Letters to the Editor

Phi Kappa Phi Forum, Winter 2005

A NEW ROLE FOR EMERITUS FACULTY

I took particular delight in Diane G. Smathers's article in the Fall 2004, Phi Kappa Forum on Emeritus Faculty ["Professors Professing," Fall 2004 p.38]. It is well done and a very important contribution to our considerations on the meaning and stability of the university, one of the most (if not the most) important of our institutions in civilized society.

To the phrase about "the goodwill created when faculty stay involved is (may be) expected to lead to reciprocal generosity," I would suggest adding this thought: Such an example of appreciation and institutional respect for our former leaders, examples, and forefaculty is of itself encouragement to younger faculty of the treatment that they may expect in their later years.

That should be encouraging as we all wonder from time to time whether we chose the right and a good professional path for our lives, and whether our professional lives have meaning and value. Have we contributed to the common good? Smathers's article says yes. Thank you.

John Only Greer

Texas A&M University

ADJUNCTS, PERMATEMPS, AND PART-TIMERS

Your Fall 2004 series of articles on "Adjuncts, Permatemps, and Part-timers" was poignant and well-written ["Professors Professing," Fall 2004]. As a part-time instructor who has taught some fifty classes in nearly a half-dozen local colleges in the Baltimore-Washington area, I can testify firsthand to most of the inequities described by these writers. Poor pay, no benefits, lack of support from administration, and lack of respect from peers are among the more evident facts of life associated with this less-than-professional existence. Nonetheless, allow me to provide some additional insight on this matter that the others might have been too afraid or too politically correct to mention.

Because most community colleges derive their funds from three sources - the state, the local government (including bond issues), and student tuition - when one or more of these sources begin to decline, then the college, seemingly with no recourse, appears justified in reducing its fulltime professoriate in favor of parttime contract workers.

But why must cost-cutting measures be struck first and foremost against the teaching profession? Walk into almost any college office and you will probably see a managerial core surrounded by an extensive host of assistants, clerks, aides, and others. Many of these workers perform only seasonal or asidual duties, yet they receive classified benefits and pay unknown to many adjuncts (whose workload may well exceed any notion of comparable worth). Depending on the students' major field of interest (for example, business/accounting), the amount of their tuition going towards administrative overhead or operating costs could be as high as 80 to 90 percent. In other words 80 to 90 percent of what students invest in their educational future may go toward services and expenses totally unrelated to their needs. So much for a healthy return on investment! Those most shortchanged are the adult students who, because of time and work constraints, seldom avail themselves of computer labs, tutoring, or even library facilities.

No doubt some of these expenditures may be eminently worthwhile, even necessary; still others, such as disability support, meet specialized needs. But little do students realize how much of their tuition is claimed either directly or indirectly by extraneous causes such as foreign-student support, campus sports, community events, student organizations, and a panoply of other bureaucratic functions, the operating personnel of which are generally exempt from funding cutbacks.

Why then should teachers take the first and sometimes only hit when money becomes scarce? The answer could be likened to why county governments threaten the loss of police and fire protection or the demise of public schools when their tax revenues are failing. Hit them where they will feel it most! The frontline teachers! How else to justify the tuition increases and the cries for more funding from politicians?

W. Boswell

Brandywine, Maryland

Letters to the Editor

Phi Kappa Phi Forum publishes appropriately written letters to the editor every issue when submitted. Such letters should be no more than 300 words in length.

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