EDITORIAL: Adjuncts Speak Week reminds students of need to stand in solidarity with adjuncts
Unfair treatment of adjunct faculty deserves broader attention to bring about change
If you are a student at Rutgers University, you have most likely had professors who are adjuncts, without even realizing it. This past week was meant to give more visibility to adjuncts, during the second-annual Adjuncts Speak Week.
Adjunct faculty came out and described to students their experiences at the University. Teaching multiple classes at different universities, writing curriculum and assessments and being resources to students — they do all of these things, and have the same academic qualifications as full-time faculty, without office space and guarantees of future employment.
Since June, adjunct faculty have not had a contract, yet they continue to teach and engage with students due to their commitment to our education. The Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, PTLFC-AAUP-AFT, in its campaign for a new contract, is demanding equal pay for equal work, job security and healthcare benefits.
While the "adjunctification" of higher education is a national concern and happening on campuses throughout the country, Rutgers should not be complacent in such a toxic culture. One of the most infuriating things about Rutgers is the apparent hypocrisy between what the University seems to stand for and what it actually does.
The University says that we are a “beloved community.” But University President Jonathan Holloway, in responding to questions about pay fairness for adjuncts, says that equal pay for equal work is “a powerful phrase that is compelling on its surface and ignores the layers of complexity underneath it.”
Are adjuncts not part of our “beloved community?” Adjuncts are, in fact, our “beloved community.”
Without them, there would be a staffing crisis and many students would not be able to take classes. Adjuncts teach 30 percent of all courses at this University. Their presence and their commitment to Rutgers’ students cannot be overlooked, ignored or downplayed. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to suggest that Rutgers could not function without adjuncts. They are the backbone that keeps the University going.
Yet for many students, this week was the first time hearing about and thinking about the plight faced by some of their teachers. One question might be why this fact is not widely acknowledged. It is clear that Rutgers administrators and bureaucrats think they can treat adjunct faculty poorly and that students will not care.
Poor treatment of adjuncts directly and profoundly affects students. If adjuncts do not have office space, meeting for office hours poses a significant challenge. If adjuncts are not given assurances about future employment, students who need recommendation letters, want advice or want to stay in touch might be out of luck.
Adjuncts Speak Week initiated these important, though difficult, conversations. Adjuncts who opened up were vulnerable to their students — something that is never easy. As students, we must respond to that vulnerability by standing in solidarity with adjuncts.
One way to continue standing with them would be to keep the conversations going. Students can keep asking their faculty whether they are adjuncts, or inquire about how to continue organizing and advocating for their union. These questions open the space for adjuncts to feel heard and appreciated.
More directly to Rutgers, students can apply pressure on the University to demand change. Students at Rutgers can sign this petition to demand better treatment of the faculty. Students can also engage in the basic principles of political participation to demand change. Students should campaign, organize, write letters or phone bank on behalf of adjuncts. If enough students take such actions, the University will recognize that this system is not sustainable or just.
There is also a responsibility to be informed. Students should continue following the information trail surrounding what the University does in regard to this issue. Information is power: If more students, families and prospective students know about the treatment of adjuncts, change will come.
Any change comes from the bottom up. Political change is never easy, but when the power of the people — ordinary, hard-working citizens — is harnessed, the possibilities are endless. The PTLFC-AAUP-AFT offers one example of how to go about doing this, and we should all take the union's lesson with us as we fight for change.
The Daily Targum's editorials represent the views of the majority of the 154th editorial board. Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the Targum Publishing Company or its staff.
