Understanding the Adjunct Crisis
By: Wali Ullah
Tags: Higher Education, University, Adjuncts, Academia

What can governments and higher education institutions do to better support adjunct faculty?

As the fundamental shift in the locus of higher education funding and structure of higher education bureaucracy has a role to play in employment patterns in higher education, lawmakers and campus administrators alike are liable for driving the neoliberal policies that have elevated “market thinking” over the qualitative value of a higher education. To better address the growing issue of “adjunctification”, it must be approached as a policy problem and addressed as such.

Following actions that state and federal governments can take to promote positive working conditions for adjunct at public colleges and universities include:

· Reinstating the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, which was decommissioned and defunded in 2004.

· Requiring the U.S. Department of Education to investigate private and public institutions that engage in unfair hiring practices that limit adjunct faculty pay and benefit parity, such as requiring faculty to work a certain number of hours a week to qualify for institutionally-provided health insurance plans and benefits.

· Increasing the level of state funding that public college and universities receive so institutions can afford to improve adjunct faculty working conditions on campus (examples listed below), rather than feel forced to shift expenses from other sectors of the institution if existing budgetary funding is limited.

Furthermore, a report published by the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success, titled Dispelling the Myths: Locating the Resources Needed to Support Non-Tenure-Track Faculty, outlines potential campus policy changes that institutions can undertake improve the working conditions of adjunct faculty, help them become more effective instructors and academics, and make them feel like valued members of the academic community and their respective campus communities. The outlined campus policy changes are categorized by four cost categories: 1) marginal or no cost ($), 2) some additional expense ($$), 3) moderate increases or reallocation of funding ($$$), and 4) more substantial expense ($$$$). Such policy changes include:

Enhancing existing data collection efforts ($): Direct institutional research offices to reach out to non-tenure track faculty and collect and report data pertaining to their work experiences in order to help institutional leaders identify and make better informed decisions to improve campus policies and practices relating to adjunct faculty working conditions and institutional support.

Ensuring or clarifying protections for academic freedom ($): Institutions may clarify in their faculty handbooks what academic freedom protections adjunct faculty have, as well as determine appropriate procedures for adjunct faculty to file grievances or appeals.

Access to instructional materials, resources, and support services ($): Ensure that adjunct faculty are provided access to basic materials and resources (e.g. textbooks, institutional email addresses, campus ID cards, library privileges, parking, office supplies, and computers and telephones) and are informed what campus support services are available to them.

Access to existing on-campus and off-campus professional development opportunities ($-$$$): Ensure that adjunct faculty are informed of on-campus professional development opportunities and are encouraged to attend by improving outreach efforts through email list distributions and departmental encouragement.

Participation in departmental meetings, curriculum design, and campus life ($-$$): Invite and encourage adjunct faculty to participate in curriculum planning and routine department meetings to ensure adjunct faculty can provide input in curriculum development and are kept aware of important departmental and course-related developments. It is crucial to do so because adjunct faculty make up the majority of faculty teaching introductory and development courses, in which students tend to be at higher risk of attrition. Considering that adjunct faculty are often only paid for instruction and are not compensated for institutional service — unlike their tenured counterparts — compensating adjunct faculty for their participation in departmental politics and curriculum design may help encourage organizational commitment and make adjunct faculty feel like valued members of the academic community.

Participation in college governance ($-$$): Grant adjunct faculty representation on faculty senates and various campus governance bodies such as ad hoc groups, joint faculty-administrative groups, administrative task forces, and campus committees, as well as remove barriers to participation in governance for adjunct faculty. Given the time and commitment often required for college governance, adjunct faculty must also be compensated for their participation in college governance.

Opportunities for faculty mentoring ($-$$): As adjunct faculty may be less familiar with pedagogies and certain teaching strategies, being paired with an experienced faculty member for a certain duration may help them become more effective instructors.

Access to orientation for new hires ($-$$): New faculty orientations often lack specific guidelines or tips to accommodate new adjunct faculty, which may be harmful to effective classroom instruction given the different duties and hiring practices surround adjunct faculty labor. Integrating information specific to adjunct faculty in existing faculty orientations, as well as facilitating separate orientations for adjunct faculty, can help adjunct faculty become better accommodated with the culture of their respective institutions, be better informed of hiring practices, academic freedom norms, and services available to such faculty, as well as make adjunct faculty feel like valued members of the academic and campus community.

Changing hiring practices ($-$$$): Systematically restructuring or formalizing hiring processes for adjunct faculty can help ensure that adjunct faculty are better prepared to teach in the classroom and receive the support and resources they need in a timely fashion, as adjunct faculty as commonly hired within days or weeks of the beginning of the academic term. Such formalization of hiring practices can include getting adjunct faculty know of hiring decisions early. Rehiring practices can also be improved by creating promotion processes for adjunct faculty that have been teaching at their respective institution for a prolonged period of time, as well as being given priority over external applicants for full-time vacancies.

Extending employment contracts to multi-year terms ($-$$$$): As adjunct faculty are often rehired repeatedly, often over multiple years, it may be more feasible for institutions to move to multi-year contracts rather than term-by-term or annual contracts. This may require long-term institutional planning such as gauging class and program enrollment, as well as the hiring of additional staff and creation of new offices.

Compensation for office hours ($$-$$$$): More often than not, adjunct faculty are required to hold office hours to meet with students outside of classroom instruction hours without compensation, despite the work that adjunct faculty engage in outside of the classroom, such as grading papers and assignments, advising and mentoring students, and preparing instructional materials. Tenured and tenure track faculty typically receive compensation for performing such duties during their office hours, so adjunct faculty must also be compensated for such labor in order to make them feel valued as instructors as well as boost organization commitment.

Increasing compensation ($$$-$$$$): The average pay per three-credit-course for adjunct faculty is $2,700, which amounts to just barely $21,000 if one accounts for the typical full instructional workload of eight courses per year. Adjunct faculty often put in just as much work into instruction as their full-time and tenured peers, and often bring valuable experiences to the classroom such as employment in a specialized profession. One of the most commonly cited reasons for job dissatisfaction among adjunct faculty is low pay. To ensure the stability of the academic profession, considering that adjunct faculty now make up a majority of the professoriate, adjunct faculty must be paid at a relatively higher rate that allows them to live comfortably.

Providing benefits ($$$-$$$$): More than half of adjunct faculty report receiving no health, retirement, or paid leave benefits from their institution of employment. This often means that adjunct faculty have to save u and pay out of pocket for such expenses, which can be difficult enough for such faculty given the stark level of pay disparity between adjunct faculty and tenured faculty, the latter of which is often guaranteed benefits by their institution of employment. As personal well-being affects organization commitment and job satisfaction, health, retirement and paid leave benefits must be provided to adjunct faculty to ensure their personal well-being.