April 15 by Mace and Crown

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Jason Kazi | M&C

Administration Responds to Adjunct Concerns David Thornton News Editor Over the past several years, difficulties faced by adjunct professors, including low pay, excessive hours and lack of benefits, have become one of the most discussed subjects in the world of higher education. On February 25, in conjunction with National Adjunct Walkout Day, a “ring-in” staged by adjuncts brought this issue home to ODU. But what exactly is an adjunct? What is their plight? And what has been the response of ODU’s administration? Adjuncts are essentially considered to be part-time faculty instructors. Their positions are referred to as “contingent,” meaning they have to be officially re-hired every semester based on need. Other contingent faculty members include full-time non-tenure-track professors and graduate student teaching assistants. Adjuncts tend to fall into two categories. The first is the true parttimer. These professors are generally experts in their fields, brought in to teach a couple of classes and share their experience with newer generations. They tend to have full-

M&C| WEDNESDAY | 4.15.2015| MACEANDCROWN.COM

time jobs from which they derive the majority of their income. At ODU, many of these adjuncts can be found in the Strome College of Business, and in the Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology. They teach for a variety of reasons: to supplement their income, to maintain ties to the university, and to give back by helping students who are entering their respective fields. Many of these adjuncts have full-time, established careers outside of academia. But the second category of adjuncts are those for whom teaching is a calling, who want to make academia their careers. These adjuncts are frequently found teaching liberal arts and general education courses. For many of them, education is their only source of income. And many are barely scraping by. According to a 2010 survey conducted by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, to which over 20,000 contingent faculty members responded, the median pay for a three-semester course was $2700. At ODU, adjuncts are paid more than that – around $3000. Multiple adjuncts at the ring-in stated that three classes per semester was a full time workload.

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This means that, assuming they don’t teach summer courses, adjuncts make about $18,000 a year. That comes out to roughly $8.75 an hour. That’s assuming 40-hour workweeks, which some say is lowballing it. In addition, according to the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, adjuncts rarely see wage increases over time, and more than half the respondents to the survey stated that they have been working as contingent faculty for more than six years. In addition to low pay, adjuncts also seldom receive health benefits, and rarely have office space of their own. Dr. Carol Simpson, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, said that students have indicated that they like having professors in offices where they have a reasonable chance of finding them, and admits that this can be very difficult for adjuncts. However, to address this issue, Dr. Simpson said that ODU has already included in its Master Plan, the primary outline for building and development on campus over the next few years, plans to increase the amount of office space in some academic departments, some of which will be made available to

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