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[zharkov]

I went to a picnic at the chair's...we've been friends for most of my decade in the department...and he sympathized with my position.  (He doesn't really get along with Mr. Arrogance or his bedmate minion, or so it seems to me).  But he didn't offer any solutions or even ideas.

The biggest problem is the shared courses.  I have 2 sections; Mr. Arrogance and his girlfriend 1 each.  They don't require the same assignments I always have (and which their predecessors also required).  Over the last 2 years students have migrated to their sections because the workload is significantly lighter.  I depend partly on enrollments for continued employment.

 

This is the only important question: Do the assignments in your enemies' courses assess student learning to show they meet the course objectives?

If so, then just match their assignments -- more or less.

[dr_dre]

This is the only important question: Do the assignments in your enemies' courses assess student learning to show they meet the course objectives?

If so, then just match their assignments -- more or less.

I wouldn't even go that far, personally. If you need to keep the job, I would change the assignments and anything else about the course that might make it more attractive to students.

As for the chair, when push comes to shove, in my experience, he will always side with his TT people over the adjuncts, even if the TT folks are jerks and the adjuncts are right.

[adjunctslave]

Another issue (there are so many!) is we have winter term courses that are paid by the number of students who register.  The dynamic duo decided adjuncts shouldn't be allowed to teach such courses, because they would draw enrollment away from their sections and, as the chair quoted them, "Take money out of our pockets."

I had done a winter term course for 8 years straight that was one of the best enrolled courses in the dept.  Last winter the chair said he was sorry and disagreed with the decision, but couldn't let me offer it...but then, in the end, nobody offered a winter term course.  So it was purely vindictive.  I asked the chair if these 2 were pushing to get rid of all the adjuncts, and he said yes, they were...that they were already in talks with a dean to get all the adjuncts (5 of us) traded in for a tt position.  Don't these arrogant clowns realize we'd lose courses?

[adjunctslave]

And one other vent.  The school I'm at is a small liberal arts college that emphasizes teaching.  The dynamic duo publishes like crazy and ignores students (except the ones they like).

[zharkov]

And one other vent.  The school I'm at is a small liberal arts college that emphasizes teaching.  The dynamic duo publishes like crazy and ignores students (except the ones they like).

OP, the more you say, the more this seemingly crazy situation make sense.

Some/many liberal arts colleges used to emphasize teaching almost to the exclusion of pubs.  But the winds have changed, and many "teaching only" schools now put more weight on research activity.  The dean and/or chair are likely under the gun to increase research productivity among faculty, and the "duo" are now heroes.

And the reason for replacing adjuncts with TT?  More research will get done.

I'd say the handwriting is on the wall.

[scheherazade]

Replacing adjuncts with TT lines is a good thing for the profession and for higher education in general.  Adjuncts, as you know, have little power and are often not as committed to the department or the students as a results (not always - don't take it personally).  I applaud the TT people for successfully pressuring the administration for more TT lines.

Why don't you apply for one of the TT jobs?

The relationship is none of your business.  It sounds more like you're angry about losing classes, but the point that TT should get students and classes before adjuncts is a fair one.  If I were you, I would spend less time complaining to people like the chair (who will side with the TT people, make no mistake) and either learn to get along with the new TT people or find another job.  Your general attitude seems to be that these new TT people are beneath you, somehow, because you have been there longer.  But as you have already discovered, they hold the power, not you.  This would be the case whether or not they were in a relationship.

You have two choices: get along or move along.  You may not like it, but your stirring the pot is contributing to the animosity in the department.  You cannot go back to the way things were.

[adjunctslave]

It's not about my feeling more important because I have been here 10-11 years and they've been here 3 and 1 respectively.

It's about the culture of the institution and the department.  We had/have a pretty good one, I thought, that worked and was successful.  And collegial.

We adjuncts here have advising duties.  Advisees have complained that neither of them is readily available (I was in 5 days, all day, until Mr. Arrogance saw to it I would share an office with all the other adjuncts).  I copiously annotate the papers I return...neither one comments much at all on their papers.  And we used to have a weekly meeting (informal) to discuss technology in the classroom in our department...neither one really uses it, so they don't come and eventually the meetings more or less ended.

As for applying for a tt job, Mr. Arrogance has already told the chair (who told me) that he doesn't want anyone without a proven publication record or promise of one.

[scheherazade]

So start publishing.  Alternatively, look for another job.  The department isn't going to become what it was.  It is changing, and it isn't unfair to demand a research agenda from TT-track faculty.

As far as any problems with teaching, direct upset students to the chair and keep your hands clean.  I assume you all have evaluations.  Problems will be addressed with these teachers, because they will be brought up in the evaluations.  They will fix them or they will not be tenured.

[dr_strangelove]

It seems to me that you're focusing your anger in the wrong place. You don't say how many full-time faculty are in the department, but I don't think that two new faculty members can make the sorts of changes you're talking about without the support of the chair and the other tenured faculty. Mr. Arrogance and friend are not the ones making decisions about offices, course scheduling, etc. Or, if they are, they are doing it with the blessing of the chair and the other senior faculty. They are the symptom, not the cause, of the changes you're seeing.

[buglet]

One of the best phrases I ever heard was "you get what you put up with."  Sounds to me like you will be out of job soon anyhow, as the dean has told you they are getting rid of adjuncts.  How much clearer can it be?  Get some good recommendation letters, and look for another job.   I know that is hard after nine years, but nothing is forever, and frankly, they would treat you the same way if you were there for twenty years.  When it comes down to it, the chair will do what the dean wants; he'll empathize with you now, but he will also sign the letter telling you your contract won't be renewed. 

I'd also think about why you have been willing to adjunct for nine years with no power or prospect of promotion.  Sometimes an attitudinal shift, like believing you deserve to get treated better, will result in just that.

I also hate to tell you, but teaching is mattering less and less at most universities.  It isn't right, but it is the way it is.  Mr Arrogance is playing the game, and playing it rather successfully.  Did you ever think he wants the dedicated teachers OUT of the department, so there are no comparisons made between his uninvolved instruction and those who are more concerned with the students? 

I also tend to doubt you would get hired for a TT there even if you did publish.  When you have the big neon adjunct label on your head, you rarely will be considered for a permanent position in that particular department...it is like the Scarlet Letter.  I'd suggest you publish an article or two, and search elsewhere where folks won't think of you as the dedicated adjunct. (And, yes, I adjuncted all the way through grad school, got a VAP, got tenured, left, and now write for a much better living).   

Sorry for the bad situation, but learn to play the game.

[adjunctslave]

The department has 4 people.  The dynamic duo = half the department's tt lines.  There's the chair and a very disengaged associate professor.  It would be fair to say it's 2 vs. 2, though the dynamic duo is a strong alliance and the other 2 = a loose alliance at best.  However, the dynamic duo runs to the administration whenever they don't get their way, and the administration has sided with them on every major issue this past year.  The chair admitted to me he finds it "frustrating", but at 68 he says he doesn't find himself caring all that much.  He agrees with all my points but said he's "fairly powerless" to do anything. 

[adjunctslave]

I should also clarify that I was here in the late 70s as a VAP, didn't get my position converted to tt, went into the real world for close to 20 yrs. and then was hired back by the chair as an adjunct in the late 90s.  So my institutional history goes far beyond what these 2 newbies know.

[polly_mer]

Adjunctslave,

Yes, you have put in the time and aren't reaping the benefits you think you deserve.

Yes, it's seems unfair. 

But telling us about it will not change anything.  Telling your department chair will not change anything.

Adjuncts simply do not have the power that newbie TT people do.  Adjuncts, no matter how long serving or deserving, are simply on a different track.  Either you need to do the things necessary to get a TT position (probably somewhere else) or you need to polish up your resume to go back to "the real world".

Adjuncting is not supposed to be an alternate track to the same goal.  It is a means to get experience, it is a means to keep one foot in the door while doing other things, and it is a help to departments when enrollment is up, but the ability to hire is constrained.  However, like being a graduate student, it is not meant to be a full-time, lifelong occupation.  Adjuncting is a temp position and it appears that your department has decided it doesn't need temporary helpers in the same capacity as it did previously.

Channel your energy into getting another job instead of moping about the way things used to be.

[goldstein]

The dean has a new vision for the department and is using these two new hires to implement it.  Give credit to the dean for not overtly dislodging the current chair, out of courtesy no doubt; give credit that the chair knows this is happening.  But face the fact that, has Hedi Klumm so memorably puts it, "You are out."  The dean is not interested in "institutional memory" in the process of implementing a new vision for the department. In fact, consider that in this situation institutional memory is your biggest disadvantage.  The future in that department will not be the past.

[dr_strangelove]

If the administration backs them over the current chair, then the newbies are clearly the future of the department, by design.

Or, on preview, what goldstein said.