Research Blog #4: Research Proposal

Working Title: Adjuncts: No pay, No Safety, No Life

Topic: My research will be focused around the fact that universities are leaning towards more adjunct professors.  I will dive into the treatment of these adjuncts in areas like pay, livelihood, and job safety.  I will further explain in this paper that adjuncts really make no money, have no job safety, and that a great percentage of them live terrible lives because of this.  Some of the questions that I will look into answers for will be why is the pay so bad for these professors even when they have many degrees that make them more than qualified for the position?  Why is it so difficult for these professors to obtain tenure?  Why is that if they are forced into poverty that they still continue to teach in these conditions?  If tuition is so high across the board at all universities why are these schools still focusing on adjunct professors with low wages?

There are many stories of professors who are homeless, live with their parents, or on food stamps.  This is a big problem for me because so many colleges are still pushing for more and more non-tenure-track professors so they can keep the salaries down.  Some of these professors do not even get healthcare benefits and accumulate high medical bills, with no money to pay them.  The main angle I want to research is why their pay is so low, and what this is doing to them and the higher educational system.

Literature Review Blog #4

(2) Takahasi, Paul. "Why so Many High-ed Professors Make so Little." Las Vegas Sun.com. Las Vegas Sun, 15 June 2014. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. <http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/jun/15/why-so-many-higher-ed-professors-get-lower-level-p/>.

(3) This article is all about Professor Donati who teaches English composition and world literature at UNLV to undergraduate students.  Even though he holds a masters and a doctorate in his field he still doesn't get paid very much at all.  He states that he works about 30 hours per week doing various tasks for his classes but only receives $24,456 a year.  The article states that this is about $10,000 less than the starting salary of a K-12 teacher in the public school system there.  Furthermore, the article explains that the tenure process is very difficult and competitive which usually results in a lot of applications for one tenured position.

(4) The author of this article is Paul Takahasi, and he is a education reporter at the Las Vegas Sun. 

(5) tenure: teacher or college professor's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.

non-tenure-track faculty: those who teach part-time and those who teach full-time but are not on tenure-track lines.

(6) "At a growing number of universities nationally, adjunct professors like Donati have become the face of higher education, as colleges increasingly rely on part-time, non-tenure-track faculty for cheap and abundant labor.  Last year, nearly 4 out of every 10 professors at UNLV were adjuncts.  Nationally, adjuncts constitute a little more than three-quarters of higher education faculty."

"The tenure process is incredibly competitive," Donati said, pointing to a recent tenure-track position that netted more than 400 applicants.  "You have to be brilliant to land a tenured position these days."

"Because of their low pay, many adjuncts at UNLV hold other part-time jobs to make ends meet.  Some live with their parents.  Nationally, there have been high-profile cases of adjunct professors living on food stamps."

(7) This information directly links to my topic of horrible pay for adjunct professors, and how there has been a huge push at universities for adjunct professors.  The article shows how little they really do make, and the harsh reality that some are living on food stamps.

Literature Review Blog #3

(2) Ehrenberg, Ronald G. "THE PERFECT STORM And The Privatization Of Public Higher Education." Change 38.1 (2006): 46-53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

(3)  In this paper the factors that have contributed to the decrease in state funding for public universities and colleges are discussed by the author.  The scenarios he speaks about that affect this are the rising tuition costs, faculty salaries, and an increase pressure on state tax revenues.  The title comes from the author because all of these things he speaks of creates the "perfect storm."  This storm is also threatening the public education system which he says will come due the privatization of public education.

(4)  Ronald G. Ehrenberg is the author of this article.  He is a professor at Cornell University in the subject of Labor Relations and Economics.  He has served as a consultant to faculty and administrative groups and trustees at a number of colleges and universities on issues relating to tuition and financial aid policies, faculty compensation policies, faulty retirement policies, and other budgetary and planning issues.

(5) "During the same period, however, private colleges and universities were raising their tuitions at a rate of over 3 percent about inflation.  In an effort to remain competitive, public higher education institutions raised their tuitions annually at roughly equivalent rates." (pg. 48)

"While privatization policies have risen at least partially from the budget problems that states face, as well as from policymakers' willingness to shift the costs of higher education from taxpayers to students, these policies also arise from the view that forcing the publics to behave more like the privates and compete for resources will lead to increased efficiencies and the elimination of waste." (pg.49)

"Privatization may help the most competitive flagship public universities obtain the resources they need to compete with their private-sector counterparts and regain their quality, but special efforts will be required to make sure that they continue to enroll students from lower- and middle-income families." (pg. 53)

(6)  This article really just helped me think about the privatization of public universities and think about another angle on my topic.  This at best will be a small part of my research and really don't know if I will directly use it in my paper.

Research Blog #5: Bibliogrpahy with Five Scholarly Sources

Anderson, L.V. "What Really Happened to Margaret Mary Vojtko, the Duquesne Adjunct Whose Death Became a Rallying Cry?" Slate Magazine. N.p., 17 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.

 
Curs, B.R., B. Bhandari, and C. Steiger. "The Roles Of Public Higher Education Expenditure And The Privatization Of The Higher Education On U.S. States Economic Growth." Journal Of Education Finance 36.4 (2011): 424-441. Scopus®. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

Ehrenberg, Ronald G. "THE PERFECT STORM And The Privatization Of Public Higher Education." Change 38.1 (2006): 46-53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

Mills, Nicolaus. "The Corporatization of Higher Education | Dissent Magazine." Dissent A Quarterly of Politics and Culture. Dissent Magazine, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-corporatization-of-higher-education>.

Smith, S.E. "The Disposable Professor Crisis." Saloncom RSS. Salon Media Group, 4 Apr. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://www.salon.com/2012/04/04/the_disposable_professor_crisis/>.

Literature Review Blog #2

(2)  Anderson, L.V. "What Really Happened to Margaret Mary Vojtko, the Duquesne Adjunct Whose Death Became a Rallying Cry?" Slate Magazine. N.p., 17 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.

(3)  This article from Slate Magazine tells the story of Margaret Mary Vojtko.  She was an adjunct professor making minimal money, like all adjuncts, with no health benefits and a temporary contract from semester to semester.  This status holds no job security, and really low pay anywhere from $2,500 to $3,500 per class each semester.  This article further speaks of all the hardship she went through because of her low wages and no health benefits.

(4)  L.V. Anderson is an assistant editor for the Slate magazine.  She normally writes about food, and maintains a food blog.  However, she has written this article about the death of Margaret Mary Vojtko and her story of being an adjunct professor.

(5)  EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission): a federal enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination.

(6)  "Duquesne couldn’t have saved Margaret Mary Vojtko, and it can’t singlehandedly save academia from its slide toward corporatization. But it can make life better for its 147 liberal arts adjunct professors—and their students—by recognizing the union and negotiating with it in good faith." (last paragraph)

"Hiring adjuncts instead of tenure-track faculty is unquestionably great for a university’s bottom line. From every other perspective, though, it’s a scourge. This is not just a question of adjuncts toiling away in relative penury. Overworked, underpaid adjuncts are also bad for students: Professors who don’t have their own offices, often must work multiple jobs to make ends meet, and sometimes find out whether they’re teaching shortly before the semester starts simply cannot devote as much energy and time to their students as they would like." (fourth to last paragraph)

"But that’s the problem: Virtually every university over-relies on underpaid adjuncts. With less public funding flowing into state and nonprofit universities, universities are more dependent on fundraising and on income from students whose families can afford to pay full tuition." (fifth to last paragraph)

   

Literature Review Blog #1

(2)  Mills, Nicolaus. "The Corporatization of Higher Education | Dissent Magazine." Dissent A Quarterly of Politics and Culture. Dissent Magazine, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-corporatization-of-higher-education>.

(3)  In this article Nicolaus Mills talks about changes in the US in regards to higher education and corporatization and privatization.  He goes into the fact that universities are now acting like large corporations and that administration is basically the CEO of the business.  With this brings higher tuition fees for the students who are attending, and like any business there is a push to have the highest ranking.

(4)  The author is Nicolaus Mills and he is a professor at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY.  His specialty is American Studies, which is a focus on things pertaining to the US, which is why he wrote this article.

(5)  corporatization: the act of reorganizing the structure of government owned entity into a legal entity with the corporate structure found in publicly traded companies.
endowments: a donation of property or money to a not-for-profit organization for the ongoing support of that organization.

(6)  "In 2003, only two colleges charged more than $40,000 a year for tuition, fees, room, and board. Six years later more than two hundred colleges charged that amount. What happened between 2003 and 2009 was the start of the recession. By driving down endowments and giving tax-starved states a reason to cut back their support for higher education, the recession put new pressure on colleges and universities to raise their price."  This quote is the very first paragraph of his article and it directly shows one of the major problem of corporatization or privatization of universities, higher tuition.

"The most visible sign of the corporatization of higher education lies in the commitment that colleges and universities have made to winning the ratings war perpetuated by the kinds of ranking U.S. News and World Report now offers in its annual “Best Colleges” guide."  Colleges, like large businesses, are placing a huge focus on becoming number one.  With a main focus on winning this award many colleges are letting their internal policies to change in order to gain a top spot in the best colleges ranking.  An example of this is pushing the average SAT score of applicants to be higher which in turn will ultimately drive up the price of tuition because of the competitive market for attending class at these schools.

"A new, permanent administrative class now dominates higher education. At the top are the college and university presidents who earn a million dollars or more a year and serve on numerous corporate boards (Shirley Ann Jackson, the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, earned a reported $1.38 million in a single year from her multiple directorships). Thirty-six private college and university presidents, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, fall into the million-dollars-a-year category, and many more are close behind."  With the rise in higher paid administrators brings on the reality of more adjunct professors who are being paid very little.

(7)  This article has helped me understand what these universities are doing specifically with the way they are trying to force the education system to act like a large corporation.  The article outlines some of the problems that I will need to do some research on to gain a better understanding for my final paper.

Research Blog #3: How might privatization connect to your topic?

The topic of privatization directly affects higher education in many ways.  The reading "Higher Education and Privatization" states, "For higher education, the term includes a range of activities taking place on campus.  Generally, in the name of financial necessity, colleges and universities cut services, undertake aggressive outsourcing, reduce the number of regular tenured teaching slots, and increase tuition."  This quote is telling us that privatization has been causing some negative consequences to students and universities like more adjunct professors and increasing the amount of tuition for students pushing them into more debt.

NEA Higher Education Research Center.  "Higher Education and Privatization."  NEA Update.  10.2 (March 2004).  Online.  5 Jan. 2014.  Available at http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/vol10no2.pdf