Inequities in pay and benefits between part- and full-time faculty members in colleges and universities nationwide caused members of the United University Professions, a union for faculty and professionals within the SUNY system, and the Western New York Committee on Contingent Academic Labor to rally in the Student Union Social Room Tuesday.
The rally, part Campus Equity Week, used guest speakers, videos and music to explore themes relating to the pay and treatment of part-time faculty.
Among the speakers were members of UUP and WNY COCAL who publicly denounced administrative priorities of American higher education.
"If students are customers, then let them get what they paid for!" said Aaron Lercher, a part-time teacher at Buffalo State College and vice president of WNY COCAL.
The UB event was part of a larger movement of labor organizations including the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors to proliferate public awareness and activism in opposition to an increase in the number of part-time professors on U.S. campuses.
"We have great concerns that higher education is at risk," said Charlotte Pressler, a UUP member and one of the guest speakers.
"We are concerned because part-time teachers are paid so poorly and hired in abundance. Among teachers teaching 100- to 200-level English courses here at UB, 94 percent are part-time or adjunct professors."
The American Federation of Teachers issued a release in October showing 43 percent of American professors are employed part-time, and 80 percent of those work without employer-funded healthcare coverage or a subsidized retirement plan. One of the concerns detailed in the report is the lack of job security that part-time and adjunct professors, few of whom are tenure tracked, face.
"Several people don't know about this issue," said David Landrey, former part-time English professor and co-founder of WNY COCAL. "Several part-time teachers have no part in the decision-making of the university - many don't even have things such as office space. What we have to do is incorporate more of these part-time professors into these universities and integrate them into the curriculum, providing some sort of job security."
The number of part-time faculty in higher education has drastically increased as the number of full-time professors has simultaneously declined. According to the UUP Research Department, for the 1991-92 academic year the SUNY system had a total of 10,236 full-time professors and 3,900 part-time faculty. By last year, the number of full-time faculty had dropped to 8,796 while part-timers increased to 5,189 - a decrease of nearly 10 percent. Since 1980, UB has experienced a 20 percent increase in the number of part-time faculty hired, according to the UUP Web site.
Organizations such as UUP and WNY COCAL contend that the pay ratio between part-time or adjunct professors and full-time professors teaching comparable courses is about 40 cents to the dollar. Moreover, the organizations claim that graduate student assistants with a bachelor's degree receive a stipend almost double or triple the salaries received by some part-time professors with a master's degree.
Despite the apparent disparities in treatment and financial reimbursement for part-time teachers, there has been a surge of state reform movements to establish rules that would set mandatory minimum wages for part-time and adjunct professors.
In 1999, California passed bill 420, which expanded health insurance and paid office hours to part-time instructors who teach 40 percent of the full-time load. This year, California Gov. Gray Davis added $62 million to the state budget for part-time faculty compensation.
The UUP, an AFT affiliate, recently negotiated a contract guaranteeing minimum salaries with annual increases and six-month health and dental benefits.
"Although there are some improvements, it isn't enough. There is more that still needs to be done," said Pressler. "Teaching is labor intensive and we can't hire part-time teachers with little benefits in volume without compromising its quality."
"I wouldn't be doing any of this if it didn't benefit the university or education system. I want the education system to be fair and efficient," she added.
More events hosted by affiliate organizations are scheduled to take place across several college campuses this week, including schools such as Penn State University and the University of California at Berkley, where organizers will discuss a comprehensive campaign to persuade state legislators and inform the public.
