In the Know

The Bargaining Digest Weekly blog from the AFL-CIO reports news of labor happenings across the country and the world.

They also have extensive links to labor organizations and federations, union-related blogs, and progressive blogs. If you were wondering where to find the action in the labor movement, you'll find connections there.

The Ugly Machine

So many of our students come to us with only one question: what am I supposed to know to get an "A"in this course? These students are products of an ugly machine that places a higher value on quantitative scores than on any other outcome. They learn how to pass standardized tests but are often ineffective at questioning, synthesizing or analyzing ideas. It has another name: rote learning.

This creeping phenomenon has informed the way many courses at university are designed. Too often, adjuncts are handed a syllabus, a textbook and a set of multiple choice tests. All they have to do is assign reading; require rote memorization; and finally regurgitation on an objective test. An adjunct dares not deviate or surprise students with any change in expectations.

The end result of this ugly machine is the elimination of diversity in higher education. Diversity means teaching a subject in as many ways as possible in order to stimulate higher order thinking. It means adaptation of course material to the real world and always questioning. It used to mean that professors had the freedom to be flexible as befits a true university forum: All ideas welcome. All opinions respected. All evidence examined, explored and tested. Not any more.

The implication of this latest trend in the education of our undergraduates is mind-boggling. It means that many adjunct professors have their hands tied, their mouths gagged and their discretion stifled. They are in a very vulnerable position when it comes to challenging this ugly machine. They are at the mercy of a system that basically wants them to be quiet and follow the program…or get out.

And what of the students? They have the distinct disadvantage of not knowing any other way things are supposed to be. They will enter their careers poorly equipped to do anything but become cogs in a wheel already saturated with rote thinkers, unprepared to face the unexpected. In other words, they will be poorly equipped to compete in the global marketplace.

Calling all Temple University Adjuncts

February 2007 begins a heightened effort by the Adjuncts Organizing Committe (AOC) to organize an adjuncts union. If you are dissatisfied with your working conditions, if you have questions to ask about your working conditions, if you want to change the working conditions for all adjuncts at Temple, this is for you!

Now it is easier than ever to get information and to get involved. Please sign up on the “Keep in Touch” link on this page.

If you like to write, volunteer to write for this blog. We will use this space to discuss questions and issues about adjuncts here and everywhere. Use the "Ask a Question" link to ask how to begin to get involved or to be a writing contributor.

If you like to network, volunteer to be a departmental representative. Being a departmental rep is not a big job. It simply involves keeping up to date from semester to semester on who the current adjuncts in your department are and being a conduit for information. Let us know (feel free to drop us a note via the "ask a question" link) if you can help in this way.

Of course, if you would like to work with the Adjuncts Organizing Committee that works with the TAUP (the fulltime faculty union), they would be glad for your help. Contact Regina if you want to be involved there.

In March, the AFT/TAUP will be doing training for all interested adjuncts which will result in an organizing plan and action steps. If you don’t know whether you are ready to take on these roles, come to the training and get more information. Contact Regina to reserve a space.

The Changing of the Guard

As Temple welcomes a new president, Dr. Ann Weaver Hart, a special window of opportunity presents itself to every member of the faculty, especially adjuncts. During the inevitable honeymoon period we must ask ourselves, how can we help shape the direction of this administration, so that everyone's needs are considered, and the mission of this fine University moves forward.

As important as union representation for adjuncts is, there is another equally good reason for organizing. This must be about influencing the culture of a school where the number of adjunct faculty possibly outnumbers the full-time faculty. We need to improve collegiality where it does not exist, collaboration where it does the most good, and mutual respect where it is essential. Our interests should overlap to the point where we do not need to question each others' motives, exclude each other from communication or treat each other in any way but as members of the same community of professional educators, with all the benefits that the concept implies.

Unifying not just unionizing the University is a broad goal, but it can be accomplished. Dr. Hart will be open to new ideas and suggestions as she orients herself to Temple's vast environment. It behooves us to make our voices heard as part of a unified Temple faculty.

Northern New Mexico Election

Adjuncts at Northern New Mexico College won collective bargaining rights in May. The vote in a unit of about 180 adjuncts was 96 to 10 for representation.

A top issue for the part-timers was pay equity: per credit hour, adjuncts make one-half to one-third as much as full-time faculty

The organizing committee worked to persuade adjuncts who hold full-time jobs off campus and were ambivalent about the union to support their less financially secure colleagues.

Northern Federation of Educational Employees president Tim Krone explains:

We have a core of people who teach 12 credits or more per semester. This really is most of their income and in some cases all of their income.

Pointing this out to unit members who were initially noncommittal about the union made all the difference in pulling in votes, he says. Krone expects NFEE will get a proposal to administrators next month and begin contract negotiations soon after.