Posted April 25, 2008
The ADJUNCT ORGANIZING COMMITTEE of the MSFF
Metro Adjuncts:
Last year, following recommendations made by the administration's Adjunct Task Force of 2006, a delegation from the Metro State Faculty Federation met with President Jordan and Interim Provost Linda Curran regarding adjunct working conditions. The president's recommendations (link below) included the idea of a promotion structure for adjuncts, one that afforded them better working conditions, a form of seniority, and greater stability. This idea, along with many others in the report, were promising, but since its release in 2006 none of the recommendations have been enacted.
http://www.mscd.edu/facstaff/docs/2006_adjunctTF_report.pdf
Since that meeting several of the adjunct members of the MSFF have been working on a proposal which intends to provide an adjunct promotion structure - specifically one that addresses the situation of "career adjuncts." These are adjuncts for whom their major source of income is college-level teaching at MSCD (and very likely other colleges as well). Unlike those adjuncts who have external full-time careers, "career adjuncts" seek full-time academic employment but are largely unable to find it because of an escalating policy of hiring part-time temporary instead of full-time permanent faculty - a trend that has occurred nationwide which, despite steady growth in student enrollments, has shrunk the number of available full-time faculty positions. As such they, we feel, represent the most significantly marginalized group within college faculty. Career adjuncts are effectively full-time employees of the state, yet receive neither benefits nor job protections nor a genuine living wage.
The proposal forged to address these problems calls for the creation of a new faculty position called an "Affiliate Instructor." This position intends to provide adjuncts with long standing records of service to Metro the opportunity to obtain a more secure faculty position - one that accords with the needs of their department but one off the tenure track. The details of this proposal are below. We feel that enacting this proposal will not only improve the situation of career adjuncts but also will strengthen the college itself.
The main reason for this email is because we are looking for feedback on the proposal and support in the form of signature endorsements. We would like to get as many endorsements as we can before we bring the proposal to both the president and the faculty senate. To add your signature endorsement to the proposal, you may simply indicate your endorsement in a reply to this email. Your name and department will appear on the last page of the document. Comments are also welcome.
Keep in eye out for an announcement of a "town hall" meeting to discuss the proposal - details will be announced soon.
You can access the AOC Proposal via the link at the bottom of this page.
Sincerely,
Norman R. Schultz
Adjunct - Philosophy
Member of the MSFF
Additional Resources
