Professors Decide Whether to Teach Summer Courses — for Cuts in Pay
By Teghan Simonton
June 5, 2018
When Amanda Klein, an associate professor in the English department at East Carolina University, decided to cancel her “Introduction to Film Studies” course, she was disappointed. It was her decision, but she didn’t feel she had much choice.
This summer, Klein said, she couldn’t afford to teach.
East Carolina has had an enrollment minimum for summer sessions for several years. If a course does not attract the required number of students, it is canceled. This year a new proportional-pay system on campus means that if a course does not reach the minimum enrollment, determined by administrators, it may still run but the salary for the professor teaching it will be reduced by a proportionate amount.
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When Amanda Klein, an associate professor in the English department at East Carolina University, decided to cancel her “Introduction to Film Studies” course, she was disappointed. It was her decision, but she didn’t feel she had much choice.
This summer, Klein said, she couldn’t afford to teach.
East Carolina has had an enrollment minimum for summer sessions for several years. If a course does not attract the required number of students, it is canceled. This year a new proportional-pay system on campus means that if a course does not reach the minimum enrollment, determined by administrators, it may still run but the salary for the professor teaching it will be reduced by a proportionate amount.
For Klein, that feels unfair: Her class came up five short of the 20-student requirement.
Her conflict goes beyond student enrollment, she said. She must now balance her feelings of responsibility to those 15 students who signed up, with the value of her own work.
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Putting a price tag on academic labor isn’t simple, but as universities cut costs by curbing faculty members’ summer salaries, how to value their work is something faculty members across the country have to weigh before taking on summer teaching. And that task is getting increasingly difficult.
It’s not just about the numbers, Klein said — although that is certainly part of it. In years past, Klein could earn $5,000 for teaching “Intro to Film Studies,” but now she can earn only $4,000. Being paid a full $1,000 less doesn’t seem worth it. She talked it over at length with her husband and department chair before finally declining to sign her summer contract, feeling it just wasn’t financially viable.
But while deciding, Klein also had to consider the students who had been relying on her course. She made sure they would still have an alternative summer course to take to fulfill their humanities requirement.
“The only reason we stick with these jobs is because we love it,” Klein said. “You know, we love teaching, we love our students, we want to serve them. ... The desire to serve our students and our desire to value ourselves and our work are constantly butting heads, and it’s a very unfair position to put faculty in.”
The pay cut contributed to a feeling that she was being taken advantage of, which has steadily gotten worse during her 11 years in public higher education, she said.
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“Nobody goes to become a college professor hoping to make big bucks, because that’s insane,” Klein said. “But I was not aware of the kind of devaluing of labor that would happen.”
Ron Mitchelson, East Carolina’s provost, wrote in an email that prorating salaries, “permits low-enrolled sections (below minima) to be offered if an instructor is willing to offer. In essence, we can offer sections that would not normally be offered. So, it is intended to be a positive initiative for instructors and for students and should assist in degree completion.”
The change in summer pay may be new to East Carolina, but many universities nationwide have seen similar pay scales for the summer months.
Last year, Chet Cooper, a professor of biological sciences at Youngstown State University, made headlines for canceling a summer course.
After his class enrolled eight students, not the required 15, Cooper canceled the course rather than take a prorated salary. He said he would have had a 43-percent drop in pay.
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“It means one of two things: Either during the regular academic year, I’m vastly overpaid, or that during the summer, my skills aren’t worth as much,” Cooper said.
They’re taking summer classes to help them finish. And anything that makes it harder for students to complete their education is detrimental.
Contractually, Cooper said, he had the right to cancel the course. He had the full support of the university and his department chair, he said, despite some negative feedback from his would-be students.
Now, Cooper said, he would most likely never volunteer to teach a summer course again.
Even without the pay cuts for low enrollment, summer salaries are still less than academic-year salaries, Cooper said. The added labor for decreased compensation is simply not worth it, he said.
Prorated systems like East Carolina’s are not the only pay scales applied during summer. Some universities pay the faculty based on the number of credit hours they take on during the summer, said Howard Bunsis, a professor of accounting at Eastern Michigan University and an active member of the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
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Other institutions pay instructors a percentage of their regular salaries, or pay on a per-student basis.
At Emory University, summer professors are paid based on rank, according to the college’s summer-pay schedule. This can be problematic, said Mitch Pentzer, a visiting assistant professor of classics. He is paid the same amount no matter how many students or how many credits he teaches, he said.
This summer, he faced a decision over how practical it would be to teach “Intensive Elementary Greek,” a six-credit course that is typically broken into two semesters. He would teach the course in just six weeks but would be paid half as much as he makes during the fall and spring semesters.
The system feels “exploitive,” Pentzer said. If the university charges students tuition by credit, he wonders why professors aren’t paid in the same way. He is also considering the amount of work required to fit the normally 30-week course into a summer schedule. Pentzer will spend two hours a day in the classroom for five days a week, in addition to two additional office hours each afternoon, and he’ll be grading assignments daily.
And he’ll have to balance that as his family moves cities, he said. He won’t be returning to Emory in the fall. But even though he is against working over the summer for half the pay, turning down any amount of money seems irresponsible — to his family, his students, and his work.
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“So, it’s a question of convenience for the move and my family, and my principles on the one hand,” he said. “And practicality, financial stability on the other.”
After noting all of the ways the course would interfere with his move, Pentzer said he is hesitant to disappoint students who are planning their summers around taking it.
“Dedication to the students, and dedication to the discipline as well,” said Pentzer. “I feel very passionately about the classics and their value,” which allows the university to exploit him all the more, he said.
Though it’s a pay reduction for instructors, some university administrators, like those at East Carolina, see these pay strategies as positive alternatives to canceling classes altogether, allowing students to take full advantage of summer course options.
Still, Klein sees it as “insulting.” To her, the new policy seems like a cut in an already inadequate salary.
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“By not paying people what their labor is worth, they are not encouraging the best faculty to stay at these schools,” Klein said.
For Bunsis, the issue is not so much about how instructors are paid but the resulting cancellation of summer courses. He said administrators focus too much on the cost of summer teaching and overlook the potential revenue from summer enrollment, as well as the effect cancellations have on students who depend on the classes.
“It’s harder on students than ever today because college is so expensive,” Bunsis said. “They’re taking summer classes to help them finish. And anything that makes it harder for students to complete their education is detrimental.”
It’s the concern over her students’ well-being that upsets Klein the most, the feeling that she shoulders the responsibility for disrupting their education.
“I don’t think this is a brand-new idea,” said Klein. “It’s just a bad one.”