In September of last year, Tufts' adjunct professors voted to unionize. The School of Arts and Sciences has now begun negotiations with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), representing the university's adjunct faculty. In a recent statement sent to the Tufts community, the administration announced that, "Tufts is committed to a good working relationship with the SEIU and hopes to work productively and with mutual respect toward a contract." They promise to engage collegially with the union, and hope to reach amicable, fair terms. This is the first step to resolving conflicts between the administration and more than half of the professors that Tufts enlists every semester.
A part-time faculty bargaining committee has been established to advocate for part-time professors. This committee has a list of well-defined demands and grievances. From compensation, to medical and retirement programs, to office space and other benefits, part-time faculty have a plethora of issues worth addressing. First on that list is compensation, and for good reason. In 2009, Tufts placed a freeze on the salaries of many part time faculty. That restriction, nearly five years old, has yet to be lifted. If the hopes for a "rewarding, long term relationship with ... the Union," it should start with lifting the freeze.
Granted, when the freeze was first applied in 2009, Tufts, along with the rest of the country, was going through a major financial crisis. The salary freeze, while not ideal, was certainly understandable and even necessary. Since then, financial markets have stabilized, the stock indexes have grown to new heights and the country has emerged from recession, yet part-time professors' salaries remain frozen. The discrepancy between full-time professors and their part time peers has also grown. According to an op-ed in the Boston Globe, in the 2012-2013 school year, assistant professors at Tufts in the School of Arts and Sciences made an average of $77,829 a year. Adjusted for the percentage of compensation attributed to research and service to the university, assistant professors made just under $13,000 per course taught, while adjunct professors earned a little over $5,000 for the same.
To be clear, we do not advocate that part-time faculty should receive exactly the same benefits as full-timers. While some differences in compensation are understandable, such drastic disparities are worrisome. Professors without sufficient salaries often have to work at multiple institutions, which can make scheduling office hours difficult, and may limit the time that these instructors can spend in preparing and investing in their classes and students here on the Hill. And all of this ignores that part-time professors are beginning to take on exactly the same obligations as full-time faculty. To that point, there has discussion within the Tufts Community Union Senate to allow adjunct professors to serve as student advisors. Students, by and large, interact no differently with full-time versus part-time faculty. Yet the administration draws a distinct line between the two. As initial negotiations begin between the Union and the administration, a salary thaw should be a first step.
