Jonathan Zimmerman: Colleges' Inequality Within
[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history at New York University and lives in Narberth. He is the author of "Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory" (Yale University Press). He can be reached at jlzimm@aol.com.]
I'm a member of an overwhelmingly liberal profession that routinely condemns the growing disparities of wealth in contemporary America. But my own workplace is highly unequal, showering riches on the well-to-do and starving the impoverished.
That's right: I'm a university professor. And I'm one of the lucky ones, because I have a full-time appointment. That means I have a real salary, with benefits.
Most of the other people who teach at our universities aren't so fortunate. About 70 percent of them are so-called "contingent" employees, teaching a handful of classes for as little as $3,000 per course.
Some of these people are great teachers, and others aren't. But all of them are getting ripped off. They drive from campus to campus, waiting - always waiting - for full-time jobs that never come.
That's because full-time faculty members - especially those with tenure - have consumed most of the universities' resources. At the University of Pennsylvania, 76 percent of faculty members have permanent appointments; at the University of California, Berkeley, long a hotbed of left-wing activism, 77 percent do. So there's little money left over for the untenured faculty and especially for contingent instructors. Power to the people? I think not....
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Read entire article at Philadelphia Inquirer
I'm a member of an overwhelmingly liberal profession that routinely condemns the growing disparities of wealth in contemporary America. But my own workplace is highly unequal, showering riches on the well-to-do and starving the impoverished.
That's right: I'm a university professor. And I'm one of the lucky ones, because I have a full-time appointment. That means I have a real salary, with benefits.
Most of the other people who teach at our universities aren't so fortunate. About 70 percent of them are so-called "contingent" employees, teaching a handful of classes for as little as $3,000 per course.
Some of these people are great teachers, and others aren't. But all of them are getting ripped off. They drive from campus to campus, waiting - always waiting - for full-time jobs that never come.
That's because full-time faculty members - especially those with tenure - have consumed most of the universities' resources. At the University of Pennsylvania, 76 percent of faculty members have permanent appointments; at the University of California, Berkeley, long a hotbed of left-wing activism, 77 percent do. So there's little money left over for the untenured faculty and especially for contingent instructors. Power to the people? I think not....
Read more:
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else