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Crossing Class Lines
P.D. Lesko
To the Editor: I am writing in response to Anne Cassebaum's piece, "Crossing Class Lines: A Diary," which appeared in the July-August issue of Academe. I found her diary disturbingly short-sighted and even a bit trite. She writes in the first paragraph: "I decided to try [life as an adjunct] myself in April of 2000, living on adjunct pay and playing the adjunct role. Although we are untenured, professional-track faculty like myself have insider status and some security."
In the late nineteenth century, the journalist Nellie Bly had herself committed to an insane asylum for women in New York. The asylum workers had no idea she was a journalist, or that she was indeed mentally competent. Anne Cassebaum, try as she might, missed the important lesson Nellie Bly taught the world when her story broke: sometimes, to find out the truth about how people are being treated, one must leave one's true identity far behind.
Cassebaum's piece is written by a faculty member with, as she puts it, insider status and some security. Thus, her attempt to cross class lines fails. Her desire to play the "adjunct role" fails, as well. Cassebaum should have taken a semester off and applied for a part-time teaching position at a college or university where she was unknown. She should have had herself "committed" to a semester of life as an adjunct faculty member.
Only then would her diary have reflected a true crossing of class lines, and a successful turn as an adjunct. As it stands, her essay oozes empathy for her adjunct colleagues. However, empathy is not what adjuncts need. Cassebaum identifies injustice around her, and one must congratulate her for doing that. However, when one purports to cross academic class lines, one should really walk the walk. Anything else may be easily construed as hypocrisy.
P.D. Lesko
Publisher
The Adjunct Advocate
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