“The solution is for students to go on strike until our institutions agree to pay adjuncts a fair wage” - Peter Jacobs
“Universities, colleges and community colleges make heavy use of part-time professors and lecturers, known as ‘adjuncts.’ Chances are very good that if you’re a current college student, you’ve taken a class taught by an adjunct.
“Although they make up a large chunk of college instructors, adjuncts are paid only a tiny fraction of what full-time professors make, often with no benefits and no say in institutional decision-making. Adjunct professors may hold doctorates but are paid on average only $3,000 for each course that they teach. If (and this is a big if) an adjunct somehow manages to secure five courses to teach during the academic year, which is on par with (or exceeds) the load of a full-time professor, they could be bringing in a whopping $15,000 a year…
“Adjuncts fear that if they ask for a raise, they will just be replaced with someone else who is more desperate for work and less argumentative. Adjuncts are also often caught in a cruel catch-22, where they can’t afford to strike for higher pay because their current pay is so low that striking would leave them unable to pay rent or other living expenses.
“Historians Kristen Edwards and Kim Tolley sum up the current adjunct situation quite well in The Chronicle of Higher Education: ‘Many colleges claim to advance social justice or develop democratic communities, but few have acted on their own principles when it comes to giving adjunct faculty a living wage and a real voice in decision-making. Everyone who cares about the quality of higher education should demand they do so. Since the CONTINUE READING: glen brown: “The solution is for students to go on strike until our institutions agree to pay adjuncts a fair wage” - Peter Jacobs