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EDITORIAL
Reduce adjuncts, increase full-time faculty At Cabrini College and colleges and universities across the nation there are two different types of professors – full-time and part-time. The Loquitur editorial staff believes that part-time, also called adjunct professors, deserve more money. Loquitur believes that our administration needs to reduce the number of adjuncts and increase the number of fulltime professors to benefit its students. Tenured professors are professors who have contracts that, after seven years of probation, prevent them from being terminated without just cause and usually teach full-time. Adjunct professors are usually part-time and work elsewhere. Full-time and tenured professors also are paid more than adjuncts and have benefits, job security and pensions. These are all work conditions that adjunct faculty do not have. At Cabrini there are 119 adjuncts teaching at the undergraduate level and 135 teaching at the graduate level. We have 70 total full-time tenured professors, 30 of whom are tenured. Adjuncts get paid around $1,900 and students pay $1,365 per course. It doesn’t take a math major to see how much the college benefits financially from hiring part-time faculty. If there are a total of 254 adjuncts teaching at Cabrini then where is all of the money going that we pay for tuition? For example, if an adjunct is paid $3,800 for teaching two courses at $1,900 during a semester and teaches from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and prepares for eight hours on another day, that’s 14 hours of work a week. Multiplied by 15 weeks that’s 210 hours or $9.04 per hour. At this rate they could be working a parttime job anywhere doing less work. The number of full-time professors is dwindling. According to The New York Times 27 percent of instructors today are full-time tenured or tenured– track professors compared to 75 percent in 1960. The issue is part of a trend in higher education where colleges have attempted to save money by making cuts to their faculty pay rates. Some might argue that adjuncts are just bona fide instructors and maybe that they are less credible than a full-time tenured professor. Think about all of the professors that you have had here at Cabrini. Have some of your courses taught by adjuncts been more useful? Have they been taught better than by a tenured professor? This isn’t saying that either one is better than the other, but there are many cases where the salaries of one of the groups can be questioned. Adjuncts are, after all, freelance teachers who are teaching classes on the side. But before we write them off think of all the good things about these professors. Adjuncts are usually practicing in their respective field. This means that they should be up to date on the latest information, techniques and happenings in the field. Compare this to a tenured professor whose only job is in the classroom, especially those who have been out of the field for a long time or have never had the real-life experience that adjuncts have had. Tenured professors may have lost touch with onthe-job experience and have resorted to teaching from a textbook. An adjunct also may be able to help with networking within the industry. On the other hand, full-time faculty can be dedicated full-time to students. We know that schools have to pay full-time professors what they are worth or they will go elsewhere. Most adjuncts receive their main income from another job and may not necessarily demand a higher salary, but they still deserve more in terms of finances, especially considering the cost of tuition.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Students voice concerns during campus safety walk alyssa mentzer
asst. news editor
ajm332@cabrini.edu
Cabrini College’s Public Safety held a “safety walk” that encouraged students to discuss their thoughts on campus security and make suggestions for how to improve different areas of the campus. The walk took students around Cabrini on Wednesday, March 10. It was led by Howard Holden, director of facilities, and Lil Burroughs, director of Public Safety, who were both eager for students to voice their opinions. “You [the students] are the primary users of the campus. You’re the ones that are out here walking on a daily basis going from one facility to another, more than the rest of us, and that’s why we want to bring you into the picture, to get student perspective and participation in the process,” Holden said. Holden and Burroughs talked with students on the walk and brought up campus issues like lighting, paths to residence halls
and buildings and parking. “I believe that students are technically the paying customers and we care about what they say. I feel that I can say, ‘I want lighting,’ but you as a student have a stronger voice to get the lights rather than an employee at the school. I want students to always speak out, especially for safety purposes,” Burroughs said. According to Holden the college will be undergoing a “master plan process” to alleviate many campus safety issues like parking, lighting and pedestrian issues. Any measures that are currently being taken are temporary to ensure students’ comfort and safety on the campus. The Student Government Association participated in the event. “I think it is good that they’re doing that. In the past they have made little changes to the campus where they needed to, but I think it’s good they are finally making bigger changes,” Maryellen Anastasio, junior communication major and SGA president of the junior class, said.
Holden and Burroughs also went over many precautions that public safety has already taken such as the new “S.O.S boxes” around campus that contain salt for the bad weather, the emergency call boxes and newly installed lights. “I am happy we get to have these safety walks. I always hear my friends complaining about lighting on campus. My number one thing was the lighting behind the library so I am happy I got to talk to Holden and Lil about these issues,” Lauren Galonski, senior psychology and sociology major and SGA president, said. Holden and Burroughs both stressed that they want the students to always feel comfortable and never hesitate to call public safety if they need them or just want to make a suggestion. “A campus changes faster than most people think and we want to make sure that on an annual basis we are keeping up with those changes in the eye of the students, not just our eyes,” Holden said.
2009-2010 Loquitur Staff/Editorial Staff
Editor in Chief Deputy Editor Managing Editor News Editor A & E Editor Features Editor Perspectives Editor Perspectives Editor Perspectives Editor Sports Editor Copy Editor Web Editor Web Editor Adviser
Brian Loschiavo Megan Kutulis Jen Wozniak Amanda Carson Arielle Friscia Gianna Shikitino Brian Loschiavo Megan Kutulis Jen Wozniak Katie Engell Megan Bernatavitz Shannon Keough Jake Veterano Dr. Jerome Zurek
Asst. A&E Editors Elizabeth Krupka Felicia Melvin Danielle McLaughlin Asst. News Editors Michelle Costa Eric Gibble Alyssa Mentzer Rachael Renz Trevor Wallace Asst. Sports Editors Nick Guldin Patrick Gallagher Holly Prendergast Asst. Perspectives Editors Meghan Murphy Jamie Santoro
Asst. Features Editors Danielle Alio Kelsey Kastrava Justin Sillner Asst. Web Editors Maryellen Anastasio Megan Conte Alyssa Davies Christina Flood Lauren Sliva Asst. Copy Editor Liz Scopelliti Staff Writers Joe DeMarzio Meghan McSloy Lauren Miskofsky Jason Moran Alex Pittinsky Ross Salese Paul Skow John Solewin Noelle Westfall
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