The Adjunct

Some faculty members at colleges and universities are permanent fixtures of the campus community, while others are not (sometimes labeled "contingent" or "part-time" faculty). Some faculty members have meaningful, stable income; other faculty members work at multiple campuses, barely reaching the yearly income required to cross over the poverty line. Some faculty members have homes, mortgages, and take vacations; other faculty members work twelve months a year, sleep in their cars, and rely on public assistance for the bare necessities of life. Some faculty members have a say in their course assignments; other faculty members have no say and are given the undesirable courses that tenured and tenure-eligible faculty pass over.  

This may sound like hyperbole, the exaggeration of an aggrieved group of people who made poor career choices. But, sadly, this is the reality most adjunct faculty members negotiate every day. To say the situation is materially bad would be an understatement because there is more at stake than mere income and health insurance. Rather, there are deeper ethical questions that we must confront to create the conditions for change and improvement in the lives of adjunct faculty. 

The list of challenges adjunct faculty face is extensive, but a few common themes emerge with even a cursory look at the situation:

Financial Precarity: Adjuncts grapple with financial instability due to part-time, low-paying contracts that do not guarantee or entail any subsequent employment with the campus. To see this, ask any adjunct how much they will earn next year. The response will most likely be "I have no idea."

Lack of Job Security: The absence of long-term contracts and tenure-track positions leads to job insecurity, making it difficult for adjuncts to plan their lives and careers. The life of an adjunct is one filled with hopes for subsequent courses to teach, but hope does not guarantee anything...

Workload and Burnout: Balancing multiple teaching assignments, grading, and commuting to multiple campuses during the work week can be overwhelming. The sheer amount of time and energy it takes to execute this "career" creates the conditions for burnout or worse. For most adjuncts, this can lead to disillusionment and an early exit from the profession.