The AFT has always been the leader in organizing and representing part-time/adjunct faculty and other contingent employees in higher education. Resolutions dating back to 1979 solidified the union’s commitment to working actively on behalf of part-time/adjunct faculty.

As part of that commitment, the AFT played a leading role in Campus Equity Week 2003 (CEW). AFT promoted CEW at the local, state, national and international levels.  What follows is a round-up of activities related to CEW from around the country. 

National and International Efforts

AFT Higher Education:

• Worked with Rep. Dale Kildee (D–Mich.), ranking minority member on the U.S. House of Representatives Education Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness, to introduce a congressional resolution to support “solutions which provide fair and equitable treatment for contingent employees in higher education.” (See Appendix B.) AFT locals and state federations contacted congressional representatives to encourage them to support the resolution.

• Lobbied members of Congress for their support of a blueprint for fairness and equity, AFT’s Standards of Good Practice in the Employment of Part-time/Adjunct Faculty.

• Released a new AFT publication, The Growth of Full-time Nontenure-Track Faculty: Challenges for the Union, at a CEW press conference in San Francisco. In an effort to avoid hiring full-time tenured faculty, institutions not only are hiring substantial numbers of part-time/adjunct faculty but also are increasing the use of full-time faculty members who are denied the benefits of tenure. This report analyzes that trend and offers up several case studies from AFT locals that represent this growing group of faculty.

• Sponsored a resolution in support of CEW at a meeting of Education International, a world-wide trade union of education personnel. The resolution, calling for all higher education personnel to enjoy academic freedom and equal compensation, was offered with the support of other major North American education unions. The resolution was passed unanimously. 

State and Local Efforts

California
At San Francisco Community College’s Downtown Center, the California Federation of Teachers held a news conference to mark the release of The Growth of Full-time Nontenure-track Faculty. The faculty-led news conference featured lecturers from the University of California and faculty from Bay area community colleges.

Near Santa Cruz, the Cabrillo College Federation of Teachers (CCFT) used CEW to highlight the contributions adjuncts make to their campus. CCFT displayed the names of all adjuncts currently teaching, a number that makes up nearly two-thirds of all faculty, to illustrate the impact adjunct faculty have both on students and on the campus community. The display table also included CEW information and a form letter to the new governor asking for improved working conditions for adjuncts.

In Orange County, the Coast Federation of Educators worked to publicize CEW on their three campuses. Adjunct testimonials were featured in campus papers, information tables were set up, and members of the federation distributed information and peanuts, as part of their adjuncts work for peanuts campaign, to departments that heavily utilize part-timers.

In the San Diego area, 25 adjunct professors from the Palomar College Faculty Federation and the MiraCosta colleges staged a demonstration in front of the Palomar bell tower, calling for increased wages and better working conditions. Wearing ghost costumes and partial caps and gowns as a symbol of their anonymity, and citing the need to provide students with a quality education, members of the faculty federation demanded office space to meet with students as well as compensation for holding office hours and prep time.

In solidarity, the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council passed a resolution endorsing CEW. The labor council worked to inform members and affiliates about CEW and its principles.

The San Jose/Evergreen Faculty Association held a reception at their campus observatory to “Honor the Stars”. The stars in this case were part-time faculty. The observatory was recently outfitted with new telescopes, thanks to a part-time faculty member. In addition, board members, faculty and students staffed tables with petitions calling for a revision of the seniority rehire preference for part-time faculty, which would make it consistent with full-time faculty.

Part-time faculty from the San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers decided to raise awareness with CEW activities held on all four campuses. In keeping with Halloween, information tables featured the ghosts and gravestones of part-timers who were not rehired as a result of state budget cuts. Students could participate in a CEW quiz show with questions about part-timers’ working conditions, and fill out appreciation cards for their part-time faculty.

Illinois
At the University of Illinois in Chicago, the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) marked CEW by holding a healthcare rally on Halloween. More than 85 people showed up to hear graduate employees’ healthcare horror stories and speakers from the University Professionals of Illinois and Service Employees International Union, Local 73.

The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign also focused on healthcare for its CEW activity. Drawing attention to the union’s current healthcare negotiations, GEO sponsored a forum that featured members recounting their struggles under the existing health plan as well as a speaker from Champaign County Health Care Consumers. 

Kansas
The Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition at the University of Kansas used CEW to highlight the union’s struggle for adequate healthcare benefits by staging a “Health Care Horror Show.” Members dressed in hospital gowns and bandages and rattled bottles of pills as they shared their own healthcare horror stories and pointed out that benefits needed to include dental and eye care as well as visits to the doctor.

Michigan
On Oct. 28, about 20 members of the Graduate Employees Union (GEU) at Michigan State University braved the cold and rallied on the steps of the administration building to call for increased benefits and wages. A loophole in the GEU contract has allowed the university to reclassify teaching assistants as instructors and strip them of their healthcare benefits, tuition waivers and protection from overwork. GEU worked to inform the campus community of this new development and get support as they approach arbitration with the university in January.

At the University of Michigan, the newly formed Lecturers Employees Organization (LEO) rallied on the steps of the library, calling for increased salaries and greater job security. As part of their “Be Visible” campaign (an effort to strengthen the union and their position at the bargaining table) members held lion masks and spoke about their concerns as adjuncts. Also in attendance were members of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) who voiced opposition to a recent action by the university that added premium payments to the graduate healthcare plan.

LEO chapters at the University of Michigan Dearborn and Flint set up information tables, complete with CEW inspired trivia games, and passed out peanuts as part of their “Lecturers Work for Peanuts” campaign.

New Jersey
The New Jersey Federation of Teachers, in association with the Council of New Jersey State College Locals, and the Rutgers American Association of University Professors, sponsored an awards breakfast in honor of Assembly members Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert J. Smith, and state Sen. Shirley K. Turner. The lawmakers were honored for their sponsorship of legislation that allows part-time and adjunct faculty to buy into the state health benefits program. Following the breakfast, workshops provided an opportunity for discussion of the new health benefit rights, pension rights, and strategic planning sessions for the next steps part-time and adjunct faculty need to take to achieve equity. 

In northern New Jersey, the Adjunct Faculty Federation at Kean University held a weeklong awareness event complete with information tables and a membership drive. Also looking to educate others and strengthen the union was the local at Union County College, which used CEW to drum up support as the union negotiates its first contract.

On Oct. 27, a rally sponsored by the Montclair State University Federation of Teachers in conjunction with the Montclair State University Adjunct Faculty, called for a more “Union Friendly MSU.” Members convened at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new academic building to draw attention to MSU president Susan Cole’s disregard for the administration’s responsibilities in collective bargaining. In the last five years under President Cole, the union has filed more unfair labor practices than it did in the previous 25 years.

New York
Hundreds of United University Professions (UUP) members took part in various CEW activities held statewide. UUP at SUNY Albany, in coalition with the university administration and the faculty senate, sponsored a faculty forum entitled “Part-time and Adjunct Faculty: Roles and Perspectives.” Dozens of attendees shared their thoughts with a panel that included a full-time, part-time, and adjunct faculty member. Elsewhere, appreciation events in honor of part-time faculty were held at SUNY Alfred, SUNY Canton and SUNY Farmingdale. UUP members at SUNY Oneonta set up information tables on campus, and at SUNY Potsdam -- in keeping with Halloween -- several UUP members dressed up as werewolves with T-shirts that stated: “I am a werewolf. A werewolf is a part-time wolf and a part-time person. Part-time academic and professional employees are not part-time people.”

In New York City, members of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) held an informational picket outside the CUNY board of trustees meeting to kick-off CEW. They followed this by sponsoring a forum on the new full-time job openings at CUNY and offered workshops to help interested part-time faculty members prepare for the application and interview process. Demand for the forum was high, with nearly 100 people attending. PSC also distributed letters to be signed and delivered to the chancellor to highlight the inequities in wages, healthcare and job security for part-time faculty.

The Faculty Association of Suffolk Community College used CEW as an opportunity to strengthen the position of adjuncts in their union. With bargaining its new contract only a year away, the faculty association held open-session meetings to get input from adjunct members on what they would like to see in the next contract.

The United College Employees of the Fashion Institute of Technology (UCEFIT) held an “Adjunct Faculty Rights and Benefits” workshop Oct. 30. About 40 attendees listened to a range of speakers from the organization as they discussed adjuncts’ contractual rights and the need for increased political mobilization. Important legislation is being considered in New York that would give adjuncts eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits during the summer, and UCEFIT is calling on all members to support this legislation. 

Ohio
The Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) held a statewide press conference to announce the introduction of new legislation that, if passed, will grant collective bargaining rights to part-time and adjunct faculty as well as graduate assistants. OFT president and AFT vice president Tom Mooney and faculty representatives were joined by the bills’ sponsors, State Sen. Eric Fingerhut and State Rep. Fred Strahorn, in urging the Ohio General Assembly to adopt the legislation.

In response to the proposed legislation, the Adjunct Faculty Association (AFA) at the University of Cincinnati launched its campaign for recognition and began a membership card drive. If successful, adjuncts there would be the first in the state to unionize.

Oregon
Granting the request made by AFT Oregon, Gov. Ted Kulongoski officially declared the week of Oct. 27 – Oct. 31, 2003, as Campus Equity Week, and encouraged all Oregonians to join in observance. In the proclamation, the governor acknowledged that “Campus Equity Week is designed to educate our campus communities, the public and policymakers about these issues and the quality of education.” 

In response to this call to educate, the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation at the University of Oregon rallied on the steps of the main administration building Oct.27. Federation officers and representatives from the student government gave speeches calling for better job security and higher wages for all graduate teaching fellows.

Members of the Portland Community College Faculty Federation (PCCFF) promoted CEW with events on all three campuses. At the Rock Creek campus, around 75 faculty members and students rallied against the increasing trend of using temporary lecturers at PCC. At the Sylvania campus, PCCFF held a discussion on the exploitation of part-time and contingent workers, and at the Cascade campus, the union got out the message of CEW through skits, songs and information tables.

The Portland State University Faculty Association (PSUFA), in coalition with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), held a series of CEW events. They kicked-off the week with a rally and continued to educate the campus community by holding a CEW-themed film festival and sponsoring a forum on globalization, at which PSU faculty members from various departments presented the issues that globalization poses for education.

Pennsylvania
The Faculty Federation of the Community College of Philadelphia participated in a wide variety of CEW activities. Representatives from the federation made radio appearances on two local union-oriented radio shows: “Talking Unions” and “Labor to Neighbor.” They manned a display table throughout the week and showed the video Degrees of Shame, and concluded the week with a faculty forum. Entitled “What Is Fair Pay for Part-time Faculty?” the forum featured panelists who had previously been part-time but were now full-time. The federation also worked hard to get the word out about a recent state report entitled “Part-time Faculty at Institutions of Higher Education in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” The report recommends that college administrations and trustees at Pennsylvania community colleges should be providing equitable salaries, benefits and working conditions to all employees -- including part-time faculty.

Graduate Employees Together–University of Pennsylvania’s (GET-UP) CEW event proved instrumental in moving forward the local’s struggle to gain recognition by the administration. On Oct. 25, a crowd of 80 members and supporters rallied outside the campus bookstore where U-Penn president Judith Rodin was signing her book Public Discourse in America. Rodin, who had previously refused to enter into a discussion with GET-UP over the impounded votes cast in their last election, agreed to meet with GET-UP representatives in response to the demonstration.

Vermont
The United Professions of Vermont (UPV) worked to spread the word about CEW by distributing CEW buttons to all faculty members to wear throughout the week. The union held screenings of the movie it created entitled “Moonlighting in Vermont: Problems and Prospects for Part-time Professors,” which highlights the inequities faced by part-time faculty. UPV also continued its membership drive at the University of Vermont where it is attempting to organize part-timers. 

Washington
As part of its participation in CEW, the Washington Federation of Teachers (WFT) worked with Gov. Gary Locke to designate Oct. 29 as “Adjunct and Part-time Faculty Recognition Day.” The WFT, with the Washington Education Association, also co-hosted a conference entitled “Bargaining Equity for Part-time Faculty.” The conference highlighted legislative accomplishments, and attendees were provided with information on how to bargain better contractual provisions for pay, benefits and conditions of employment. Wrapping up CEW activities was an opinion piece in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by WFT president Sandra Schroeder, who cited the market model in higher education staffing as creating a “crisis that leaves [part-time faculty] demoralized and constantly on the offensive.”

Following the lead of the WFT, members of the Seattle Community College Federation of Teachers used CEW to better educate their members. With an emphasis on future political action, members discussed past legislative victories and the steps needed to ensure future legislation that will have a positive impact on the working conditions of part-time faculty.

Wisconsin
The Madison Area Technical College Part-time Teacher’s Union coordinated with the Teaching Assistants’ Association and the United Faculty and Academic Staff at the University of Wisconsin for a CEW rally. Members convened at the state Capitol in Madison to demand greater fairness and equity for part-timers and graduate students.