Part-time faculty deserve a fair deal

According to the American Association of University Professors, 43 percent of all faculty are part-time, and non-tenure-track positions account for over half of all faculty appointments in American higher education. The growth of part-time faculty has often come at the cost of stable employment for those who seek full-time careers.

There is a fundamental problem with the tendency to rely on contingent faculty when they receive limited opportunities for professional advancement, their performance is not regularly reviewed, or they may be shut out of governing structures of university departments. More fundamentally, part-time faculty are denied the same kind of academic freedom protections that tenured faculty enjoy, a necessary precondition for the free exchange of ideas that universities are supposed to promote. It also leads to instability, and makes the institution more vulnerable to critics, who charge that universities pursue research at the expense of teaching.

This is a part of a broader societal trend. Workers in general are increasingly treated as commodities, and universities want the workers to be there when they are needed, and disappear when they are not needed.

What is the impact on students? It is not uncommon for contingent faculty to teach as many as six courses per semester at several institutions in order to survive financially. They rarely have office space or academic support and typically do not keep office hours or serve on any committees. Because the possibility of tenure is not available to them, as a practical matter they are deprived of the protection that academic freedom affords and are vulnerable to arbitrary hiring/firing decisions.

Student evaluations serve as the materials used to assess professors, and for fear of poor evaluations, many professors censor themselves. This self-censorship is detrimental to the development of their students. Professors also face the threat of salary cuts that are often made on the basis of last-minute enrollment figures. In Emerson College, which has a majority of part-timers, a part-time professor has to accept a salary cut when less than ten students enroll in a class.

Most contingent faculty members are highly qualified and dedicated members of the profession, but they are often stretched beyond any reasonable limit by their schedules. As it is, many part-timers are forced to teach at several institutions or to hold other jobs in order to secure benefits, limiting their availability on campus and their chances for developing meaningful relationships with their students. An otherwise amazing professor might be less able to assess his/her students' progress because of a temptation to cut corners; giving less assignments and exams. The two outcomes are an unchallenging environment for the students and a lack of knowledge of their progress. Yet despite their qualifications - a master's degree or a Ph.D. - professors cannot perform to the best of their abilities and have little job security.

We as students are paying for good teaching; a college is only as good

as its faculty. Better instruction for students requires a more stable faculty population. By being paid more, by securing health benefits, by improving morale and by imparting institutional respect, professors will be even more committed to and available for students.

Finally, it is important to realize part-timers are not looking to be difficult. They are simply looking for a fair shake. The benefits to us and our greater community include: improved campus morale, greater faculty continuity, improved instruction, and the creation of an atmosphere of mutual respect and greater cooperation among the part- and full-time faculty, the administration and the students.

On Oct. 29, Emerson College Part-time faculty will be holding a demonstration at 4pm in downtown Boston at the corner of Boylston and Tremont as part of a series of events for Campus Equity Week, a US & Canada-wide week of action by faculty organizers and organizations throughout higher education. The goal of these events is to raise awareness in campus communities, the public and policymakers about the negative impacts of contingent academic employment practices. As students, we should be concerned about these trends because we have a right to quality education in return for our investments. Furthermore, by promoting the enhancement of the quality of higher education, we are working to create a more just and equitable society. I encourage students to show up on the 29th to show solidarity with this cause.

Reem Assil is a junior majoring in International Relations and Economics.