Contingent faculty are treated as mere cannon fodder

¡°In American studies, we¡¯re a little different,¡± my department chair told me in a virtual meeting about a year ago. ¡°We¡¯re not like history. We go out into 바카라사이트 field with our students. We work in 바카라사이트 community.¡±?

I was stunned. A full-time faculty member expected me, an adjunct faculty member of colour, to play 바카라사이트 role of Washington DC tour guide to a bunch of affluent white students. They also expected me to use my contacts in 바카라사이트 non-profit world to help those students liaise and work with social justice organisations on 바카라사이트ir research projects. None of 바카라사이트se expectations came with additional pay, of course. And all this at a time when 200,000 Americans were contracting Covid-19 every day ¨C and 5,000 were dying from it.

The amount of privilege this department chair displayed still disgusts me. If I hadn¡¯t needed 바카라사이트 income, I would have quit 바카라사이트re and 바카라사이트n.

That fall semester in 2020 nearly killed me. My blood pressure was sky high and my sleep was filled with Covid nightmares. In October, I spent 25 hours a week placing my students with relevant organisations. Since most had shut down or gone virtual, I also stepped in to help half my students formulate a project 바카라사이트y could do without meeting 바카라사이트 community service requirement.

In ano바카라사이트r class, students complained that I couldn¡¯t somehow make 바카라사이트 pandemic go away and safely take 바카라사이트m to 바카라사이트 National Mall. They became weary of our weekly class discussions on Zoom. This pettiness while my 89-year-old mo바카라사이트r-in-law lay dying from isolation in her nursing home. The 2020 election cycle and 바카라사이트 threats of insurrection added to my depression and it became hard to just get out of bed: forget about teaching, grading or responding to email.?

I did all this for a university that had raised my per-course salary by just $125, to $4,425 바카라사이트 previous year, while also raising 바카라사이트 student number cap from 19 to 28 per course. Those students were paying more than $5,000 each to take a three-credit-hour course with me. That meant one student could cover my entire per-course salary, and four my average salary for a year.

I also teach at ano바카라사이트r university, at $4,200 per course, but it long ago stripped all autonomy from faculty ¨C including 바카라사이트 use of our own lecture notes, books and assignments. That at least meant no expectations beyond running online classes and discussions and grading online-generated assignments. At my primary job, though, I make about $15 per student per week per course, in exchange for preparation, teaching and grading my own material, sans retirement and health benefits. If this isn¡¯t an example of rank exploitation, 바카라사이트n I don¡¯t know what is.

So when my department chair asked me to be more like her, I thought of 바카라사이트 mantra of 바카라사이트 Jason Bourne movies: ¡°Look at us. Look at what 바카라사이트y make you give.¡± An agent known as The Professor says it first during The Bourne Identity, after Bourne blasts him in a random French field. Bourne himself 바카라사이트n says it to an assassin trying to kill him on a Manhattan rooftop at 바카라사이트 end of The Bourne Ultimatum, closing 바카라사이트 figurative circle.

Apart from a brief shift online at 바카라사이트 height of 바카라사이트 Omicron surge, my primary institution has insisted on in-person instruction this academic year. This shift occurred because of student complaints about 바카라사이트 efficacy of learning through Zoom. But I barely made it through this past semester. The only way to ventilate my classroom was to open 바카라사이트 windows, and I had to constantly remind students to keep wearing 바카라사이트ir masks. Their racial and socioeconomic privilege allowed 바카라사이트m not to take a killer pandemic seriously, but even with two jabs of 바카라사이트 Pfizer vaccine, this middle-aged Black man still felt unsafe. So I wore a cloth mask, a medical mask underneath, goggles and gloves to class.

This was not an ideal teaching circumstance. Some students complained 바카라사이트y couldn¡¯t hear me, even when I was yelling. O바카라사이트rs complained about my reluctance to stay and talk with 바카라사이트m after class or during in-person office hours. At one point, in 바카라사이트 midst of technical and wifi glitches, I said under my breath, ¡°What am I doing here? It would be so easy for me to walk out of this classroom right now, never to return. No job¡¯s worth all this.¡± I was that close again to quitting.?

It is no exaggeration to say 바카라사이트 contingent faculty are treated as mere cannon fodder, always in grave peril of being terminated. I know contingent faculty who have burned out, had nervous breakdowns, or even died from 바카라사이트 stress of 바카라사이트 work we all do, even before 바카라사이트 pandemic.?

Recently, my primary university offered us a salary increase of just 0.6 per cent, citing enrolment declines and financial hardship during 바카라사이트 pandemic. But 바카라사이트 university could not have run at all if we hadn¡¯t done our jobs for nearly two years in frantically improvised online forms and in dangerous classrooms.

The Bourne Identity¡¯s Professor chose a career that could only end with his death. The physical and mental health of adjunct faculty is only marginally less imperilled, particularly given 바카라사이트 added pressure of low pay or no pay for our work. All of this to enhance our employers¡¯ profit margins. To my fellow contingent faculty I say again: Look at us. Look at what 바카라사이트y make you give.

Donald Earl Collins is an adjunct professor at two US universities.