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[spinnaker]

At will employee.  can be terminated any time without notice by the college or individual.  any oral statements or promises are not binding on the college.

This provision is particularly sordid.

[mickeymantle]

I agree, but I have heard of class commitments for adjuncts being cancelled at literally the last minute before the start of a semester.

[spinnaker]

Be as it may, I would be very careful in asking anyone to cancel your commitment.  Adjuncts live in a twilight world where obligations are non-reciprocal (in other words, the employer can cancel the sections at the last minute.)  Chairpeople have plenty of people to choose from, and they therefore have no hesitation in refusing to hire you again.  It's a cost vs. benefit analysis, in other words.

So it is that the adjunct who follows the predominant advice of the fora, which is to use adjunct employment only as extra employment, is less desirable to the employer. The people who would defend the widespread use of cheap labor, if only they were truthful, want the person who relies on the income.

[mickeymantle]

As a long-time adjunct who fortunately got out of the situation, I fully agree with you, spinnaker.  But if we don't do anything about it now, this will be the full-fledged wave of the future, just as it is in other occupations.  Another future option: on-line courses.

[spinnaker]

Mickey, I appreciate your comments here; they are typically thoughtful and compassionate.

Now, forgive me; the only thing worse than advising a person how to screw up his future as an adjunct is helping him manage it.

[mickeymantle]

Spinnaker, I respect your comments as well.  The only response I have is that we have to mix toughness with compassion, particularly in these times when so much of academia is changing.