Dr. Kimberly Simmons, an adjunct at the University of Southern Maine, shared this letter with PATFA after receiving a link to a recent article by Noam Chomsky, "The Death of American Universities."
Dear USM Faculty:
I appreciate the link to this article and the spirit in which it was offered. As a long time part-time faculty member, I encourage you to consider the significant stress that PAFTA members are under at this time -- and at all times -- and add the struggles of PAFTA to secure a living wage and decent contract to your list of overall grievances.
Without the support of FT faculty, PAFTA members are invisible within this educational community, yet in fall 2012 we comprised almost 1/2 the teaching faculty (357 FT to 323 PT). Students do not typically know who among us is tenured and who is paid less than $3500 per course with no job security at all -- to them, we are the faculty. We are often the first teachers that students encounter and I would guess we are also valued in each department for the role we play.
PT faculty have absorbed the financial straits of USM for the entire time I've taught here (since 1996) and risk being ignored or scapegoated from multiple directions if we're not engaged with as a group. That is, the idea that without tenure students will encounter sub-par unskilled teachers is insulting and untrue - most of us are highly credentialed and skilled teachers who became part of a contingent work force for reasons of timing, family, location or lack of interest FT academia -- and surely it is a gendered path, with almost 59% of female PT faculty compared to 45% of FT. Similarly, the idea that we are transient professionals who teach here and there and thus don't need reasonable wages or job protection is clearly not the case. A significant proportion of us have taught year after year in a relatively reliable rhythm and for many the recent cuts to PT courses create a genuine employment crisis. Supporting PT faculty does not undermine the importance of a strong FT faculty and a tenure system, instead it provides more solidarity for the larger case of supporting all faculty and a vibrant learning community.
At the same time, historically FT positions are replaced with PT ones to allow for cheaper labor and to undercut the overall stability and capacity for Governance of the faculty (Chomsky's point). Just as pitting Junior faculty against Senior is divisive and unacceptable, we should reframe a FT vs. PT discourse into a broader argument for decent working conditions for all USM employees and excellent learning conditions for all students. It is my hope that as a strategy emerges to articulate the importance of Public Education, the Liberal Arts & USM faculty that PT faculty will be included.
And you can see the PATFA contract for 2011-2013 here: http://www.maine.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/patfacba.pdf