Adjunct faculty members are sometimes referred to as the invisible class of higher education due to their low salaries, lack of benefits, little work security and their inability to participate in decisions of the college.
Feb. 25, or “National Adjunct Walk Out Day,” is a day when adjunct professors across the country decided to take a stand to this conception and truly become as invisible as they sometimes feel.
Leah Griesmann, a writing lecturer from San Jose State University, pitched the idea of adjunct professors walking out of their classrooms to gain attention. Griesmann has been an adjunct faculty member for the past seven years.
According to “The Woman Behind #NAWD,” Griesmann’s movement “showed it’s possible to connect to people who don’t consider themselves activists or political.”
A study by the American Association of University Professors found that among 30,000 professors with terminal degrees who are currently teaching part-time, 6o percent of them also have another job. Among these professors, more than 60 percent of them have more than one job. According to the AAUP, adjunct professors usually earn an average of $25,000 annually. On the other hand, the average salary for a full-time professor is $84,303, which could travel up to six figures if the professor makes it to the tenured level.
70 percent of the professors at Cabrini are part-time, which is higher use of adjuncts compared to the national average of 48 percent, according to a study by College Factual.
Jonathan Zeminski is an adjunct professor who is currently teaching for his first semester at Cabrini. His experience that he had with adjunct professors was one of the main reasons that he wanted to become a professor himself. Zeminski believes that adjunct professors are able to provide real world life experiences into the classroom.
“I wouldn’t support any protest or walk out that could disrupt a student’s education. There are other effective ways to bring about awareness and change that does not impact the students directly,” Zeminski said.
Philosophy professor Dr. Joseph Romano has been an adjunct professor for the past two semesters, after retiring from 54 years of full-time teaching.
“I can understand the need for public attention by a ‘National Walk Out Day.’ Personally, I would not want to punish the students that way,” Romano said.
For many professors, walking out of their classrooms was not an option, no matter how passionate they feel about this issue.
“Both my professionalism and commitment I made to Dr. Zurek & Cathy Yungmann would prevent me from not fulfilling my responsibilities,” Mark Murray, communications adjunct professor, said.
Although walking out of a classroom might show how fed-up adjunct professors are with their current job situation, is it really the right thing to do for students? Until a rightful organization to represent the voices of part-time workers is made, these professors may still feel invisible.
