Sigrid Fertig, an adjunct foreign language professor at UB, immigrated to the United States from Austria in 1989. She came with the impression the education professions here would be more regulated with more opportunities and benefits.
Twenty-five years later, Fertig is still an adjunct professor, teaching both German and French and is reliant on her husband’s salary to get by.
“In my home country, I would be able to retire with a nice benefit package and pension [by now],” Fertig said. “Now, I’ve worked for nothing for 25 years.”
Fertig is one of the professors in the Buffalo Adjunct Movement (BAM), a coalition of adjunct professors and graduate students in Western New York. On Friday afternoon, the group held a rally and “grade-in” in Lafayette Square and the Buffalo and Erie County Central Library to protest the pay and treatment of adjunct professors in the Buffalo area.
Adjuncts brought their students’ papers or tests to grade together in the library for the “grade-in.” Maria Daxenbichler, an adjunct German professor said the “grade-in” allowed adjuncts to feel like they are a part of the campus community. Most adjuncts share an office, if they have an office at all, she said.
“[The] grade-in [is] countering an alien experience,” Daxenbichler said.
Adjunct professors make up 70-75 percent of all university faculties in the country. At a research university like UB, 57.9 percent of faculty and staff are adjuncts. Derek Curry, an adjunct professor in the media study department, said the percentage of UB adjuncts is close to that average.
Curry said the initial purpose of adjunct professors was to create a good foundation for those looking to become full-time professors. He said professors who adjunct want to gain experience rather than a stable income.
In 2011, Curry started as an adjunct at West Los Angeles College. Working solely as an adjunct professor, he was unable to make his rent, which forced Curry to work another job to pay his rent. He said he “wouldn’t have known what to do,” if his landlord didn’t give him a second job.
Adjunct professors are paid per class, earning from $2,000 to $4,000 per class. UB pays its adjunct professors $3,200 per class, Curry said.
“UB is probably the highest in the area. It’s all about the same. It’s all below poverty,” Curry said.
Curry came to UB to complete his Ph.D. and ended up with a teaching assistant scholarship. The scholarship pays Curry twice as a much as his adjunct position.
“I can’t think of another vocation where you get paid twice as much to learn your profession as you do to actually work in it,” he said.
Curry said he thinks universities have a larger budget for student teachers than teachers who already have a degree. Therefore, universities try to attract students to earn their graduate or Ph.D. degrees and teach as part of their programs.
Typically, adjunct professors are graduate students, or students earning a Ph.D., but there are some who have already completed their education. Kate Caccavaio has a Bachelors of Arts, Masters of Arts and a doctrine in English. She’s been an adjunct for the past two years.
After completing her education, Caccavaio wasn’t planning on being an adjunct at all.
This fall is Caccavaio’s first semester “adjuncting” at UB, teaching an English 201 class. Last fall, she worked four jobs, including her adjunct position, and made $13,000 for the year, she said.
She has tried to change her profession because of the poor job market for educators.
“When [companies] see that I’ve been teaching for the past 10 years in college, it’s hard to convince [them] that I can switch careers,” she said. “People think we only have this one skill set.”
The retirement packages and benefits adjuncts receive are only a fraction of what professors gets, even though it is the adjuncts doing the majority of the class work, Fertig said.
“The treatment of adjunct professors represents the struggles of the university,” she said.
Adjuncts are hired or re-hired on a semester basis. When Caccavaio was hired at the end of August, it was too late for her to order her class books from the university bookstore.
Universities are reliant on adjunct professors and many of those teachers cannot devote enough time to each student, according to Daxenbichler. Many adjuncts recognize that students grow frustrated when their emails go unanswered, Curry said, but most of the time, the adjuncts are at a different job trying to pay their rent.
Daxenbichler said she has had fellow colleagues teach six classes at once.
“Language is taught by adjuncts and teachings assistants, so without adjuncts, universities can’t sustain the core curriculum,” she said.
Daxenbichler said because so many adjunct professors teach core classes, students build a closer relationship with the adjuncts rather than the professors. Most students, Fertig said, don’t know that adjunct professors aren’t technically members of the departments. And when students ask their adjunct professors for a recommendation, students are often denied their request.
“If a recommendation has ‘adjunct professor’ on it, it will be ignored,” Caccavaio said. She said she refuses to write a recommendation letter for students because the letter “won’t be taken seriously” and will inhibit the success of the students.
During Friday’s rally, adjuncts and supports of adjuncts, like Emily Anderson, a fourth year Ph.D. student at UB, marched through Lafayette Square, with flyers including their concerns of “protection and job security, a voice at work, inclusion, equal treatment and respect.”
Anderson said events like Friday’s rally and the “grade-in” help to promote a conversation about the job market for teachers and educators. Right now, Anderson is a teaching assistant for an English 201 class, but the possibility of becoming an adjunct may be in her future.
Fertig said adjuncts are treated as if they are “invisible” by the university. And if the treatment continues, she said, she will have to give up teaching.
Anderson said BAM plans to hold more rallies to raise awareness for adjunct professors in the future, but have not scheduled any yet.
UB officials could not be reached for comment by the time of press.
email: news@ubspectrum.com
