Buried in student loan debt, often suffering with no health insurance, no job security, no retirement, no office space, multiple passwords, invisibility, low wages and a myriad of other injustices; adjuncts have had enough to deal with. But now, things have reached a tipping point for contingent faculty as a result of the pandemic and the 2020 Depression. While student enrollment tanks, many contingent faculty have lost work and/or are facing the terrifying reality that they are being called back to teach face to face when it is not safe. In addition, many contingent faculty are losing teaching jobs and are trying to navigate the unemployment system, which has been fraught with obstacles and challenges.
Organized by the Contingent Organizing Circle and co-hosts Shelter and Solidarity
Panelists
Maria Maisto, President, New Faculty Majority: The National Coalition for Adjunct and Contingent Equity
Joe Berry, author of Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher education and editor of their news aggregator COCAL UPDATES.
Clareann Despain, PhD in Dramatic Arts and Adjunct Faculty member from University of South Florida, Hillsborough Community College, University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of New Mexico. Adjunct organizer for SEIU.
Joe Thomas, President of the Arizona Education Association, labor leader in #redfored wildcat strike of 2018.
Moderator
Bobbi-lee Smart, Adjunct Faculty member and advocate, Executive Director of CFT local. Adjunct Faculty United.
Producers
Nicole Braun and Lydia Snow
(Art work by Baird Hoffmire)