Palomar Professors Engage in National Adjunct Action Day
Plight of Part-Time Professors Draws National Attention
San Marcos, California – (February 20, 2015) – Palomar Community College professors are joining forces with their counterparts at community colleges nationwide to lead the change in North County San Diego for better working conditions for part-time faculty. A teach-in is planned at Palomar’s Clock Tower at noon on Wednesday, February 25.
Part-time instructors teach over 50% of all community college classes today. Although these professors are highly trained professionals holding the same qualifications and delivering the same instructional services as their full-time colleagues, they receive only 50-60% of the financial compensation earned by full-time faculty. As a result, part-time faculty typically teach at multiple institutions, carrying heavier workloads than their full-time peers – but without offices, benefits, or job security.
These conditions limit professors’ availability to students, their ability to provide feedback on student work, and time to adequately prepare for classroom instruction. This negatively impacts student retention and graduation rates; over the last six years, the number of students either earning a two-year degree at a California community college or transferring to a four-year institution has fallen by 2.6%. Studies at the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute show that this is a direct result of the inequalities currently existing in the full-time and part-time teaching hierarchy.
These inequalities negatively affect taxpayers, as well. The financial duress under which many part-time professors survive force them to regularly rely on food stamps or state unemployment, creating a paradox in which some of our society’s most highly educated people must rely on welfare programs paid for by taxpayers.
As the situation gains national attention, California professors are asking Governor Jerry Brown to allocate additional funds for the categorical line items that currently exist for parity/equity compensation and paid office hours for part-time temporary faculty in the California Community College system in the amount of $30 million for paid office hours, and $50 million for parity/equity compensation. Additionally, they are asking Brown to allocate $100 million for the conversion of existing part-time temporary faculty to full-time faculty status in order to help create fair and equitable working conditions that will benefit our students, our institutions, and our taxpayers by building today the basis for an educated tomorrow. The peaceful demonstration is scheduled from 12:00 – 1:00 pm, Wednesday, February 25, at the Clock Tower on Palomar’s main campus in San Marcos.
About Palomar Faculty Federation (PFF) AFT Local 6161, PFF, is the faculty union of Palomar Community College. It has been supporting full-time and adjunct colleagues since 2001. Learn more at palomarfacfed.org.
Contact Christina Moore lafenix2000@gmail.com (760) 473-1365