CHE blog (6/12/09) on the adjunct issue:
"According to [a] paper [delivered at this year's AAUP convention in Washington , DC], faculty members who work off the tenure track are largely invisible in that they’re not viewed as the public face of an institution, they’re unlikely to participate in faculty governance, and the issue of their poor salaries and benefits isn’t discussed enough. If more adjuncts told their stories in a systematic way, they could be their own advocates and “build common ground with those who can advocate on their behalf but do not.”
The implication that full-timers could advocate but don't struck a nerve for me as a senator. What do we, as the Senate, do to raise the profile of the adjuncts who make up so large a percentage of our instructional faculty? What else could we do?
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Based on your professional and academic judgment as a faculty member, what percentage of a semester would need to be completed in order to meet academic objectives and protect the college’s academic mission in the event of an emergency situation that shut
Followers
counter
Blog Goals and Policies
The goal of the TCC Senate Blog is to promote open communication among TCC faculty and between TCC faculty and others who are interested in our work.
We hope to
We hope to
- inform faculty of the work of College Faculty Senate
- establish productive communication between the College Faculty Senate and the faculty as a whole.
- provide ongoing information about the goals. expectations, and policies of the College Faculty Senate.
- provide an easily accessible site to consolidate support information and links for all faculty members.
- actively engage all faculty members in the shared governance process.
****Faculty Senate Log****Check out exactly what the Senate is doing
Meetings
- The College Faculty Senate meets on the first Thursday of each month September through May at 2:00 p.m. Meeting locations rotate alphabetically, starting in September and February with the Chesapeake campus. There are no January meetings. Summer meetings will be held on an as-needed basis.
- Sept. 4, 2008 Chesapeake
- Oct. 2, 2008 Norfolk
- Nov. 6 , 2008 Portsmouth
- Dec. 4, 2008 Virginia Beach
- Feb. 5, 2008 Chesapeake
- Mar. 5, 2008 Norfolk
- Apr. 2, 2008 Portsmouth
7 comments:
Maybe the Senate should ask the adjuncts for specifics. A lot of the obvious concerns of adjuncts like benefits and pay are not within the senate's scope, but professional development might be an area to discuss.
I highly encourage faculty to read the 9 articles under the Viewpoints section of the Spring 2002 issue of Inquiry (VCCS online journal).
http://www.vccaedu.org/inquiry/inquiry-spring2002/i-71.html
While each viewpoint was interesting, "Intruder in the Dust?" by Brian Wright was particularly interesting.
It's the responsibility of the adjuncts to establish themselves as visible. To be a members of a community college they need to make themselves visible to some extent. And they will gain valuable strengths from the whole when they do so. As an adjunct, and I would gladly participate in school activities if I had more time; though I don't feel the need to particpate-I have the want. Yes, better pay could be addressed to guarantee loyalty. I have seen loyalty increase and inspire even the 20 year plus adjuncts at various CCs in the country-all because of the community that was established by addressing issues such as pay; everyone likes to feel that the majority cares about their well being. Likewise, I have seen deflated adjuncts who never felt their concerns were addressed. Their teaching showed this disregard. Then again, they never addressed their concerns either.
It'd be nice to poll the adjunct to ask what their concerns are. Some problems may be quick (though not necessarily easy) fixes--such as 1) creating a form for deans to make sure each adjunct has a Novell account (some still don't and thus can't get on Inside TCC), 2) providing a phone for adjuncts, and 3) allocating adjuct office areas in new buildings.
It would be nice if just polling Adjuncts would give relevant information. Full-time faculty don't always respond to 'surveys' either. The Faculty Senate has been less than hospitable to Adjuncts (if not downright hostile) and continues to rail against them.
Perhaps, the best option is to reorganize the Faculty Senate so that representation is based on actual numbers of full-time versus Adjunct Faculty. I would bet that some of the important 'issues' would change.
After reading the Inquiry - Spring 2002 articles, many wide ranging views to the "adjunct issue" were presented. All had value in their own right, as there is NO single answer to the "adjunct issue."
Adjunct's come in many different "flavors." Many have full time employment and teach evenings and weekends. Add to that those that have children that they help raise. Some even compound this as single parents.
Where am I going with this? I (we) hear many grumblings concerning the adjunct's, but where are these grumblings coming from. How accurately do they represent the "original" thought as they are passed around? From the disproportionate number of grumblings, relatively few are "formally" presented before any faculty senate body. And then the “adjunct issue” is compounded by the lack of participation (nee, INVOLVEMENT) on the "Adjunct Faculty Standing Committee," a body that reports directly to the College Faculty Senate. We, as a COLLEGE, have to overcome the petty biases and jealousies between campuses. Sure each has its own “personality” and that is where pride and sense of being comes from, but to not have representation because it’s too far to travel, or I can’t count the time spent on the committee as “office hours.” It is attitudes such as these that make the “system” seem unsupportive.
Stop commiserating and if becoming involved is not your “cup o’ tea,” present your concern to one of your senate representatives. Or, for that matter, invite yourself to the senate meeting to clearly present your issue and be available amplify and answer any questions that might arise. The more involved the “adjunct” becomes in the everyday working’s on campus, outside of the classroom, the more beneficial this will be towards the college’s mission and the community overall.
1. Agree with suggestion that more slots on Senate should be allocated to Adjuncts - Adjuncts are 60 to 80% of teaching staff now? what % are they on Senate? Has any college looked into this major shift in teachers and shifted strategic thinking? Want to ensure we are preserving full timer rights, of course.
2. Have adjuncts be able to teach as many credits as full time with equitable rules (over 21 is overtime pay)
3. More efficient and more automated process to apply for New Horizons and other opportunities with more efficient and automated process to complete travel
4. Webinars periodically - on topics such as grants
Post a Comment