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Tiered System Bad for Profession
Gaylord Reagan
To the Editor:Having spent many years as an adjunct teaching courses for a pretax contract fee of $1,500 a semester, I can only say amen to the Modern Language Association’s (MLA) suggested pay range of $5,000 to $7,000 a course, plus benefits and cost-of-living increases.
When I calculate my current post-tax hourly income based on two hours outside work for every one hour in the classroom, I find that my take-home pay is a whopping $8.25 an hour with no benefits. Given that I hold 1.75 doctorates and since 1975 have published every year, done consulting, gained industry-management experience, taught twenty different courses for ten colleges, and used every possible delivery format, I am very frustrated.
In addition to the MLA’s suggested compensation guidelines, I suggest that adjuncts also be given access to office space and supplies, a file cabinet, a computer, a phone, and basic secretarial help. I know what it is like to have no place to meet with my students, no place to store my handouts and exams, no way to be contacted, and no alternative to doing my own secretarial chores.
The bottom line is that the nature of adjunct work is changing. The old concept of retirees augmenting Social Security payments or graduate students doing some moonlighting no longer holds. A growing number of people like me find themselves trying to earn a living as an adjunct. We want full-time positions, but cannot get them. Personally, I am tired of having to pay my apartment rent with my credit card.
When it comes to their economic status, adjuncts are being exploited at the same time that fortunate full-time faculty members are facing what the cover to the March–April issue of Academe called "Quite Good News." That tiered system is not good for the profession.
Gaylord Reagan
(Business and Marketing)
Omaha, Nebraska
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