WEDNESDAY | 3.4.2015 | MACEANDCROWN.COM | Vol. 57, Issue 18
Senior Monarchs Go Out on Top. C1
Josh Whitener | M&C
Secret Group Claims Responsibility for Missing Seal
ODU faculty members and students held a “ring-in” at Koch Hall to coincide with the National Adjunct Walkout Day on Feb. 25, 2015. Jason Kazi | Mace & Crown
Adjuncts March for Better Working Conditions David Thornton News Editor
Bells rang out across the snowy landscape of ODU as professors and students marched to raise awareness for the plight of adjuncts Thursday. The “ring-in” was staged in conjunction with the first International Adjunct Walkout Day on Feb. 25, part of a grassroots movement bringing attention to the low pay, long hours and lack of benefits endured by adjunct professors. According to Caleb Magyar, an adjunct in the English department who helped organize the event, a single adjunct proposed the idea last fall, and it gained traction on social media, especially when Inside Higher Ed ran a story on the idea. “We’re hoping to raise awareness among the students,” he said. It’s unclear exactly how many universities and adjuncts are
participating, due to the fact that the event has no central organization. After the idea was proposed, students and faculty members across the U.S., Canada, U.K. and other European countries picked it up and ran with it. Adjuncts currently make up 41 percent of the teaching staff of ODU, while the national average is 48 percent, according to the website Adjuncts for Justice. Yet, they are consistently underpaid and over-worked. Adjuncts at ODU earn between $1000 and $1200 per credit hour taught. Adjuncts also receive no health benefits, and as their contracts must be renewed each semester, they also have no job security. “Many adjuncts are on food stamps because they can’t earn a living wage,” Melissa Sipin, an adjunct in the English department who also helped to organize, said.
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“If the university could just offer basic health care, it would make a world of difference,” said Peter Adams, an adjunct in the Communication and English departments. “Our working conditions are such that we would like to have conversations with upper administration about ways we could improve them, and ways that we can better be there for our students,” Magyar added. Many adjuncts laughed and shrugged when asked how many hours they work each week. “That’s an interesting question,” Lane Dare, an English and Foreign Language adjunct said. “We should ask our adjuncts to quantify their hours.” She said she spends 12 hours in class, six to nine in her office, and another 20-40 hours grading and interacting with students online each week.
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“It’s pretty much a full time job when you have three classes,” Adams said. “I do it because I love it. I do it because I’m passionate about teaching.” An adjunct would have to teach about 12 three-credit classes in one year in order to make the same amount as the lowest-paid associate professor at ODU. That’s roughly 120 students per semester. Although they are required to teach a certain number of hours and maintain regular office hours each week, they also spend a good deal of time outside of the mandated time grading papers and meeting with students. Many adjuncts also work at multiple institutions. “I would love to make this my full time job,” Magyar said.“The reason we’re doing this is to create situations in which adjunct faculty Cont. A3
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Josh Whitener Assistant News Editor & Sean Davis Editor-in-Chief Word spread quickly through campus Wednesday that Old Dominion University’s official seal had been stolen. Students passing by the sacred spot in the middle of campus paused to snap pictures of the shallow hole where the seal once resided. Instead of the large shield of St. George’s cross, a large cone and road black signs covered rusted bars and chipped mortar. “People are crazy. I guess they’ll do anything for attention. I don’t know why they would steal it. I don’t know what they’re going to do with it,” Malik Graham says. A Twitter account, Seal Bandit, claimed responsibility for the missing seal and laid out a list of demands for its safe return. “Whoever did it is really trying to get back at ODU or something. Maybe it’s the meal swipes they’re mad about, the outrageous prices at The Pod,” student Markel Persoa said. A Facebook post by the university appears to refute these claims, although the exact location and wellbeing of the seal remains unknown.
List of demands on A3