UI adjunct faculty deserve livable wages
Many adjunct faculty members are hired at the beginning of each semester and fired when it ends.
The comment made by Jeff Jones, an English lecturer, shows the instability that comes with taking a contingent position.
On Wednesday, adjunct faculty at the University of Idaho took action by participating in the first National Adjunct Faculty Walkout Day.
They marched to the Administration Building and demanded a meeting with Andrew Kersten, dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. The faculty also participated in a “grade-in” in the Idaho Commons to protest the lack of job security and benefits in contingent faculty positions.
Adjunct professors are not paid at the same rates as regular faculty, yet they make up a large portion of the faculty population at UI.
Everyone deserves to work for livable wages. It’s especially important to address these concerns now and show the adjunct faculty at UI the respect they are requesting — and that they deserve.
Many contingent faculty members also do not receive the same employee benefits as regular faculty, including health insurance, tenure and retirement plans.
“(Contingent faculty) are the fast food workers of the university,” Jones said “We are the illegal immigrants. We are the undocumented workers at the university.”
Contingent faculty make huge contributions to UI and deserve the support of full-time faculty, staff and — most importantly — students. They teach many of the classes offered at the university and they deserve to be treated with the same level of respect given to full-time faculty members.
Many UI students don’t even realize the issues that face adjunct faculty, partially because many don’t recognize the difference between contingent and full-time faculty members — a professor is a professor in the eyes of most students.
Regular faculty are paid an annual salary, given benefits and put on a track toward tenure. Contingent faculty, on the other hand, are paid per course and have little job security.
In the wake of UI President Chuck Staben’s push to increase faculty pay, considering adjunct faculty is equally important.
It’s also promising to see Katherine Aiken, interim provost and executive vice president, show her support for this issue. Aiken said she thinks contingent faculty are “exactly right” in their viewpoints. She said adjunct faculty are highly qualified instructors who make big contributions to UI.
Aiken’s statements reflect well on the university and seem to be a first step in promoting equality among faculty members at all levels.
— EB