Adjuncts Dismissed en Masse in Chicago

Academe, May/Jun 2005 by Bradley, Gwendolyn

Nearly 140 adjunct faculty members who refused to cross picket lines during a fall work stoppage by full-time professors at the City Colleges of Chicago were not rehired for the spring semester in what many said was an act of reprisal by the institution's chancellor. The chancellor and the board of the seven-campus community college system denied retaliation and described the nonreappointments instead as a natural consequence of the adjuncts failing to teach their courses during the three-week strike.

The adjuncts include emeritus professors, who are represented by the same union as the full-time professors, and other part-time professors, who are represented by a separate union. The parttime professors' contract includes a nostrike clause, and the chancellor said they violated it by honoring the strike. He also maintained that the emeritus professors, since they are retired, are not covered by the full-time professors' contract. Representatives of the full-time union, however, say that emeritus professors pay dues to the union and that strike reprisals against any person are banned by the terms of their contract, and they have filed for arbitration to resolve the issue. Union officials also argue that the adjuncts did indeed perform the work for which they were hired, since the semester was extended by three weeks to make up for the time lost.

The board of trustees expressed strong support of the chancellor's action, but the systemwide faculty council voted no confidence in the chancellor and the board. Many faculty members reportedly resigned in protest from leadership posts as department chairs and advisers to student groups.

-G.B.