Talking About Contingency at Western Oregon U: Take One

The Oregon legislature basically meets every other year in full session with a short interim session during the "off year." Consequetly, no new FACE legislation was introduced in The Beaver State this year following last year's great efforts.  So to keep the conversation going about what is happeing with academic staffing at Oregon colleges and universities, the Western Oregon University Federation of Teachers recently held forum on campus entitled "Non Tenure Track Faculty: Who Are They? Why Are They Exploited? Learn How You Can Help."

The forum, attended by students, full and part time faculty as well as administrators, provided attendees the opportunity to hear directly from contingent faculty working at WOU and other Oregon institutions.  Two contingent faculty members who couldn't be at the forum because they were teaching at another campus at that time (shocking, I know) provided written statements about their experiences as contingent faculty members.

Both statements were powerful examples of what contingent faculty experience and so we wanted to share them with you--here is the first, from Jeremy Tanzer.

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Hello, my name is Jeremy Tanzer and I am an adjunct instructor of sociology currently teaching at Western Oregon University, Portland Community College (Rock Creek), and the University of Portland. Over the last year I have also taught at Clackamas Community College and Portland State University. I wish I could be here today to present this testimony, but I would be forced to cancel two classes at two different schools to be present. While I can only truly speak for myself, I hope that I can also give voice to others who could not make it today because they are performing their duties as dedicated teachers.

As an adjunct instructor it is common to teach at two or three schools a term teaching anywhere between one and three classes at each of those schools. For the most part, adjuncts do not know from term to term if they are going to be back at the same school the following term. In other words, I teach a comparable amount of course hours if not more than tenure track professors with less than half the pay and substantial job insecurity. In addition, the vast majority of adjuncts are less-than-proud members of the over 47 million people without health insurance.

While trying to keep four to six classes organized, I am also expected to hold regular office hours, travel between worksites, and continually work on developing myself professionally – both academically and pedagogically. I, along with most of my part-time colleagues, miss the vast majority of workshops, presentations, lectures, films, and meetings that we are encouraged to attend; not because we don’t care or do not want to attend, but because we literally have to hit the road to get an assignment graded or prepare for the next day’s classes.

On the university campuses, my job as an adjunct is purely teaching based, I do not get paid to, nor am I supposed to engage in advising of students. Since adjuncts, for the most part, teach the introductory classes in the discipline, I end up in the position of having to advise students anyway often without the information or knowledge that I need in order to do it effectively. As an adjunct I am also usually exempt from internal funding sources including travel grants and faculty development monies meaning that most of my professional development is additional out-of-pocket expense.

I love to teach and I think that I am a fairly effective teacher but I know I can be better. The FACE bill will provide not only myself, but many of my colleagues stability and security which will allow us to become even better teachers than we are now. Providing equity to part-time, fixed term and adjunct instructors will be beneficial to not only those instructors, but also the universities and colleges that they serve. Perhaps those who will notice the change the most will be our students.