Part-time faculty hit first with cuts

Some Fullerton College instructors are paid less than others, get fewer benefits, have poorer working conditions and no job security – not   because they’re less qualified or have less experience, but because they work part-time.

And now those part-timers are also being hit hard by cuts in the class schedule.

Part-time instructors are called adjuncts. They teach over half the classes at FC. Besides being paid less, they have no offices, they have no campus phone numbers, they’re not in the directory. 

Some have non-teaching jobs during the day. Some rush from one campus to another trying to piece together a full-time teaching career from part-time jobs at different schools, with materials for several classes stored in their car trunks.

Adjuncts were also more apt to having their classes dropped from the schedule during the recent round of campus belt-tightening. Kenneth Meehan, director of institutional r esearch, said that about 300 sections were cut this semester, mostly taught by adjuncts. 

According to Sam Russo, president of Adjunct Faculty United, 40 adjuncts had all their classes cut. No full-time faculty were laid off.

Larry Buckley, vice president of instruction, explained that although adjuncts must have the same teaching qualifications as full-time faculty, they don’t have the same responsibilities outside the classroom. That accounts, he said, for their lower rate of pay.

But Russo said that even taking into account their lesser responsibilities, adjuncts are seriously underpaid.

As for the eliminated class sections, Buckley explained that by the time it was known how many classes would need to be cut from the fall schedule, contracts with full-time faculty were already in place. That left only adjuncts’ classes in a vulnerable situation. 

Dan Tesor, dean of social sciences, said that timing was not the critical issue in deciding what classes to cut in his department. Instead it is night classes, and classes taught on Fridays and weekends that are most likely to get the ax and they’re usually taught by adjuncts.

Steven Dahlke, who teaches vocal music, said that night classes were the first to go in his department, including one of his.

“It’s hard not to feel a little less valued, or you value yourself a little bit less,” he added, “because you see the position on the totem pole that you take.” 

Barbara Pollinger teaches part-time in the paralegal department at FC and at Santa Ana College. Two of her three classes at FC were cut, and the business she runs with her husband has slowed down.

“I’m down by two-thirds income here,” she said. “You tighten the belt, you cut wherever you can cut. I sell what stocks I can to make ends meet, because they don’t. It’s a negative every month now.”

There are good reasons for hiring adjuncts – they may have specialized skills or knowledge, or they may be working professionals who bring real-world experience into the classroom.

However, in 1999 a state bill  claimed the growing proportion of adjuncts was an attempt to save money, not to improve teaching. AB 420 was going to fund 5,000 new full-time faculty positions in community colleges.

Amendments ripped out the money for new jobs, instead mandating a study of the issue of pay equity.

That study concluded that part-time community college instructors in California earn about 50 to 60 percent of what a full-time instructor with comparable experience and education earns. After adjusting for their reduced responsibilities, they should make 85 percent.

Armed with those findings, the union went to the district board in 2006 with a request that the board take a public stand in favor of pay equity for adjunct faculty. A student spoke at the meeting and presented a petition signed by 2,024 supporters. The motion failed.

Les Douglas, adjunct history instructor, said students must stand up for their share of the state’s resources. “They’re going to have to get political and fight for it,” he said.

Charisse Deming, a sophomore psychology major, agreed: “The incoming students are the most important because they’re going to be the ones who are going to change Fullerton over the next couple of years.  They’re ones that are going to make a stand.”