Media
News about and stories of contingent labor in higher education have been making headlines, especially following the high profile death of Margaret Mary Vojtko in September of 2013 (Vojtko taught French for Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, for 25 years).
The modest media library below is intended to help inform, educate and support adjuncts, their students and the public on issues effecting the working and living conditions of part-time and contingent educators. In the future, we will be working to compile a comprehensive library of contingent faculty media. If you want to ensure that we don’t miss an article that has been particularly poignant for you, please email info@precaricorps.org with your suggestions.
Read About Contingent Faculty in the News
“The Ph.D. Now Comes With Food Stamps,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 2012
“Making Sense” piece on petition to Labor Dept., PBS News Hour, July 2014
“Making Sense” Open Letter to Parents, PBS News Hour, August 2014
“A Nightmare Future of Higher-Ed,” Minding Our Campus, September 2014
“Good People Don’t Get Good Jobs,” Huffington Post, October 2014
“Hypereducated And On Welfare,” Elle Magazine, December 2014
“Why Obama’s College Plan is Doomed to Fail,” Minding Our Campus, January 2015
“Adjuncts Interviewing Adjuncts,” Inside Higher Ed, December 2013-August 2014
“Professors on Food Stamps: The shocking true story of academia in 2014,” Salon, September 2014
“Suicide Is My Retirement Plan,” Chronicle Vitae, November 25, 2014
Read About Our Struggles from the Source (Blogs)
“What is a Migrant Intellectual?,” Migrant Intellectual, August 2011
“The Contact Hour Lie,” Migrant Intellectual, June 2012
“How The American University Was Killed,” The Homeless Adjunct, August 2012
“Adjunkies Unite,” Migrant Intellectual, November 2013
“Adjunct. The Modern Indentured Servant.,” Modern Disappointment, November 2013
“Is Your Administrator a Sociopath?,” Migrant Intellectual, January 2014
“The White Elephant in the Ivory Tower,” NickySaeun.com, January 2014
“The Deprofessionalization of Educators,” Dowsing: Finding a New Way to Believe, January 2014
“The 1:1 Fallacy of Contact Hours,” Dowsing: Finding a New Way to Believe, February 2014
“Invisible in Life as Well as Death.,” Modern Disappointment, February 2014
“The Charlatan in the Room. Secrets of Your Part-Time Professor.,” Modern Disappointment, April 2014
“Ten Steps to Becoming an Adjunct Ally,” Fugitive Faculty, April 2014
“How the Adjunct Crisis Hurts Students and the Importance of Fighting Back,” Fugitive Faculty, April 2014
“Adjunct Verses/Versus Badmin,” The Unarmed Education Mercenary, May 2014
“Not Exactly Fan Mail,” Dowsing: Finding a New Way to Believe, August 2014
“How American Universities Have Destroyed Scholarship in The U.S.,” The Homeless Adjunct, August 2014
“Burn It Down: The Lonely Death of American Higher Education,” The Consulting Editor, September 2014
“Caution: Your Professor is Broken,” Fugitive Faculty, December 2014
Watch Contingent Faculty Issues in the News
PBS NewsHour, March 2013 – In academia, many professors remain working and teaching long past traditional retirement age, leaving younger potential professors shut out from highly coveted full-time, tenured positions. As part of a series on older workers, economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on how institutions are negotiating with aging faculty.
Freedom (Adjunct Verses), May 2013 – Adjunct Verses contribution from Robert Craig Baum
Chronicle of Higher Ed, November 2013 – Adjunct Joe Fruscione has been trying for years to land a tenure-track faculty job, without success. Now he’s on the verge of giving up. “Enough is going to be enough when I realize that my chances are sort of dried up to get a full-time position, and that’s when I know I’m done.” The promise and challenges of a new career outside academe are exciting, he says. But he’ll always wonder if all the years he has spent chasing a dream have been wasted.
Really? (Adjunct Verses), January 2014 – Version 1 of 2 of “Really” by Tireless adjunct Lee Kottner (Vagabond Scholar) for the Adjunct Verses digital adjunct swarm.
Adjuncts Fight For a Living Wage, Al Jazeera America, February 2014. Press for Nicky Saeun‘s #NotYourAdjunctSidekick hashtag encourages a deeper conversation about adjunct struggles in the U.S.
PBS NewsHour, February 2014 – Juggling multiple part-time jobs, earning little-to-no benefits, depending on public assistance: This is the financial reality for many adjunct professors across the nation. Economics correspondent Paul Solman looks for the origins of this growing employment trend at colleges and universities.
Adjunct Action Network Welcome, March 2014 – Learn more about how you can join a large, distributed group of adjuncts and our allies to improve working conditions for contingent instructors, and raise standards in higher education.
Adjunct Action Network Conversation, June 2014 – As the conversation about adjunct faculty — their roles in higher ed, their fights to organize for better working conditions — continues to grow, the press has taken notice. Now we have a chance to talk to someone who’s helping shape the narrative.
“The Emergence of the ‘Precariat’: What Does the Loss of Stable, Well-Compensated Employment Mean for Education?” The Shanker Institute, with Rosemary Feal, Jennie Shanker, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Andrew Ross. January 2015. Panel discussion on reality of life in the “precariat,” answering questions about the growth of the “precariat” and what that has meant for the American economy, higher education, and union organizing.
Hear Contingent Faculty Issues
We’re Desperate (Adjunct Verses), Eulogy for Margaret Mary Vojtko, September 2013
WBEZ Chicago, “Morning Shift” interview with Bri Bolin and Alissa Quart on the Overeducated and Underemployed, December 2014
Mighty Mighty Union, UIC Strike Remix, RCB, February 2014
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