agree with all the follow-up comments on this.
i would just add to michael's point that it's even worse when you're talking
about one course, or even two courses. people will move for one-year
full-time positions, but not for a course.

i'm of two minds about the departmental community part. on the one hand, you
don't want to feel like you're not a "real" member of the department; on the
other, you're not, and it seems a bit much to expect that kind of
participation out of adjuncts who aren't given a meaningful stake in the
proceedings.

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 6:52 PM, Perelman, Michael
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:

> 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.
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