What Does the Adjunctification of College Faculty Mean?
Why adjunct faculty outnumber tenured/tenure-track faculty and why that matters.
Due to an unknown glitch, this post was not distributed on Tuesday. I apologize for the delay.
Inspired partly by your support of Higher Ed Success, I’m now nearing the completion of a book-length guide for academic department chairs. Additional information about publication will appear soon here and on my coaching and consulting portal at SAGE LEADER.
In the meantime, I’m reprising some of my earlier posts, especially those that appeared before many of you subscribed. To begin, I’ll update some posts on adjunct faculty since the trend toward hiring more part-time faculty continues to accelerate.
The “adjunctification” of college faculty simply means that adjunct (contingent, part-time) instructors comprise the vast majority of faculty in colleges and universities. This situation produces negative consequences for students and faculty.
Julie Morrissey is an adjunct (part-time) instructor in English at a small New England college. During the spring term, she taught 2 sections of English 102 that enrolled 30 students each. For this work, the college paid her $5,200 ($2,600 per section). Each section met 3 hours per week for 14 weeks, for 84 hours total hours in class. In addition, Julie devoted another 12 hours per week per section preparing for class, grading papers and exams, and providing individual help when possible. Total hours spent during the term on classroom instruction, preparation, grading, and individual help was 420. That means that Julie worked for an hourly wage of $12.38, well below the $15.00 minimum wage that many advocate today. Since she received no benefits such as health insurance, she worked at a poverty level.
Julie’s story is repeated in nearly every college and university in the United States where adjunct instructors, most of whom possess the same educational credentials as their full-time counterparts, comprise an ever-increasing proportion (as much as 75%) of college faculty. Typically, because of low pay, they must work at two or three colleges at a time to eke out a barely sustainable income.
Off the Tenure Track
Working conditions for part-time faculty are deplorable. Most have no access to individual office space where they can meet with students privately to discuss performance or grades. They receive no support for their research, and most have no guarantee of continuing employment. Adjuncts typically find out whether they will be teaching shortly before the beginning of a new term. They have no access to tenure and enjoy little protection associated with academic freedom.
In addition, adjuncts frequently report feeling invisible to their tenured or tenure-track colleagues. Usually, adjunct faculty do not participate in department meetings. They have no say regarding curricular revision or direction. They often have little control over topics to be included in their courses or how to teach. If their standards of rigor result in some students’ failing or dropping their courses, they are held accountable.
Most importantly, adjunct faculty have little chance of being hired if a full-time position does open up. The reason usually cited for not hiring adjuncts for a tenure-track position is that they lack the required evidence of scholarship and publication for such positions. Of course, this places adjuncts in a Catch-22 bind: to be considered for a tenure-track position, they must have a record of scholarly publication; but they’ve had no time or resources for research and publication because they had to maximize teaching to make ends meet. The system is unjustly rigged against them.
In addition to part-time adjuncts, there is a larger category of contingent faculty that encompasses all faculty who are not on tenure-track. This category includes adjunct part-time faculty and those who are teaching full-time on a temporary appointment. Contingent faculty have no access to tenure. That means that after a maximum period of 7 years, they must leave their current position. Only rarely are such non-tenurable positions converted into tenure-track opportunities. And even then, a non-tenured faculty member must apply and compete with other applicants, usually in a nationwide search.
Explanatory note: “tenure” means that a faculty member is permanently employed and can be involuntarily removed only when the institution declares “financial exigency” that requires elimination of tenured positions or when the faculty member is guilty of egregious misconduct (such as sexual harassment or a criminal offense). The objective of tenure is to preserve a faculty member’s freedom to conduct research and teach matters of controversy within the faculty member’s area of expertise.
Before 1980, approximately 25% of all college faculty held contingent appointments; 75% were tenured or on track for tenure. As of 2022, those numbers reversed: over 75% of faculty are contingent and not eligible for tenure. Further, 47% are working part-time. In many institutions, the number of adjunct faculty is much larger than the number of faculty who hold full-time appointments. In light of direct attacks on tenure in Florida, Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Carolina, and other states, I fear that this trend will become more insidious.
Consequences for Student Learning
Most undergraduate students never know whether their instructor is tenured, on tenure-track, full-time, or part-time. Students simply assume that their teacher is certified by their college to be a competent instructor. But having an adjunct, part-time instructor carries consequences for learning. As some have remarked, working conditions for adjuncts equal learning conditions for students.
Before spelling out those consequences, let me be clear that adjunct faculty are fully competent members of the teaching faculty. Most have the same educational credentials as their full-time colleagues. That means that most hold the highest or terminal degree in their field. Further, most adjunct faculty have years of teaching experience in a variety of institutions. Except for a few individual circumstances, the competence of adjunct faculty is not at issue for student learning.
The main problem for learning arises from the limited time and attention that adjunct faculty can give to their students. Of course, Julie Morrissey in our story will meet her classes as scheduled. She will also prepare professionally for those class sessions and evaluate her students’ performance according to her college’s norms. She will not, however, have much time (or space) to meet with students individually. Students who have difficulty might be able to catch her for a few minutes after class or they might communicate with her via email. But she will not have time to get to know many students in-depth or have a significant, private conversation with them.
In addition, adjunct faculty are expendable. When student enrollment is rising or even steady, colleges hire adjunct faculty to increase teaching capacity at lower cost. Under such circumstances, an adjunct instructor could enjoy a few consecutive terms of employment, but with a fluctuating teaching load. However, when enrollment declines or if particular course sections fail to enroll a sufficient number of students, colleges usually cut sections staffed by adjuncts first. Thus, the specter of unemployment always looms for them.
Since students are usually ignorant of working conditions for adjunct instructors, they might not understand why it is so difficult to get in touch with their professor when they need help. Typically, adjuncts have no permanent office or computer station. They also might travel to teach at other campuses. Their days can be very hectic and stressful.
Clearly, adjunct faculty dare not offer to become mentors for eager students. They cannot risk the harm to students that would result from suddenly being unemployed because of a dip in enrollment or a whimsical decision by the college. This means that adjunct faculty must consciously limit the degree to which they can become involved in their students’ academic careers. In other words, adjunct status directly interferes with the student-faculty relationship. Learning suffers.
What can be done? In the next post, I’ll offer some suggestions.