No college student expects to be taught by a teacher living on the edge of poverty. While student tuition continues to rise, more and more university faculty members are working part time for low pay. Many of these adjunct faculty members are struggling without benefits or job security. I am one of them.
I graduated with a Master of Arts in women’s and gender studies from DePaul, the largest Catholic university in the United States. When I was offered the chance to teach at my alma mater, I thought my dreams had come true. I love teaching. In my classes, my students learn to think critically about the world around them and put into action the social justice values at the heart of our school.
But I quickly learned that DePaul’s social justice values don’t translate into a livable wage for its adjunct faculty members. My dream job is becoming a dead end. If working conditions don’t improve, I will be forced to find a new profession.
As an adjunct faculty member, I earn less than $4,000 a course, equaling an annual salary of approximately $19,000. From quarter to quarter, I’m never completely certain what classes I will be teaching, how many I’ll be assigned or if I will be teaching at all. The heads of my departments have always tried to treat me fairly, but university policies prevent them from offering me a steady contract. I hold another part-time staff position at DePaul so I can pay my bills, but I still can’t afford the university’s health care plan.
These poor working conditions affect my students’ education. When they ask me to write letters of recommendation, I have to explain that my opinion as an adjunct faculty member isn’t respected. When they ask me what classes I’ll be teaching next quarter, I have to tell them I’m not sure.
About 70 percent of college classes in the United States are being taught by adjuncts like me. 31 percent of part-time faculty live near the poverty level, but the pay of college administrators is increasing. At DePaul, our president Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M. makes over $800,000 per year, making him the highest paid Catholic college president in the country. How can DePaul call this Vincentian values?
Adjunct faculty members like me are calling on our school to put our students first by paying fair wages to the people who teach them. We are uniting around the demand of $15,000 per course in pay and benefits. We are also joining other low-wage workers who are fighting for a national wage of $15 an hour and the right to form a union. Over the past two years, these workers have won campaigns to raise the minimum wage in major cities, including Chicago. This spring, students and faculty are bringing that fight to campus.
In my classes, I teach my students about the history of unions and people’s movements. I tell them that when we organize, we can make our lives better. Now I’m ready to show them that is true. It is time for faculty to demand better for our students and ourselves.