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DOCTORAL STUDENTS COUNCIL / ROOM 208/790-4447 48

MURPHY'S

TH CHANCELLOR MURPHY

October 27 at 4:00 p.m. Joseph S.
and Leo Corbie,
Acting Vice Chancellor, for) Student
and Special Programs, met with the
Officers and Steering Committee ‘of the DSC
rcoOnomic conditions affect-

CUNY.'s’ Chancellon,

Lig tne. 2,800 dodtoral andy) masters ‘students
din the programs administered? at

School and University Center.

The Meeting was arranged with the help of

jay Hex ti CUGLVOMASSI Stank. touche
>Lio and ‘y Hewes, Vice Chair for

tne University Student
in the GSUC Political

Graduate

Senate

Science F

FOGraM «

Our group was comfortably seated at a
round(table on the’ L8th floor: of the Center
with a modest assortment of alcoholic bev-

erages,) (Fruit, cheese, andy crackers...) The

,
<

fostered by an optimism gener-

ambiance was

=ries of letters and re-

ADJUNCT

ADJUNCT PACULTY AND UNIONIZATION

aced through a.‘s

In today's economy part-time labor is
the fastest growing sector of the work
force: so, too, the fastest growing segment
of academic instructors is adjunct facul-
Lenearganine oe the’ term adjunct is a mis-
adjuncts presently constitute
over one-third of the teaching work force

7

LEMKE Si.

nomer,

in universities and col

Part-time workers usually do not re-
ive any benefits.

on

ut They are poorly paid
because they are not unionized, and this is
e

pr h work is expanding. This
is al adjunct faculty in univer-
sities: on June 25, 1982, the New York
State Board of Regents eliminated the rule
that more than half the faculty of an in-
stitution should be full-time.

~OPTIMIS

p! initiated by me with the Chancellor.
I have found Joseph Murphy to be a very
concerned and receptive individual. When I
asked him what. expectations or hopes he had
brought to the meeting, he referred to the
six years he had spent as a graduate stu-
dent (which culminated in receiving a Ph.D.

3

in philosophy from Brandeis University) and
the compasSion he felt for us who are now

g the difficulties of graduate
was here to help us.

experienci

student life: he
We were delighted with his sincerity,

LE. OEM Nave diy iy dats

topics) the Chan-

and after an hour anda
cussion on a wide range of
cellor enumerated three things that he
promised to do for us: 1) Agreeing that
the long delay undergone each semester by
adjunct lecturers who wait anywhere from 5
to 8 weeks From the start of classes before
weceiving their first paycheck was a hard-
ip he would not want to bear, the Chan-
to do what was possible to

fcontt dion tp")

ORGANIZE

The working conditions of adjunct fac-
ulty are demeaning. If you refuse to teach
a course, you are damned forever as un-
grateful. You are hired by people who
apologize for the poor salary you receive,
but never do anything to raise it. You are
often without an office or library privi-
leges. Often you may not choose your
course texts or even get a parking stick-
er. Often, you will not have access’ to cop-
ying machines or films. Chalk can be a
problem. You can get courses you never
taught on a moment's notice. ‘You learn
that you can carry the load of a full-timer
and much more as you move from University
to university and still you remain a part-
timer. You can even carry a full-time
course load at one university and still be

fcontiidonep ms.


————

"Murphy" [cont'd from p. 1]
change the long delay- 2) Much concern had
been expressed during the meeting over the

nforcement of the late Chancellor Kibbee's

iring policy which called for priority to
be given to CUNY's graduate students when
appointing part-time faculty within the
CUNY system. Dr. Murphy agreed to continue
the old policy and look into improving its
enforcement. 3) Lastly, he agreed to meet »
with us again at which time he would accept
a formal list of demands for improvements
in our working conditions. I took that to
include some possibility of lessening the
disparity between the salaries of the part-
time and full-time faculty. That is an
issue I have discussed in detail in pre-
vious articles in the DSC News. Those of
us present at the meeting appreciate the
Chancellor's right to be cost-effective,
but we underscored that beyond a point the
exercise of that right conflicts with his
commitment to excellence in graduate educa-
tion since poor financial support increases
the time to complete the degree and inhib-
its the University's mission to educate the
people of the city it serves. On another
occasion Dr. Murphy said, "The City Univer-
sity is not just a place where knowledge
and culture are disseminated. It is alsoa
place with a great sense of social jus-
tice." It is our hope that he will be a
man of concrete changes and not merely of
words.

As of this printing it appears that
the first promise to alter the delay in
receiving pay is on its way to being ful-
filled. Also Mr. Hershenson informed me
that Mr. Catalano, Vice Chancellor for Fac-
ulty and Staff Relations has been instruct-
ed to look into the issue of hiring poli-
cy. At the time of our meeting the Chan-
cellor and our group were unaware of the
following outrageous statistics:

TEMPORARY POSITIONS THROUGHOUT CUNY
SPRING 1982

OTHER

GSUC % GSUC
Grad Asst. A 181 105 63.3
Grad Asst. B 362 150 70.7
Ly RECN as UB
Lecturer 21 817 265
Adj- Lecturer 596 4644 Ls 5
Adj. Asst. Prof. 10 1224 0.9
Adj- Assoc. Prof. | 379 0.8
Adie Brot < 0 253 0.0
ys Ste ee

4» The table reveals an unfavorable bal-
ance of positions held by GSUC students.
7? eau tr e/t

{jFrom the data it is hard to tell just who

the men and women are that figure in the
Non-GSUC column. It is important to find
out. Nevertheless, in view of these sta-
tistics I have difficulty restraining my
fury. At the very least our University
should gain some control over the hiring
practices of the college departments so
that CUNY's own Ph.D. students can obtain
the experience necessary to enter the
teaching profession. Dr. Proshansky has
,claimed that there is no justification for
jhiring someone other than a CUNY Ph.D. stu-
ident where the course to be taught clearly
ifalls under the domain of our Doctoral Pro-
grams. The quality of our Doctoral’ Pro-
grams is too high to seek elsewhere for .
competence in teaching such courses.

I believe that the Chancellor will
respond to these statistics as we would
like, but the time has come for organizing
our ranks into a Graduate Students Union.
This process has begun at the Center, so
please prepare to join a serious effort to
institute just conditions in our Universi-
ty. Any fears you might have of becoming
active must be put to rest. Behaving like
good fledgelings will not get you one of
the few full-time jobs. In case your vi-
sion is clouded the prospects are very poor
in that regard. The times really demand
the highest moral stance we can muster.
Sitting by while others do the work is un-
conscionable. Watch for information on the
Graduate Students Union in the next issue,
and join:

Jonathan Lang
: Chair
A REMINDER FROM ROBERT GILLEECE, DIRECTOR
OF FINANCIAL AID

Financial Aid applications for 1983-84.
were mailed to all enrolled students on
December 1. The filing deadline for all
types of financial aid for 1983-84 is
February 1, 1983.

KGB CONNECTION

On December 17 at 6:30 p.m. in Room
207 the DSC and the Foreign Students Char-
tered Organization will jointly sponsor KGB
Connection, a documentary by Canadian TV

and ABC on KGB activites in North America.

All students are invited to attend.

For further information contact Robert
Kostrzewa, History Program and Polish Stu-
dents Association, at (212) 730-7744x289 or
873-4351.


3

«2? .

[cont'd from p. 1]

an adjunct. I did so twice. Naturally,
you have no say in departmental policy or
in the university proper. The faculty,
uition supposedly, Seprseents et eee ace
ime and adjunct Faculty, but when you seek
‘their protection you Téarn that _ you are an
fmpudent trouble makers— Full-time faculty
Henetit from the existence of adjunct fac-
ulty under present conditions. Adjuncts
teach the ever larger introductory

courses. They teach at unpopular hours and
during unpopular times of the year.

ONLY THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDE-
PENDENT ADJUNCT FACULTY UNIONS WILL THE
CONDITIONS OF ADJUNCT FACULTY IMPROVE.

I have been actively involved in ad-
junct union organizing at several institu-
tions. Fear of reprisal permits me to men-
tion only two institutions. I am presently
the Vice President of the Hofstra Univer-
sity Adjunct Faculty Association. I lost
my teaching position at Hofstra because of
my organizing activity. The managers of
academic sweatshops do not take kindly to
adjuncts seeking human working conditions.
First my course load was reduced. When
that failed to stop me, I was hit with the
"collegial" ruse of credentials. I woke up
one day to learn that it was a dire neces-—
sity for the Sociology Department at Hof-
stra to find someone--naturally anyone--
more "qualified" than I to teach. Despite
several semesters of impeccable work at
Hofstra, I was singled me out for special
"academic" reappraisal. I now have a case
against Hofstra for unfair labor practices
at the National Labor Relations Board and
hearings will begin in February 1983.

“Full-time faculty unions are hostile
to adjunct union organization. At Hofstra
out of 325 adjuncts 198 signed decertifica-
tion cards to call for an election super-
vised by the National Labor Relations Board
to determine who should represent them as a
collective bargaining agent. (Only 30% of
the adjunct faculty must sign cards for an
election.) When you attempt to organize
adjuncts you learn that adjuncts can only
depend on adjuncts. We foolishly chose to
work with the American Federation of Teach-
ers, who deceived us with smiling faces
from the start. The Adjunct Faculty Asso-
ciation at Hofstra did not realize that the
AFT was helping us-so that they could gain

control of the full-time faculty union at
Hofstra. Yes, the AFT helped send out
newsletters and decertification cards. The
AFT helped us scare the moribund American

"Orgahize"

Association of University Professors into
joining the AFT in New York. On June 24,
1982, the AFT informed us that the AAUP in-
voked a "no raid" agreement, and we were
left without an organization.: Worse yet,
the AFT was on our decertification cards.
We had till June 30, 1982, to file our
cards. The NLRB declared our cards inval-
id. People had signed to join the AFT. We

appealed to Washington over the matter and
lost. Hofstra adjuncts now have an even
more regressive and weaker contract. You
have to work four years before you offi-
cially become adjunct faculty. The very
pathetic leave of absence and miserable
mentions of adjunct seniority in the old
contract have been eradicated.

At Nassau Community College the situ-
ation for adjunct faculty is very differ-
ent. We went on strike at Nassau Community
College. We were informed that if we con-
,tinued to strike scab faculty would replace
lus. But we have a seniority clause to pro-
tect us at Nassau. All courses beyond
full-time course load are covered under the
adjunct contract. We have paid sick
leave. We have strengthened our seniority
system and have received a 17% pay in-
crease. We got all of this not because of
the kindly administrators at Nassau or the
"collegial" concerns of the full-time fac-
ylty for( we fellow faculty members. We ac-
complished What we have at Nassau because
we have our own independent adjunct union.
We have won our strike. :

;
|
;


Willard Petry
HOW NOT TO BE AN ADJUNCT ioe tampa

‘The first way to avoid: ‘being an Peace
junct is to choose a career other than uni-
versity teaching. “By. ‘taking this. ‘option,
you escape the everyday travails of the ad-
junct life as well as ‘the health and safety
hazards of overstuffed bookbags and extra-
ordinary hours in the subway between ‘cam-
puses.

Many people select’ this ‘option only
after having suffered "terminal adjunctivi-
tis"--a syndrome characterized by a) cours-
es canceled at the last minute, b) delayed
paychecks, c) a schedule which includes
three or more classes at three or more in-
stitutions in three or more boroughs in the
same day, d) a paranoid fear of illness,
doctors and hospitals caused by non-exis-
tent or inadequate insurance coverage.

[cont'd on p. 4]


4

LL SS SSS SSS SSS
NATIONAL COALITION OF GRADUATE STUDENT ASSNS

"How Not To..." [cont'd from p. 4]

. If,:however, you are determined to
"stay the course” in university teaching,
you might consider option #2. This in-
volves a long-range game plan, and in order
for it to succeed, you as the player need
stamina, perseverence, and (ideally) an in-
dependent income from stocks and bonds or a
fat bank account.

The first step in not being an adjunct
is to get yourself hired as a full-time,
tenure-track instructor or professor.
Failing that, get yourself hired as an ad-
junct.

_ * Never complain about paperwork; read
and respond positively to all memos. When-
ever possible, praise the memo-writers for
their clarity.

* Never question the absence of sup-
plies or reproduction facilities. The ad-
junct who gets ahead is the one who is
"cost-effective." Ths may include buying
your own chalk and paper, and paying for
your own Xeroxes. Gently chide colleagues
who are so insensitive as to expect materi-
al aid at an institution undergoing a "bud-
get crisis.”

* Take a positive attitude towards
your schedule. Practice smiling while you
say, "It's great having one class at 8
a-.m. and the next at 6:15 p.m. There's
lots of time for committee meetings and of-
fice hours in between," or "I don't mind
covering that 40-minute section at 5 Pp. m.
on Fridays. The students need it and the
subway ride from my house is terrific."

* Never see the adjunct emp Loyment
situation as a problem because your goal is
to rise within the system, not to change
At. Never identify with other adjuncts be-
cause you _ want to leave their ranks as soon
as ‘possible. _

ed Attend. all department parties and
social functions. Volunteer to be on the
planning and clean-up committee. This
strategy ‘Ts known. as "collegiality."

a Never call in sick, and don't even
think ‘about. having children.

* Volunteer to work at registration,
administer placement tests, develop curric-
ula and syllabi, chair committees. Never
ask to be paid for your time.

Nancy Erber

For several months a new organization
called the National Coalition of Graduate
Student Associations has taken the lead in-
mobilizing graduate student groups across
the country in a united response to the

Reagan administration's attempts to cut

appropriations for education. NCGSA's ef-
forts have specifically focused on the es-
tablishment of a national political action
committee known as the Student Alliance of
Voters for Education - United States (SAVE
US).

SAVE US strategy is based on the as-

sumption that the population of "education-
concerned” voters (college students, facul-
ty, administrators, active college and uni-
versity alumni, and parents of college and
university students and faculty) consti-
tutes over 20% of the voting population.
By promoting education as a "special inter-
est" vote in key districts and states, SAVE
US believes that voters will respond to the
appeal and support pro-education candidates
over others.

Promotion of education as an issue
will also serve to turn out voters who are
already decided on support of one or more
candidates but who otherwise might not vote
on Election Day. If these voters, such as
college students and university employees,
are the target of voter education, then
they can be brought to realize that pro-
education candidates might indeed lose if
they don't vote this year. By tying an
election issue directly to the livelihoods
and futures of these voters, or these vot-
ers' children, they are more likely. to turn
out on Election Day. For students federal
financial aid is ‘such an issue. For par-
ents of college students the education of »
their children. is, of _ paramount concern and
is threatened “by ‘federal budget cuts. For
faculty and staff employment is contingent
on enrollments that are threatened by cuts
in education. —

SAVE US proposes to promote education
aS a special interest in a variety of
ways: by providing information to colleges
in the form of voting records and responses
to questionnaires which are now being di-
rected at Congressional and Senatorial in-
cumbents and challengers; by organizing
mass national rallies in conjunction with
other student organizations; by advertising
in local newspapers and on television and eke
radio in support of selected pro-education
candidates in key races; through direct
mailings to education-concerned voter