College students attending any of the California State University schools probably believe they are being taught by well-paid, veteran professors. Sometimes they are. But more often than not, their professors are poorly paid “contingent professors”: adjunct professors who work under contract, without permanent employment or the possibility of tenure.
Many CSU adjuncts have doctorates, but they still earn less working full time (about $64,000 a year) than the average California public school teacher, and with fewer benefits and little job security.
Because they are unionized (and under a tentative new contract, will receive significant raises), Cal State's contract instructors are at least doing better than the 250 contingent professors who make up 75% of the faculty at Cal State's prestigious film school. the University of Southern California. , according to James Savoca, adjunct associate professor of film directing.
Many are current or retired Hollywood professionals who earn an average of $20,000 teaching two courses per academic year, which is considered a 20-hour-a-week job during the school year, Savoca said. Low salaries are one reason Savoca and other USC film school adjunct professors are trying to form a union. They recently presented USC with a petition signed by 80% of the adjunct professors, asking for the union to be recognized. The university administration responded that contingent professors do not need a “third party” to speak for them. A formal vote by deputies will be held soon.
Reliance on low-paid adjuncts is common among American colleges and universities. The American Association. of University Professors reports that 70% of the teaching staff are adjuncts, most of them without benefits, job security or union representation; They teach more than half of all college courses in the U.S. Many must work part-time to support themselves, with salaries that do not reflect their professional experience or level of education.
Except at a handful of universities where contingent faculty have organized and negotiated for better salaries, underpaid adjuncts are an unfortunate cost-saving feature of America's higher education institutions. The situation at Cal State shows that even unionization has not always resulted in fair pay for your credentials and work, alone better pay. A 2012 survey found that the median salary for unionized adjuncts was about 25% more than those without unions.
Universities generally can fire an adjunct instructor abruptly and for no reason. Other deputies tire quickly of the situation; Turnover is high, meaning instructors are more likely to have little institutional knowledge and experience.
Some adjuncts are fully employed professionals in their field and take a course as a way to pass on their knowledge to a new generation. But that is the exception, according to the AAUP report. Many more rely on education to survive economically. Either way, teachers should be paid their full value, and that rarely happens.
Nearly a quarter of adjunct professors rely on public assistance, such as unemployment benefits during summer or other non-teaching periods, according to a 2020 report from the American Federation of Teachers. That means taxpayers are subsidizing this situation. A 2022 survey by the AFT found that 1 in 5 adjuncts rely on Medicare or Medicaid for their health insurance. This is particularly galling for professors at private universities where students and their families pay tens of thousands of dollars each year in tuition.
This arrangement is not only bad for adjunct professors, it is also bad for their students and schools: Because they have so little job security, adjunct professors do not have the same level of academic freedom as their tenured counterparts and are less likely to that take risks. in the classroom or at work, according to the AAUP report. That means they are less likely to be innovative or introduce provocative material, because they can be controversial.
Lack of security and pay can also lead low-paid adjuncts to take shortcuts as they try to juggle enough work to make a living, according to Helena Worthen, co-author of a book on contingent faculty. For example, they are less likely to defend a student's challenge to a well-deserved low grade because the process is long and time-consuming, and the instructor does not receive any additional payment for it. Some adjuncts also limit the number of recommendation letters they will write, Worthen said, or hold office hours only by phone.
Colleges can claim poverty, but student applications increased this year. In general, according to the AAUP report, adjunct hiring increases the most in times of university expansion.
Limited funds or not, there is no more important place for universities to spend their money than hiring the best instructors they can find and offering fair salaries, benefits, and reasonable working conditions.
