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[jgconti]

Hi,

I have been teaching at X University in the Y Department for over a decade.
This semester the Chair of Dept (who has taught fewer years than I at the university) assigned to me one section of a course I have taught innumerable times over a decade of semesters.  In contrast, he assigned four sections of the same course to a graduate student who has taught a half year at X University.

When I asked the Chair to explain this, he wrote: "The schedule is consistent with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and the needs of the students and department." !!!

By what approach do you recommend I seek redress of this errant injustice, given a decade of good service to a university as an adjunct-- at a fraction of full-timers salaries!?!

Thanks.

[geonerd]

I recommend that you ask the CHE Moderators to delete this thread. Identifying yourself, your department, and by association your chair, in this public forum will not help your cause or your professional reputation. Use the resources available through your institution (union, ombudsperon?), and be professional in your dealings with your colleagues.

Good luck.

[dr_alcott]

I recommend that you ask the CHE Moderators to delete this thread. Identifying yourself, your department, and by association your chair, in this public forum will not help your cause or your professional reputation. Use the resources available through your institution (union, ombudsperon?), and be professional in your dealings with your colleagues.

Good luck.

This. Absolutely.

[mickeymantle]

Yes, yikes.  Do this pronto.  Career suicide, particularly as an adjunct, is not a feasible option.

[larryc]

Perhaps your chair has noticed other lapses in your professional judgement?

Or this post is by the OP's worst enemy?

In any case, mods please delete.

[erzuliefreda]

Why would anyone care that your Chair has been there less time than you have?

[wet_blanket]

Oh, that's clever.  I'm going to remember that in case I find myself in a tough spot one day.

[history_anon]

I'll echo those who suggest that the moderator should delete the identifying information on this.  

However, no one has answered the substantive question, so here goes:  The university has made an investment in its graduate students and needs to employ them in teaching in order to fund their studies.  Having them teach sections of the department's required courses is a common and mutually beneficial way to do that.  The department has no such long-term investment in its adjuncts, though they perform a necessary function in its life by providing additional teaching labor.  I have already posted to another thread my support for better pay and job security for adjuncts, but also my caution that adjuncting is not viable as a long-term career strategy, but rather as a springboard to gain experience for bigger and better things, or as an intellectually stimulating second career for someone who doesn't need to work for a living.  Long-term adjuncting also brings rapidly diminishing returns, and seniority as an adjunct counts for very little.  It certainly is not comparable to seniority on the tenure track, which is why the fact that you have been on campus longer than your department chair is immaterial.

In short, the graduate student is more important to the department than you are.  That has nothing do to with your respective individual merits, but rather with your respective institutional roles.  Sorry to be so blunt, but those are the facts, and wishing them away won't get you anywhere.

[spinnaker]

It's not clear to me what role the collective bargaining agreement had. Sometimes deals are made with administrations that do not include non-unionized adjuncts, affecting them adversely. Unfair, in my opinion, but absolutely legal.

[polly_mer]

In short, the graduate student is more important to the department than you are.  That has nothing do to with your respective individual merits, but rather with your respective institutional roles.  Sorry to be so blunt, but those are the facts, and wishing them away won't get you anywhere.

This.  The purpose of the department is to educate students, including having graduate students learn to teach.  One of the primary purposes of adjuncts is to cover the mismatch between sections that need to be taught and people available to teach.  If that reading of the CBA is consistent with that purpose, then you have no recourse because nothing inconsistent with the CBA was done.

However, writing a post like this and signing your legal name indicates that you are working hard to be dismissed/non-renewed with cause under the provisions of many CBA's.

[mleok]

Sad to say, I believe that since you're a lecturer, pursuant to your contract as negotiated by your Faculty Association, a reduction in a course schedule is not considered a layoff, and as such does not trigger union protection.

[oldfullprof]

Assigning a sub-masters student (which x must be) to teach independently may violate some academic standards, however.  It wouldn't fly in Southern association.  If they are at Merced, OTOH, and post-masters, you don't have much recourse.

You don't have recourse anyway.  Because schools are lighthearted about violating their accreditation standards, especially if the accreditor has just been by.  

But maybe you can get a camera and catch the chair and the grad student.....

[wet_blanket]

Assigning a sub-masters student (which x must be if at CSUF) to teach independently may violate some academic standards, however.  It wouldn't fly in Southern association.  If they are at Merced, OTOH, and post-masters, you don't have much recourse.

You don't have recourse anyway.  Because schools are lighthearted about violating their accreditation standards, especially if the accreditor has just been by.  

But maybe you can get a camera and catch the chair and the grad student.....

It isn't clear from the initial post if the grad student is from the department or even the school.

[burnie]

Assigning a sub-masters student (which x must be) to teach independently may violate some academic standards, however.  It wouldn't fly in Southern association.  If they are at Merced, OTOH, and post-masters, you don't have much recourse.

You don't have recourse anyway.  Because schools are lighthearted about violating their accreditation standards, especially if the accreditor has just been by.  

But maybe you can get a camera and catch the chair and the grad student.....

Four sections of a course for a sub-masters student seems excessive.  We were capped at either two sections or one plus a research assignment.  If one student has four sections either they're post masters or the department is setting that person up to fail out of school.

I've been poking around the department's site (hooray for being too sick to go to campus but too well to just sit here) and they don't mention grad students and the course schedules are odd to me.  Huh.

[systeme_d_]

However, the OP did not indicate in which system the grad student in question is a student.  Therefore, I would assume that the grad student in question is a PhD student elsewhere.