Also adjuncts, through no fault of their own, are not really part of the departmental community. People in my department press to get permanent faculty, even though the presence of the adjuncts makes it easier for the permanent faculty to get the plum courses.
Also, here in Chico, far away from major academic communities, the ability to get high-quality adjuncts is limited. People were unlikely to move here just to get a one-year contract. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Devine Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 9:41 AM To: Progressive Economics Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Wal-Mart employees better off than adjunct professors Jeffrey Fisher com> wrote: > in my experience, when tenured faculty oppose hiring adjuncts, it is > precisely because they think it's exploitative and, simultaneously, gets in > the way of making a case for FT and tenure line slots. i might disagree with > the strategy, depending on the seriousness of the case, but the principle is > hardly one of exploitation. Also, departments sometimes oppose hiring adjuncts because it undermines the quality of teaching. This is not because of the quality of available adjuncts. Rather, it's because the pay is so low that the good ones don't want to work for it. At least that's the experience at LMU. (In some fields, like philosophy and history, however, the unemployment is so bad that even high-quality teachers are willing to work for the offered pittance. In economics, the market is better (from the job-seeker's perspective) so that the quality of the skills of those who want to jump through hoops for peanuts is much lower.) Collectively, faculty oppose hiring adjuncts because it "lowers standards" and undermines the status & power of tenured folks. It's like a two-tiered contract, which almost all labor unions oppose. -- Jim Devine / "Nobody told me there'd be days like these / Strange days indeed -- most peculiar, mama." -- JL. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
