But the door was shut on my foot. When Toole first came to the department of liberal studies, it had 14 full-time professors, and now has only seven. Toole attributes his dismissal to a departmental downslide. There has been a whittling at core programs. Toole said he understands why he wasn't rehired, but still sympathizes with other adjuncts.
Adjuncts are just temporary service employees.
There is no future in being an adjunct. After 10 years of higher education and earning a doctorate degree, Swarna Reddy was excited to finally teach mathematics at the university level. That is, until she received a letter of termination from the math department. Reddy said she won't be leaving Missoula to find another position because she's married to tenured UM mathematics professor Brian Steele. Reddy said, for her, the worst part of not teaching is wasted knowledge.