What’s New
Adjunct faculty members continue to teach in uncertain, challenging environments, often with no compensation for service work, no guarantee of employment beyond the term, and no assurance of academic freedom.
Those stressors have been exacerbated in recent years by pandemic-era virtual and hybrid learning, as well as legislative efforts to restrict faculty teaching and speech.
That’s the message of a new report from the American Federation of Teachers on working conditions for contingent faculty members, who make up an estimated 68 percent of higher ed’s teaching work force.
The report is based on a survey conducted last year by the organization, which collected responses from more than 1,000 adjuncts at both public and private, two- and four-year institutions. It’s the third report in a series analyzing quality of work and life for professors off the tenure track; the first two were based on surveys conducted in 2019 and 2020.
The Details
About 80 percent of contingent instructors who answered the survey said their average employment contract lasts for an academic term or less. Among the 81 percent of respondents who reported working part time, nearly two-thirds said they’d prefer to work full time.
Though their employment is fragile, adjunct faculty members are heavily involved on campus: 68 percent said they participate in faculty meetings, and 65 percent said they’ve helped students in crisis. Eighty-one percent said they write letters of recommendation for students. But they don’t think their contributions are valued.
Just 16 percent feel they’re treated as equal members of the faculty by their college’s administration, and one-fourth feel they’re treated equally by colleagues. Fewer than half said their institution provides them with adequate training on managing different kinds of crises, such as mental-health issues, bias incidents, and sexual harassment.
Adjunct salaries, a subject of much debate over the past decade, still don’t pay the bills, according to the report. Twenty-seven percent of respondents reported that their estimated annual income was less than $26,500. One-fourth said their household struggles to cover basic expenses during summer or winter breaks, when they’re not working. Sixty-eight percent said they put off dental care, and almost half said they delay health care. Less than half said they were insured through their employer.
Two-thirds of respondents said they’d thought about leaving higher ed in the last two years.
This is my dream job, but it’s become too hard and unstable.
“This is my dream job, but it’s become too hard and unstable,” one survey respondent said. “I don’t know when I will have to leave, but I wonder if it will give me more peace of mind to work somewhere that doesn’t have the looming threat of unemployment.”
“Apparently the only equity we can’t talk about on campus is equity for part-time faculty,” another respondent said. “The psychological toll this takes is immense and exhausting. I love my job, I love my students, but it’s a constant struggle to not give up in the face of such exploitation and devaluation, despite our essential role.”
The Backdrop
Over time, colleges of all types have “replaced their full-time and tenured educators with adjunct, part-time, and other contingent educators,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told The Chronicle in an interview.
The high stress of adjunct positions is nothing new, but the lingering effects of the pandemic and recent legislative proposals that target academic freedom have made things worse, the report says. Less than half of respondents said they felt their college’s administration guaranteed their academic freedom in the classroom.
Last year The Chronicle reported that contingent faculty members lacked adequate support for the transition to virtual learning, with many covering unanticipated expenses out of their own pockets. That changed how professors taught, and how they felt about teaching.
Labor movements in higher ed have grown significantly over the past few years, with more graduate-student workers and other contingent instructors turning to unionization as a way to push for better pay and working conditions.
The Stakes
The new report calls for more accountability among administrators, alleging an “explosive growth” in both administrative positions and salaries at many colleges while contingent faculty members continue to struggle financially. It also advocates for legislative action enshrining protections for unions and academic freedom.
Weingarten told The Chronicle that raising salaries would be a crucial step. But often, she said, it feels as if “the new football stadium is a priority, not teaching young adults.”
When instructors spread themselves thin between three or four teaching gigs, that hurts students, Weingarten added.
“The irony here is we have for a generation talked about the importance of college for young people,” Weingarten said. “So we have to make sure that the people who teach college these days can actually have a family-sustaining wage, not be impoverished themselves by the salary that they’re given.”
