AFT’s College Adjunct Faculty Members Stage Protests Seeking Fair Pay and Fair Play Across the Country

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 /U.S. Newswire/ — This week (Oct. 31 to Nov. 4), a coalition that includes the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the American Association of University Professors, the National Education Association and other organizations that represent college faculty is holding rallies and demonstrations calling for fair pay and benefits for college and university part- time faculty members.

“These are hard-working academics who are paid a fraction of the wages that others are paid for teaching the very same classes on the same campuses. It’s just not right and incredibly unfair to students and faculty,” said AFT Vice President Bill Scheuerman.

Throughout the week, faculty members on some campuses will pass out peanuts and hold signs saying “What do elephants and adjunct faculty have in common? Both work for peanuts.” On other campuses, part-time instructors will park cars filled with textbooks, papers and classroom materials next to signs reading “part-time faculty office.”

In the classified advertising section of several daily newspapers, the AFT is sponsoring want ads describing adjunct faculty positions as they really are. For example, a job want ad in Vermont’s Rutland Herald (and running in all of the state’s daily newspapers) included the following requirements:

— Appointments are part-time, but substantial opportunities exist to teach 90-100 percent full-time schedules at 40 percent or less of full-time pay

— No health care, subsidized pension or other benefits

— If hired, it will be necessary to reapply at least twice a year.

A link to the full text of this employment advertisement can be found at: http://www.newspaperads.com/rutlandherald/ liner(under)ad.asp?subc atid(equals)4782&interfa

In Vermont, 100 percent of the state’s community college faculty are adjuncts, or part-time teachers. Nationwide, 44 percent of college and university faculty are now classified as part-time. Of these, fewer than 20 percent receive any health benefits or contributions to retirement. This is not just an issue at community colleges, however. At New York University, for instance, 80 percent of the faculty are classified as contingent, meaning they are working on short-term contracts as adjuncts or graduate employees.

About a third of adjunct faculty are “part-time employees” in name only. Across the country, professors known as “freeway flyers” or “roads scholars” are forced to teach full time by working part time at more than one institution just to gain an adequate income.

This is the third national “Campus Equity Week” campaign. Others were held in 2001 and 2003. In addition to the “telling it like it is” advertisements in Vermont and running elsewhere, Campus Equity Week activities include:

— Faculty at Rutgers University are holding a hearing with state assembly members and scholars on the use of contingent faculty.

— In Philadelphia, faculty groups at six community colleges are hosting an event with Joe Berry, author of Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education. In Pennsylvania’s community colleges, 82.5 percent of the faculty teach part time.

— Oregon Gov. Theodore Kulongowski has issued a proclamation recognizing Campus Equity Week and urging Oregonians to participate.

— Elsewhere, faculty are dressing up as ghosts for Halloween news events to protest how adjuncts are treated as the “invisible faculty.”

Campaign posters and other Campus Equity Week materials can be downloaded at http://www.aft.org/higher(under)ed/.

——

The AFT represents 1.3 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; nurses and healthcare workers; and federal, state and local government employees.

http://www.usnewswire.com