The Adjunct Life

[Anselm]

https://www.theonion.com/matthew-mcconaughey-forced-to-apply-for-food-stamps-aft-1838073063

AUSTIN, TX—Struggling to scrape by on his meager salary, actor Matthew McConaughey was reportedly forced to apply for food stamps Thursday after his first month working as an adjunct professor. "Man, things have been really tough lately, but fortunately I qualify for some nutrition assistance," said the Academy Award-winning actor while filing the SNAP forms, explaining how he has been taking on some side gigs at the university's writing center as well as participating in studies at the psychology department just to make rent. "I'm really passionate about the material, but it sucks having to go to the dentistry school to get a cavity filled because I don't have insurance. Man, I hope I get approved soon, since I'm teaching a full course load and won't have as much time to make a few extra bucks selling my blood plasma." At press time, McConaughey was shoving some of the free bagels from a department event into his backpack to eat later.

[little bongo]

Pretty funny bit on McConaughey--one of the few places where The Onion can still slightly exaggerate reality, I think.

I'm definitely seeing a lot of heavy duty 1880s-1910s attitudes toward adjuncts in particular, and labor in general on the other threads--kind of discouraging. It's a useful snapshot of what adjuncting means to Professional-Managerial Class. It's why I would submit that this business of making adjuncting work for you, or making it better, is largely a personal and solitary endeavor.

In some cases, maybe many cases, unions could indeed be helpful, pace the Pinkerton-style outpourings on other adjunct threads. I know our union keeps the fates and fortunes of our permanent as well as contingent full-time faculty together--one of the first things Administration puts on the table is something along the lines of, let's make the contingent faculty teach more classes to be considered full-time, for example, and we always say no (at least so far). I can't speak with the same authority or intelligence with regard to our part-timers--we haven't used a part-time professor in our department in several years. Even here, though, I think we're talking about a case-by-case, campus-by-campus basis rather than a general rule.

I know it's naive and simple--but irrespective of budget realities and how spending gets prioritized, I'd like to think that respect and dignity, which take nothing monetarily from any budget, should still be available to everyone who has a job to do and does it. 

[marshwiggle]

I'm definitely seeing a lot of heavy duty 1880s-1910s attitudes toward adjuncts in particular, and labor in general on the other threads--kind of discouraging. It's a useful snapshot of what adjuncting means to Professional-Managerial Class. It's why I would submit that this business of making adjuncting work for you, or making it better, is largely a personal and solitary endeavor.

My frustration, as someone who teaches part-time alongside my "day job", comes from the fact that for many (most?) people doing part-time teaching as a part-time job, (as it is intended to be), it's a pretty fair deal. But saying that is seen as being insensitive (or worse) to people trying to do it as a full-time job (as it was NOT intended to be).

It's a bit like people taking prescription drugs in doses or for conditions that are not as prescribed, and then complaining about the resulting health problems.

I am happy to discuss things like pro-rated benefits which would help people who don't have full-time jobs, but I'm not going to jump on the institution-bashing bandwagon on behalf of people trying to do what was explicitly discouraged.

I know it's naive and simple--but irrespective of budget realities and how spending gets prioritized, I'd like to think that respect and dignity, which take nothing monetarily from any budget, should still be available to everyone who has a job to do and does it.

The people who get a lot of my respect are the people who, when unsatisfied with the results of the choices they've made, make different choices, rather than simply wring their hands and demand that other people change the outcome.

[mahagonny]

I know it's naive and simple--but irrespective of budget realities and how spending gets prioritized, I'd like to think that respect and dignity, which take nothing monetarily from any budget, should still be available to everyone who has a job to do and does it. 

I'm pretty sure the 'warm bodies' jargon that has been circulating around this forum recently would violate my department 'collegiality' requirement in the handbook.

[mahagonny]

I'm definitely seeing a lot of heavy duty 1880s-1910s attitudes toward adjuncts in particular, and labor in general on the other threads--kind of discouraging. It's a useful snapshot of what adjuncting means to Professional-Managerial Class. It's why I would submit that this business of making adjuncting work for you, or making it better, is largely a personal and solitary endeavor.

My frustration, as someone who teaches part-time alongside my "day job", comes from the fact that for many (most?) people doing part-time teaching as a part-time job, (as it is intended to be), it's a pretty fair deal.

Mahagonny: No, it's not a good deal for many. For many, the pay is rotten. that's why union votes tend to be 'yea.'

I'm not going to jump on the institution-bashing bandwagon on behalf of people trying to do what was explicitly discouraged.

Mahagonny: They don't discourage you. They let you know they don't want you to unionize. There's a big difference. Look at several the main arguments used against unionizing:
1. "There's no money to give you a raise or access to health insurance." But what many of us have experienced is they hire an expensive law firm that specializes in union avoidance. Then they drag the negations on for months, years. So they've conveyed to you that they have lots of money.
2. "Our college or university has a direct close relationship with its faculty. It would not be beneficial to bring in a third, outside party that is not versed in academic culture." But the administration thinks of you as a warm body, not a skilled professional. The culture is your problem. Thanks to the forum, I know this even better now. Besides, the chair doesn't even remember which one you are half the time in a big department.
3. "Unionizing won't bring enough of a gain to get you out of the trouble you're in. You need to get a full time job."  Of course they don't want me to get a full time job; they keep hiring me. Besides, I'm not sleeping my car. I just work hard and know my rights.

They don't want you to unionize, because it will cost them money, pure and simple. They pretend to care about you, but no one believes them.

[Anselm]

Oh my, I did not realize that the story was rooted in reality:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/08/29/matthew-mcconaughey-will-be-professor-university-texas/

Hmmmm....

Maybe adjuncts can contact him and ask him to speak out about adjunct issues.  It never hurts to get a celebrity on your side.

[mahagonny]

Here's an experience in the academic life that is peculiar to adjunctdom. You have a Monday holiday, and school decrees that Tuesday will follow a Monday schedule that week.but you have other employment every Tuesday. So you are expected to be two places at once. Compounding the absurdity is the fact that your adjunct contract states that adjunct positions are intended for people who have another, 'primary' source of employment.
Sorry, I guess I'm railing against the system again. On the other hand, when the system does something stupid, with a potentially detrimental effect on the students' learning and also on the instructor's student evaluations of faculty, and then never even discusses it, is there some reason it should be exempt from criticism?
A dean once explained to me that the academic calendar works that way because it works out for full time faculty. Why shouldn't it work out for students?
How do you part time adjunct faculty handle this? I'm interested in hearing from people who are adjunct faculty currently.

[downer]

Just assign online work for the Monday class that meets on Tuesday. Make sure that doing the assignment and grading it takes you no more time than preparing for and giving the regular class would.

[mahagonny]

Just assign online work for the Monday class that meets on Tuesday. Make sure that doing the assignment and grading it takes you no more time than preparing for and giving the regular class would.

this is a good solution when it works. Unfortunately some classes taught by adjuncts are labs, performance related, or require a group of students being in the same room working together. It can be a significant deficit. Anything that is designed with the assumption that tenure track faculty and their work are the center of the universe is not going to change.

[downer]

Unfortunately some classes taught by adjuncts are labs, performance related, or require a group of students being in the same room working together. It can be a significant deficit. Anything that is designed with the assumption that tenure track faculty and their work are the center of the universe is not going to change.

I get the point about labs and performance classes, but even they can involve some online work, watching a relevant video and answering question, or doing some research. It may take some planning ahead.

To be honest, when classes are rescheduled for a different day I tend to just ignore the rescheduled class, as do many FT faculty too.

[mahagonny]

To be honest, when classes are rescheduled for a different day I tend to just ignore the rescheduled class, as do many FT faculty too.

So they're using a defect in the system and the effect it has on us and our students as a background for getting away with taking an extra day off. These would probably be the same people who campaign against adjunct (part-time) hiring because we're not available enough to the students.

I think you can ignore the rescheduled class, but you're taking a chance it will show up as a ding in your course evaluations, which in our situation, without a union, you have no defense against.

[downer]

To be honest, when classes are rescheduled for a different day I tend to just ignore the rescheduled class, as do many FT faculty too.

So they're using a defect in the system and the effect it has on us and our students as a background for getting away with taking an extra day off. These would probably be the same people who campaign against adjunct (part-time) hiring because we're not available enough to the students.

I think you can ignore the rescheduled class, but you're taking a chance it will show up as a ding in your course evaluations, which in our situation, without a union, you have no defense against.

Maybe. I've never seen any sign that any one gives a crap about the missing class.

[mahagonny]

To be honest, when classes are rescheduled for a different day I tend to just ignore the rescheduled class, as do many FT faculty too.

So they're using a defect in the system and the effect it has on us and our students as a background for getting away with taking an extra day off. These would probably be the same people who campaign against adjunct (part-time) hiring because we're not available enough to the students.

I think you can ignore the rescheduled class, but you're taking a chance it will show up as a ding in your course evaluations, which in our situation, without a union, you have no defense against.

Maybe. I've never seen any sign that any one gives a crap about the missing class.

Apathy, like enthusiasm is contagious!

But thank you for your candid responses. not that you should feel you've confessed to anything other than fitting with the culture.

[downer]

I do work at a community college which is very rule bound and I have to sign in for each class I teach. They definitely care a lot when adjunct faculty cancel classes. But they have never switched the day of a class -- I think they know that neither the faculty nor the students would be able to come, since everyone has other jobs.

[downer]

I'm teaching at 3 schools. For Spring 2020 my classes are up at Banner (or the equivalent, at the one quirky school that uses knockoff versions of all the standard academic software.) 2 of them, but not at the third. At the third, the chair told me that he is working on it. I guess they want to keep their options open. Still, I'd like to get confirmation about my schedule soon.

When do other people see their Spring course assignments listed on Banner?