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Over the past 30 years, the increased use
of part-time faculty has paralleled the frequent, often drastic reductions
in financial support for higher education. We can expect to see an even
greater preponderance of part-time faculty in Missouri as a result of
state lawmakers deciding to balance the state’s fiscal year 2003
budget on the back of higher education. (Higher education was asked to
shoulder a whopping 37 percent of the state budget deficit while it receives
only 12 percent of overall state spending!)
With declining funds, higher education is hard-pressed to tip the balance
in favor of full-time faculty or to increase what are considered by some
to be substandard salaries for part-time faculty—something we at
UMKC are desperately trying to do.
If the state’s decisions are going to make other options besides
heavy reliance on part-time faculty a virtual impossibility, then it behooves
us to examine the facts about part-time faculty, an increasingly valuable
resource to higher education.
• Fact: It is untrue that part-time
faculty is always underpaid. In fields where there is a shortage of qualified
teachers, salaries are likely to be higher.
• Fact: Part-time faculty members are
highly effective teachers. In a recent national survey of student engagement
(administered by Indiana University), first-year students at UMKC (students
who were served by a larger percentage of part-time faculty) showed a
higher satisfaction rate with the amount of individual attention/contact
they received than other students.
• Fact: Part-time faculty members do
not depend solely on their teaching salaries. On a national level, part-time
faculty earn an average of $56,000 a year from sources outside of their
work in academia.
UMKC highly values all of its faculty members, full-time and part-time,
because their accomplishments and dedication are at the heart of what
we do, which is to provide the best education possible for as many students
from our diverse community as possible, at the most affordable cost possible,
based on the resources we have available to us.
Laurence D. Kaptain is the vice provost for faculty Programs and
Academic Quality at UMKC. He may be reached by phone at 816.235.1107 or
by e-mail at kaptainl@umkc.edu.
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What would you think of a large, profitable
company that hadn’t given 40 percent of its employees even a cost-of-living
raise in 10 years—employees who did 53 percent of the total work
and received no benefits or security?
I’m not referring to McDonalds, but Kansas City’s own UMKC,
where the people who teach 53 percent of your children’s classes,
the "part-time" faculty, are working long hours for substandard
wages.
Part-time faculty members are not substandard educators, however. They
are professionals, many with the same Ph.D.s and research credentials
as their colleagues. Among our ranks are former professors and deans,
lawyers, businessmen and published authors. Still, despite excellent performance,
we are being exploited for cheap labor.
National organizations such as the American Association of University
Professors suggest that equitable part-time salaries should be $4,000
to $6,000 per three-hour course. UMKC’s average is $2,000, though
the university profits $20,000 minimum per course.
National research also indicates that in foreign language and composition
courses, where most part-time faculty reside, the average per-course workload
amounts to 15 to 20 hours per week. With two courses, then, the average
UMKC part-timer is working nearly full time at one institution for approximately
$8,000 to $10,000 per year.
To manage a living wage, most faculty string together classes from as
many as three institutions simultaneously. These professionals, sadly
referred to as "highway runners," work 60-plus weekly hours
and average $18,000 per year. Last year’s national Campus Equity
Week slogan bears repeating: Our working conditions are our students’
learning conditions.
UMKC’s administration admits that part-time faculty members are excellent
teachers and are seriously underpaid, but cites fiscal restraints in the
refusal to immediately adjust salaries. Understanding the state’s
current crisis, part-time faculty are working hard to help UMKC through
it because we are loyal, team players. We expect the loyalty and respect
to go both ways, preferably before another decade of neglect passes.
Beth Huber is the assistant director of composition, and president
of the Part-Time Faculty Association (PTFA) at UMKC. She may be reached
by phone at 816.235.2563 or by e-mail at huberb@umkc.edu.
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