To the editor: Your otherwise excellent editorial on the plight of contingent faculty failed to mention the main reason colleges and universities hire so many lower-paid adjuncts: balancing the budget at institutions with bloated administrations.
Administrative bloat is a pernicious disease that has infected colleges and universities for decades. Many now have more employees in administration than full-time tenured faculty.
The administrative functions that were performed by a dean or director with one or two administrative staff when I joined the Cal State Fullerton faculty in 1970 are now performed by entire administrative divisions headed by vice presidents, associate vice presidents, and assistant vice presidents, with their associates. entourage of subordinates.
Certainly, some increase in administrative staff beyond that necessary to cope with the increase in enrollment has been necessary. Schools have new requirements imposed by outside government agencies and must also keep up with the increased use of technology.
However, the administration's growth in recent decades has far exceeded what was needed to address those changes.
Mark Shapiro, Fullerton
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To the editor: Thank you for the editorial highlighting the problems encountered when universities rely on lower-paid adjunct faculty. In the 1990s, I taught part-time at UCLA, Cal State Long Beach, and Occidental College, before things turned into the mess we have now.
While that system was long recognized as terrible for adjuncts, I realized how bad it was for students when a history student asked me for a letter of recommendation after taking one of my classes.
I asked him if he had anyone in the department who knew him better and could write him a stronger letter. He did not do it; He didn't even know that he needed to establish a relationship with the regular faculty to get the support he needed. Adjuncts simply do not have the time or qualifications to provide the mentoring students need to be successful.
Many adjuncts would appreciate the security and income that comes with full-time (ideally permanent) positions. Students and higher education in general would benefit if the ratio were changed to 70% regular professors instead of 70% adjuncts.
Kathleen Sheldon, Santa Monica
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To the editor: As a full-time tenured university professor for more than four decades, I have always felt ashamed and guilty about the way schools exploit part-time adjunct professors who often have to teach at multiple institutions to make ends meet, if that is so. .
Administrators and boards of directors could and should raise deputies' salaries, but this rarely happens.
There is another obvious solution: Administrators and full-time faculty could agree to contribute a percentage of their salaries to help compensate their hard-working, underpaid adjunct colleagues.
Dan Caldwell, Malibu
