free
WEDNESDAY
nov. 19, 2014 high 29°, low 25°
t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |
N • Snowed in
dailyorange.com
S • From the stands
P • Tip of the hat
The Syracuse Common Council is considering a bill that would impose a $50 fine for failing to shovel sidewalks. Page 3
Grant Chong played three years on the SU men’s soccer team before deciding to focus on academics this year. Now he watches as the Orange plays in the NCAA tournament. Page 16
Protect your ears this winter. Pulp offers three different kinds of beanies that will keep you warm and stylish during the frigid season. Page 9
ON THE EDGE breakdown
Here’s a look at some of the changes outlined in the tentative agreement between Adjuncts United and SU.
closed shop Starting in the 2016–17 academic year, part-time instructors who are hired in August 2016 or later will be required to join the union as a condition of being hired. increased wages for part-time faculty The probation and post-probation minimum per credit hour rate for part-time faculty increased to $1,200 forprobation faculty and $1,250 for post probation faculty. reduced probation period for benefit plan To get access to the modified benefit plan, part-time faculty will be on a probation period of four consecutive semesters, instead of two consecutive academic years.
by the numbers
money makers
Here’s an estimate of how many part-time instructors there are in each college:
Below are the average salaries for continiuing faculty during 2012–13:
staff writer
NEWHOUSE 39 MAXWELL 6
ARTS AND SCIENCES 147
LAW 6
Professor
$122,200 ISCHOOL 34
source: su aaup
FALK 23
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
$88,600
$77,900
Median pay per course for part-time faculty members at private nonprofit doctoral/research institutions:
ARCHITECTURE 5 ENGINEERING 9
EDUCATION 48 VPA 123 source: adjuncts united
Great Lakes region: $3,648 All regions: $3,800 source: aaup
dollar by dollar
Here’s a rough estimate of the average amount each college pays its parttime instructors for a 3-credit class. Information for College of Visual and Performing Arts was not available. source: adjuncts united
CAS Architecture $5283 $7026
Falk $4728
Education Engineering iSchool $4366 $7560 $4881
Law $15543
Maxwell $8118
Newhouse Whitman $5073 $6051
graphic illustration by matthew hankin design editor
Many SU part-time faculty say they deserve better benefits, salaries
By Meredith Newman managing editor
P
recarious — a word that means not securely held or in position, an adjective describing something that is dangerously likely to fall or collapse. A word frequently used to describe a population of Syracuse University educators who feel they don’t have stable job security or benefits: parttime faculty. An overall trend in higher education has shown that hiring part-time faculty has become increasingly popular. According to the most recent report from the American Association of University Professors, about 51.4 percent of total faculty in higher education comprise of part-time fac-
Group to start meal program By Sara Swann
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE 18
WHITMAN 23
the university series
student association
ulty. The AAUP also reported that the number of part-time faculty has grown by about 300 percent from 1975 to 2011. At SU, 481 people are considered part-time instructors. The university differentiates adjuncts from part-time instructors as educators who have full-time employment outside of the university. But while a majority of the educators on campus are not full-time faculty, many on campus feel adjuncts and part-time faculty aren’t receiving the salaries and benefits they deserve. Adjuncts United — a union on campus that represents contingent faculty— recently came to a tentative agreement with the university regarding contingent faculty compensation and rights and is just waiting for union members to vote and ratify the agreement. Samuel Gruber, an adjunct professor in the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the union’s executive committee, said SU has come a long
way in terms of its treatment of contingent faculty. But, he said, there’s still a long way to go. “What happens is that you have a medieval social hierarchy where you have different levels of instruction and people at the top are getting paid the most and teaching the least, but the people at the bottom are paid the least and teaching the most,” Gruber said. “It creates a distorted and ultimately undesirable system of inequality. The students really suffer from that. I love to teach and I love my students, but I don’t get paid enough to be spending lots and lots of time engaged with them outside of the classroom. “I have to go out and make money doing other things so that I can afford being an adjunct. And that’s a shame.” ••• Laurel Morton says she wouldn’t be currently teaching at SU if it wasn’t for the union. Now a part-time professor in the
College of Visual and Performing Arts, Morton was previously let go by SU in 2005. Morton is also the president of Adjuncts United, which was first recognized by the university in 2006. The union is an affiliate of the New York State United Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers. The negotiations for the third agreement, which if ratified is effective until May 31, 2017, took a majority of this semester, Morton said. Morton said she is confident that the union’s voting members, which are comprised of about 250 people, will ratify the tentative agreement. While progress was made in the tentative agreement, Morton said she wishes more could have been done. The new tentative agreement includes changes to the make-up of the union, as well as an increase to the minimum per credit hour rate for partsee adjuncts page 8
Starting in Spring 2015, Syracuse University students can have lunch with SU faculty and staff members for free. With $3,000 approved from the Student Advancement Fund, Student Association created Chat & Dine with Faculty and Staff. Modeled after a similar program at the University of Rochester, Chat & Dine will help students become better acquainted with their professors and other faculty and staff members, said Aysha Seedat, director of student life for SA and a junior policy studies major. “The faculty and staff members are here for us. They want to hear our feedback on how they can improve. If there are ways to better incorporate technology into something, they want to hear that,” Seedat said. When the program begins, students who are interested in having lunch with a professor or staff member will fill out a form for Chat & Dine. Within seven business days, the request will be either approved or denied by SA. If approved, the students will be scheduled for a specific Chat & Dine date, Seedat said. Students will be limited to two Chat & Dine opportunities per semester “so all students can have the opportunity to participate and it is not the same students meeting over and over again,” Seedat said. Freshmen and sophomores will receive priority when it comes to Chat & Dine “so that they can get a more personal experience with their professors, especially since a majority of them teach large lecture classes,” Seedat said. “The resources professors and staff members have are infinite,” she said. “They can offer so much more than advice about a student’s career path.” The tentative days for Chat & see chat
& dine page 8