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NY Times Op-Ed, Oct. 1 2017
Professors Behaving Badly
Gray Matter
By NEIL GROSS
Is there something about adjunct faculty members that makes them prone
to outrageous political outbursts?
In August, Michael Isaacson, an adjunct instructor of economics at the
John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, wrote on Twitter,
“Some of y’all might think it sucks being an anti-fascist teaching at
John Jay College but I think it’s a privilege to teach future dead
cops.” Though he later said he was not wishing for his students’ deaths,
but merely predicting some would die, his post was roundly condemned. He
received death threats and was suspended from his job, ostensibly in the
interest of campus safety.
There have been similar cases in recent weeks. A sociologist holding a
temporary position at the University of Tampa was fired after tweeting
that Hurricane Harvey was karmic payback for Republican-voting Texans.
Officials at California State University, Fresno, dismissed a history
lecturer for tweeting that “Trump must hang.” And an adjunct instructor
in gender studies — who had already been fired from Rutgers — lost his
fall employment offer from Montclair State University after the
revelation that he’d tweeted about his wish to see President Trump shot.
Conservative commentators have glossed these incidents as the latest
evidence that college and university faculties have been taken over by
left-wing radicals. But the incidents might be viewed as part of a
different phenomenon: adjunct alienation.
In American academia there are two tiers of employment. The first
consists of professors on the tenure track or already tenured. Once
they’ve proved themselves as teachers and researchers, their jobs are
secure. The second tier is everyone else: lecturers who might be hired
full time for a semester, but with no promise of continued employment;
graduate teaching assistants; post-docs who work in labs; and
instructors brought on part time to teach a class or two.
The pay isn’t good. Although there’s considerable variation depending on
the nature of the appointment, on average adjunct instructors receive
only $1,000 for every course credit they teach. Most college courses are
three or four credits, and full-time teaching loads pretty much max out
at five classes a semester (at community colleges). You can do the math.
Adjunct teaching has been expanding for three reasons. First, it’s much
cheaper for colleges and universities. Second, American graduate schools
award an enormous number of Ph.D.s, even in disciplines where jobs are
scarce. Graduates who can’t find tenure-track positions may take adjunct
employment rather than give up on the academic dream. And third, for
decades conservatives have railed against the institution of tenure,
which they see as protecting ideologues. Their attacks have succeeded in
weakening it.
But there’s reason to believe widespread reliance on adjunct faculty may
encourage the very radicalism conservatives fear. Social scientists have
found that when aspiring intellectuals face highly restricted employment
opportunities, they often take refuge in extreme politics. In a 1996
study, the sociologist Jerome Karabel sought to identify the
circumstances under which intellectuals, from would-be academics to
writers and artists, embrace or rebel against the status quo.
“Especially conducive to the growth of political radicalism,” he wrote,
“are societies in which the higher levels of the educational system
produce far more graduates than can be absorbed by the marketplace.”
Frustrated that their long investments in education and cultural
cultivation haven’t paid off, intellectuals in such societies train
their anger — and ideas — at the economic and political systems (and
social groups) they hold responsible. Professor Karabel cited the
example of Germany in the 1930s, when a slow-moving academic labor
market increased the appeal of Nazism for a surprising number of
underemployed intellectuals.
The same situation can breed support for radical movements of the left.
Poor job prospects for American thinkers during the Depression helped
draw many into socialism or communism. More recently, the sociologist
Ruth Milkman found that well-educated millennials were overrepresented
among Occupy Wall Street activists. These young people had spent their
lives diligently preparing to enter the knowledge economy and became
disillusioned when, after the financial crisis, it all seemed to be
crashing down.
It’s not hard to understand why American adjuncts today would feel
frustrated with their lot. Throw that into the mix alongside the heated
politics of the Trump era and you’ve got a recipe for outrage.
Of course, most people in academia — a famously progressive occupation —
are outraged these days, and activism and political engagement are up
across the board, as the times demand. But those lucky enough to have
landed coveted tenure-track or tenured posts generally recognize that
they have too much to lose to become “antifa” rioters or rant
uncontrollably on social media, even if they have stronger academic
freedom protections than their adjunct colleagues. In a sense, the
tenure system has tamed them, and much of their protest will remain
merely academic.
The occasional shocking public statement from an adjunct instructor
should serve as a reminder of the volatility that comes when — in higher
education or outside it — we allow employment conditions to deteriorate
to whatever the market will bear.
Neil Gross is a professor of sociology at Colby College.
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