, these are life experiences that teach you that no organization will tolerate if they feel that you publicly devalue the organization you work for.
    It’s not all about money but the hard reality is that financial constraints can only be understood by people who go through them.
    There is a Chinese proverb” You walk a mile in another person’s shoe you get to how he feels.”
    I know you are worried about your child’s future but the present situation will greatly impact his future too,……..

  • dr_rosenrosen

    Isaac, your wife sounds like a very smart person–perhaps you ought to listen to her? Family first, moral outrage second–but that’s just me, a devoted adherent to the STFU rule.

  • misstrudy

    Thank you for having spoken out about it. I, for one, appreciate it, not only for myself, but for so many of my friends and colleagues who are in the same boat. I finally left the US and teach abroad at a private university where most are adjuncts—the system of tenure doesn’t really exist here–yet we are very well-paid for the local economy and treated with much consideration and respect.The difference after 10 years as an adjunct back home in the US is palpable! I didn’t do so bad as an adjunct in the US because I have a spouse who brings home a much bigger income, but many of my friends really suffered from overwork, stress, and financial precariousness. It is sad, really, that in some so-called Third World nations, university instructors are treated so much better, financially and otherwise, than back home.

  • dwthreepersons

    I agree with bigtwin. If you feel that strongly about something you should say it, but just be aware that most college administrators and many academics responsible for administrative duties, don’t like criticism or dissent. This reminds me of (uh-oh here he goes again) of a Dead Kennedy’s song, that had the refrain, “you will crack you little clown, when you mess with President Brown”. You have to make a choice to say what you believe and to stand up, or roll over and take it for a slave wage job.

  • nacrandell

    Something is odd about the article/blog and the author’s posts to reader’s comments.

    His answers are fluid as to the purpose and actions taken by the university in different responding posts. Either he is in denial of being fired from 2/3 of his adjunct earnings and absently writing responses or this is an attempt to create an issue for him to exploit financially.

  • gplm2000

    Sorry, but I think you are naive about the politics of holding/maintaining a job. Welcome to the real world.

  • gplm2000

    Why should there be job security for a parttime employee? I have never heard of any organization providing benefits or job security for any part timers. For the past six years that I have been an adjunct instructor, I never thought that the school should guarantee me anything. Some of the posters need to get real.

  • andrewhacker

    And yet, when we’ve pointed some of this out in our book, “Higher Education?” we found some full-time professors denouncing us as “anti-intellectual.” Amazing how the privileges of the full time tenured have become identified with the notion of free inquiry.

    As I traveled researching the book, I was astounded by the off-mark things that senior professors routinely said about the contingents. (“Not as good,” “Not worth more than they are paid,” “scabs.”) The rationalizing language was bizarre.

    Recently, at a talk I gave on women in science, the research chancellor of a large system–very pro-woman–and I spoke. “How can you talk about bringing more women into science when so many females are adjuncts and you’re paying them about four grand a course?” I asked her and then added, “the financial condition of adjuncts is a woman’s issue because a lot of women are trying to do the Mommy Track that way.”

    She smiled. “Four thousand? It isn’t usually that much. In any case, if you can figure out another way to support public education, let me know.”

    In other words, she was saying that adjuncts were subsidizing the university.

    Claudia Dreifus
    co-author with Andrew Hacker,
    “HIgher Education?”
    http://www.highereducationquestionmark.com

  • technorhetor

    I’d be careful about the author’s statements regarding the reasons. He himself says “I suspect…” when discussing the reason for his “non-rehiring.” What if the reason was in the quality of the teaching?

  • edwoof

    You write “This is a BUSINESS and it is about making profits”

    No it isn’t.

    Certainly there are some “For Profit” universities which are beholden to their shareholders. You could say that for those universities, the primary purpose is to make money to distribute to the shareholders as a return on investment. But the vast majority of universities are nonprofits.The purpose of these universities,at least ostensibly,is to educate students and enrich society. The unfortunate current state of affairs, that is the subject of this and many other articles, is that instead of investing money in the faculty, the funds are cut, adjuncts are hired instead and the saved funds are reallocated elsewhere.

    I would acknowledge that there is a tacit agreement on the part of the adjunct to their own victimization. Many adjuncts though are caught in this system of abuse without really being cognizant of what is occuring. When I talk to some of my adjunct friends about their employment situtaion, they display many of the same symptoms you would expect of a battered spouse or partner. The object of their desire (the university or the ideal of academia) will return their devotion in the form of a tenure track position if they would only publish another article, serve on another committee, attend another conference, something, anything. The more they are abused by the discrediting of their efforts and/or poorly rewarding their labor, the more the adjunct will defend the situtaion by saying that they are staying “for love.” Adjuncts loudly and frequently proclaim that they love what they do. What they do is teach, mentor, and serve. In short, what they do is academia and the object of their love has abused them without reservation.

    It would help many adjuncts I believe if they could see that they not so much have a career, but are engaging in– and are the recipient of– a cycle of abuse. The summary dismissal without explanation that the author experienced is symptomatic of this abuse and just the basic low regard in which adjuncts are held by their institutions.

    To everyone who has opined that the author should have kept quiet, would you have told Rosa Parks that she should have sat at the back of the bus?

  • stanzie

    Yes it is about money Dear…it is always about money…everything is about money. You are naive and living in La La land.

    PS. Adjuncts DO know they are being exploited, but at the end of the day, people who have studied years for the PhD have loans to pay and need to do what they need to do to pay the mortgage. You can get off your high horse. One day you will be expendable as well…in your case…you deserve it!

  • more_cowbell

    The best statement you can make against the adjunct system is to quit and leave it behind. If you are teaching as an adjunct and don’t like it, don’t do it! The only reason these kinds of abuses occur is because there are loads of people willing to take it.

  • Prof_truthteller

    gplm, the question should be, “why not?” Your argument reminds me of the “but all the other kids on the block are doing it!” Just because most part timers don’t have these things does not mean that NO part timers should, or that it is the best state of affairs for people, individually, or as a community, as a society, as a nation. Sure, common practice has some weight. But there are many common practices that are unfair, unjust, inhumane. Any common practice that has negative impact should be closely examined and possibly revised. There is some evidence that excessive reliance on adjuncts degrades the student experience and the overall functioning of the college. There is some evidences that part time employement in general is less productive to society. There is a lot of evidence that lack of health insurance leads to more expensive health costs overall that are usually borne by the government or written off by the clinics or hospitals. So there are many reasons to re-examine the vulnerable status of part time employees.

  • Prof_truthteller

    I contest your assertion that reliance on part time faculty was the result of the “inability of the administration to control tenured professors.” That was just a little side sweetener, the primary reason was purely financial. Adjuncts cost anywhere from a quarter to a third, per teaching hour, of full time profs. Big universities still need full time tenured profs to maintain the university’s reputation for research excellence, which, along with football, is one of the few strong marketing points they have. Reliance on grad students is even cheaper since many work for free as part of an “internship” or “fellowship” oh, altho they do often get tuition free or discounted in exchange.

    Your viewpoint that it’s instructor behavior that needs to be controlled and corrected is almost frightening. As if that were the biggest problem of higher education today! All those crazy, acting-out professors!

    In any workplace, academic or not, workers deserve respect, a fair wage for a fair workload, reasonable layoff procedures, transparent evaluation process that directly relates to the work, opportunity for redress of wrongs, and an opportunity defend themselves against any negative or damaging charges or accusations. We should want this for everyone, rather than looking covetously towards those that do have those rights with any eye towards taking them away.

  • Prof_truthteller

    One’s personal political beliefs should not even enter into the hiring process, and it certainly does not at my college. Possibly you are looking for excuses why you didn’t get hired, and the real reason was something else entirely.

    In any case, one’s personal political beliefs should also NOT affect their teaching, if they are Poli Sci, History, or related specialty, their teaching should be unbiased and cover all theories.

    I wonder how long a progressive liberal, or leftist, or America-hating Marxist, or even an America-loving Marsixt, would last at a military college, IF they even could get hired. Free speech works for all or for none.

  • Prof_truthteller

    I don’t see where it was the “hoity-toity professors” who were responsible for his non-rehire. In community colleges, the full time faculty MAY have some influence in which part timers get classes, but the final say is always going to be the Dean or VP, or even Human Resources dept. And, as administrators, if they got “the word” from on high that a certain person should not be rehired, they would take their orders from headquarters.

  • Prof_truthteller

    Wait a minute, stanzie, who’s the angry basher here? I read Isaac’s previous posts or essays, whichever you want to call them, and I did not see anything as angry as you are.

    Telling him what he should write about? How he should think about his work? Using inflammatory and accusatory language? Calling him an idiot, hilarious, a moron, a complainer, with notions of grandeur, a little head, dumb, did I miss any of your shallow, childlike insults? Puh-leeze. Would you be willing to put your real name on what you wrote above? and be Googled for it?

    Issac put his real name on his writings. He showed he was willing to stand up for what he wrote. What he wrote was in no way angry or complaining. I have read many similar postings and essays on other blogs and online academic publications. The issue of over-reliance on part time labor is no secret in hgher ed. It is openly, and frequently, discussed. Should not be a big deal to any future employer.

  • Prof_truthteller

    It is possilbe to argue your points and your views without insulting those whose views and points differ. Being insulting only belittles your own arguments, however compelling they might be. You come off like a hysterical paranoid. Which I’m sure is not what you intend.

    I disagree with your assertion that the mission of a university is to make money. That may be the mission for some universities, those that are overtly for-profit, but that is not the mission of public or non-profit universities. In any case, if that were true, why is it OK for these universities to have as their mission, to make money, yet you have excoriated Isaac Sweeney for having the same motivation?

    Your insults do not make your position persuasive. Where is your evidence, proof, or even reasons that are not just rants?

  • oldfullprof

    Re Military Justice

    It must have changed then. I saw eggregious violations of constitutional rights when I was in. You were convicted (under Article 15) unless you wanted to risk a court martial (all senior enlisted or officer juries.) “It has been reported…It is my intention to punish you…” This is how military justice procedings started at the company level. I never saw anyone risk it. Since the UCMJ, “company punishment” follows you from assignment to assignment, and can result in reductions in rank. This is a far cry from the “company punishment book” which disappeared in the 1950s. Two of my friends were convicted under wild card Article 134 (I was their advisor.) Both were essentially innocent of wrongdoing. Both lost stripes. As a junior NCO, I was their advisor on these issues.

  • Prof_truthteller

    Part time faculty work used to be a path to full time. Along with research and publications, colleges and universities would look at demonstrated teaching experience. Community colleges would actually prefer to see teaching experience over research in hiring. Those readers and posters in this forum who love to cite “the real world” whether business or military, I believe that this same process held true in those arenas. How to get a job with no experience? You work part time or you volunteer or get an internship, fellowship, or graduate assistantship. After proving your worth, you then have something on your resume and in your portfolio to apply for, and have pretty good chance of getting, full time positions.

    What changed everything was the past ten to fifteen years of outsourcing and globalization, puncuated by a series of boom and busts and recessions. The job market has become difficult for everyone. Public and private colleges and companies, and governments, have been cutting costs progressively deeper and deeper. Now there are calls to cut even deeper. With online education becoming more popular, teaching can now also be outsourced.

    The result is that every worker is now vulnerable. Lower wages overall, less benefits, fewer holidays, more vulnerability to cuts and layoffs, more difficult to relocate for jobs. Let’s now add to that- fear of speaking out about anything, even the mildest of suggestions for improvements, even attempts to be helpful and try to improve things- must be squashed or threatened with reprisals and fear of non-rehire or layoff.

    There is something almost sick about the attacks against part time and other forms of labor, that attempt to make it “your fault” that you are underpaid, overworked, or unemployed, under the guise of claiming that you have not taken or accepted personal responsibility, or somehow made bad life choices. What’s bizarre is when the same posters will claim that faculty, part or full time, deserve worse than what they get- that they are overpaid, underworked, and need to be somehow brought to heel. It reminds me of mindless chickens who will peck to death the one chick with a spot or flaw. I find it abhorrent in all its forms, and totally counter to what I consider to be the mission of higher education in the United States: to provide opportunity for advancement to individuals and to society.

  • fruupp

    In the interests of equal time, an enlightening review of Ms. Dreifus’s book, “Higher Education?”, (which she has seen fit to plug during the course of this thread. Twice.) by Peter Brooks can be found in the March 24 issue of The New York Review of Books, in which, among many criticisims (“shaky research”; “accusations that seem to have little to back them up”), he writes that “this book is short on reasoned analysis and long on animus,” the latter directed “more than anything else” at the “lazy,” “self-serving” professoriate.

    Pimping hoary clichés about “lazy” and “self-serving” professors for $26-a-pop might reasonably lead one to wonder if Ms. Dreifus is lazily projecting onto others what she knows to be true about herself.

    http://tinyurl.com/4nm4qv6

    Carry on.

  • lotsoquestions

    But VA is one of those states that gives in-state tuition to illegal aliens. I’m a bit confused about the fact that there is money to extend charity to people who have never paid into the system — but not enough to treat the professionals who work there decently. How can a ‘business’ afford to subsidize and be charitable at the same time? That’s what’s always confused me about the situation — that universities can claim that they have a social mission when it suits them, and to be a business when it doesn’t. You can’t have it both ways.

  • lotsoquestions

    Isaac, could you provide us with any statistics related to JMU — like what percent of faculty are adjuncts and in which departments? I’d like to have all this info for when my kids are applying to colleges.

  • aaroncj

    As someone whose career has spanned nearly three decades in non-tenured academic staff and administrative posts at three public universities, I am amazed at Mr. Sweeney’s lack of awareness about his situation prior to writing his essays.

    I go to work every day having to measure what I communicate to students, alumni, deans, VPs, and especially faculty–even the most junior among them, with the knowledge that I can be dismissed at any time for any reason. I don’t even have the protection of a semester-long contract as Mr. Sweeney did. I can be dismissed without notice. And my situation is the norm for nearly any non-tenured staff or administrator at any university. Further, it is the norm for most working people in the private sector not represented by a union. Why should adjuncts have a special protection not afforded to nearly every other class of university employee?

    Do I feel badly for Mr. Sweeney’s family? You bet. Do I feel Mr. Sweeney’s employment was “wrongly” terminated by JMU? No. He knew or should have known of his vulnerable situation.

  • Prof_truthteller

    I would agree with you, aaroncj, if Sweeney’s articles and/or essays had been sharply critical. However that does not seem to be the case. If all of his writings on the theme of the part time faculty experience are similar in tone and topic as what he has written here in the CHE, it seems his self-described “honest essays about adjunct work” would carry little threat to the university or any university employees. His two essays in the CHE are mildly reflective, questioning, descriptive, and use personal experiences to explore common themes of academic life. Seems to me within the normal range of human communication. As he points out, writing is his profession, so he was legitimately practicing it. If he teaches undergrads, his essays stand as models for personal essays for his students, and as such have pedagocical value.

    But, we don’t really know why he was not re-hired, could be budgetary reductions, wanting to offer another part timer a chance, or a host of other reasons. He only uses this as an example of what might happen to get us thinking and questioning about the issue. Which he has successfully done.

  • thatisright

    Universities that exploit adjuncts to teach a significant portion of their classes usually get what they pay for; I have several friends that are currently adjunct professors or used to be adjunct professors and they invested the minimal amount of time possible to teaching their classes. They also usually balanced multiple classes at different universities. Students are suffering from this exploitation with average to sub-par classes. Most administrators don’t care and are mostly concerned with “covering” classes. Until parents paying for tuition and students paying their own way realize the extent of what is happening, I don’t see it changing anytime soon. Publishing more articles related to the pervasiveness of this problem would be quite helpful to inform parents and students. There should be a university ranking for percent of classes taught by adjuncts published (maybe there already is).

  • Prof_truthteller

    Thanks for the link. I, too, wondered about the self-promotional posts.

  • Prof_truthteller

    I interpreted Isaac’s statement as meaning that teaching is work that is social in nature, rather than “social work” as performed by a Social Worker, as you interpret. I think anyone would agree that teaching is social in nature, given that it involves extensive interaction with other human beings.

    But let me enlighten you a little bit about real “Social Workers,” of whom I know quite a few in my circle of friends and acquaintances. Social workers are far from being warm-fuzzy, utopian, idealistic types. People who might think of going into the profession for those motivations don’t last a month. Social workers deal with life and death situations where matters personal, legal & regulatory, medical, educational, practical, psychological, economic, and more all interact, overlap, and often, conflict. Their jobs are incredibly difficult, demanding, stressful, and require them to behave and manage professionally even when dealing with the most horrific problems.

    I am relieved to hear that you do not consider yourself a life skills / morality coach.

    There is a some aspect of teaching that does, however, enter into the realm of what we might call “life coaching” which is academic advising, and at our college, it is one of the required responsibilities of all faculty. We counsel and advise students on academic issues that affect their life- choosing a mojor, whether or not to go to grad school, choosing a school, and all of the various life planning associated with that. We may also refer students to on or off campus support services if they express a need. There’s nothing warm and fuzzy or utopian about those activities.

  • uberliberal

    Stanzie is a good slave. He loves his masters even when they beat him. It’s all fair you know; you could have been a master too if you just were lucky enough. Stanzie is the kind of guy who helps usher academia to ruin and seems happy to do so.

    Leave academia, start a business and never look back. We are only kidding ourselves when we think these kids care about education or learning anything of substance. Read Academically Adrift and ask yourself if it’s worth to work in these “institutions” that protect the privileges of the 30% tenured faculty at the expense of the other 70% who teach for peanuts just to credential know-nothings. I won’t let the door hit me in the behind. Who are we kidding? Higher education isn’t… it is just babysitting spoiled rotten 20 somethings who could care less about learning.

  • alexis_v

    I wonder when a movie about the world of adjunct professors will be made. It sounds like the kind of story a lot of people would be interested in. Of course, it would be difficult to imagine a real adjunct professor having enough time to write a screenplay about such travails!

  • bibliophile31

    I am also a female who returned to college for a masters at age 42. Two years later, at age 44 and with masters in hand, I obtained a full-time faculty position with a local community college. In fact, I had worked in an adjunct capacity for this college during my last semester of graduate school. Hum . . .

  • bowl_haircut

    Because teaching in a college classroom isnt’ the same thing as working at Blockbuster video or doing lot pick-up at MacDonald’s, you lunkhead.

    It’s a difficult position in which one is tasked with educating and training others in critical thinking while also maintaining a certain professional repoir. Controversies are bound to erupt from time to time, and anyone who teaches in a college classroom needs to have certain protections.

  • adjunctcarol

    To Isaac : Thank you. I also thank your wife for her understanding.

    Thank you for being authentic and outlining situations that academia would rather ignore and most don’t have a clue about: the proverbial elephants in the classroom. The elephants need to trumpet, to gather in herds, or they will be invisible. I have been upfront – polite – on my campus. For 8 or so years I have been attempting to prove to other adjuncts on my campus that one can professionally address adjunct issues and keep their jobs. I may yet find myself in your position, but I certainly hope not. I forward your writings to those who need reminded and your words of open wisdom help me continue on.

    I hope this situation (of not being rehired) results in MANY SCHOOLS IN YOUR LOCATION CALLING TO INTERVIEW YOU AND HOPEFULLY RESULT IN OFFERS FOR A NEW TEACHING ASSIGNMENT! Hello out there: CONSIDER THIS A CHALLENGE OR OPPORTUNITY.

    It is excellent advice “I advised her that she would be more likely to be hired full time in the future if she took it upon herself to become as valuable to the department as possible — attending department meetings, participating in departmental tasks like exit-exam grading, and even serving on a committee or two.” I did all this and more for 8 years, became valuable and knew I needed to compete with other candidates who had all this experience as well. I came in second for the FT job. If I hadn’t tossed myself whole heartedly into the school, I wouldn’t have had a chance. Besides and most importantly the participation and contributions I made made me a better teacher and knowledgeable advisor for students.

    Unfortunately there are no rewards for first runner up. It makes returning the next Fall harder, heartbreaking and confusing. Where to set my boundaries? Still serving my students as excellently as possible but not get taken advantage of? This co-dependent relationship between adjuncts and academia needs help.

    If I accept teaching as a forever (now 13 years) yet temporary adjunct, I can only work to slowly improve the respect for the adjunct and the situation. We have it pretty good where I work compared to the rest of the country thanks to a strong union and certain compassionate administrators and FT [health benefits, sick leave, retirement, desks, phones, computers, decent enough workspace space, respect from FT and admin in general, I finally got adjuncts to be allowed on committees -pay comes next: Baby steps and legal power and tenacity ].

    Slavery, while certainly a different situation, wasn’t addressed and abolished overnight either. Protests, laws … Some slaves got beaten or killed. Thanks for what appears to be taking one for the cause.

  • la_profesora

    Most institutions post their Common Data Sets online on their Institutional Research website.  In section I, you can find full and part-time faculty numbers.  While imperfect (some fulltimers may be adjuncts, of course), it gives you some kind of idea how monay part-timers they have at least.

    http://www.jmu.edu/instresrch/cds/2010/CDS2010_I.pdf

  • la_profesora

    Sorry, that’s “many,” not ”monay.” 

  • yes_gotocollege

    It is true, figuring out the college process can be difficult and overwhelming, even for those who are not first-generation college-seekers.

    We all should be committed to helping students and parents go through the process in a reflective and educational (and yes, enjoyable) way.

    So, until (please do not hold your breath) our society is willing to put  “real” $ for guidance counselors, college counseling assistance programs, college preparation programs (such as TRIO), funding, etc-all assistance should be welcomed.

    Let’s do what is best for our furture-help our students, however it is possible.

    Let’s keep sharing good, free websites. Another website which will be offering free services, I am told that will be up in a month is:
    http://www.newpathtocollege.com

  • lsadc

    How about some statistics and hard data from an objective source? What percentage of consultants’ clients are pro bono? What percentage of clients are from public schools? The terms “many” and “for the most part” are too vague in this article. I am skeptical of her assertions without some evidence to back up her claims.

  • hoosierbeth

    JAKARLSON-People who have more resources, like wealthy people, can buy bigger houses, nicer cars, better health care, and can afford to eschew the resources provided by the public sector by opting to pay for programs offered by the private sector. This is why private schools and religious schools, in particular, exist. Its the reality of life in a free-market economy. Do you think we should tell the companies that make Hummer and Lexus cars that they shouldn’t make those cars anymore because people who aren’t affluent can’t afford to buy them? Should we prevent people from sending their kids to Catholic or other private school because poor people can’t afford them? 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000093901608 April Renee Coder

    My college has started giving us a little, by calling us “regular part time” and giving us a few benefits, like using the gym! Ha, but it doesn’t matter. I wasn’t renewed because my boss says I have been “distracted” which I don’t know what she means, but there is a guy they hired on last semester in the program who gets to keep his job. It is all around.

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