-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Margaret Mary Vojtko, an adjunct professor who had taught French at Duquesne University for 25 years, died of a massive heart attack at the age of 83. Adjunct professors at Duquesne make between $3000 and $3500 per semester per course. In the best of times, Margaret Mary, teaching three course, wasn’t even clearing $25,000 a year with no benefits and no job security. After Duquesne reduced her to one course, Margaret Mary couldn’t afford to pay the electricity bill and her home became uninhabitable in the winter.
Ironically, Duquesne’s president, Charles J. Dougherty, is a nationally recognized scholar and expert in health care ethics. Since Margaret Mary didn’t have health care, I guess there was no health care ethics involved. Duquesne’s president makes over $700,000 a year with full benefits.
In 2005, adjunct professors make up about 48% of the faculty at colleges and universities. Today, that number is 75% as universities cut costs by reducing the number of more expensive tenured professors. The cost savings are not passed along to students. Duquesne, a private university, has increased tuition an average of 5.4% per year between 2006 and 2010. Higher tuition and lower costs via less qualified professors, the best of both worlds, for the universities.
A majority of the 130 adjunct faculty at Duquesne decided to organize as a chapter of the United Steelworkers and submitted a petition for an election to the National Labor Relations Board. Duquesne hired a Memphis lawyer known for his counseling organizations on how to remain union free. Duquesne filed a motion that since it was a “church-operated school,” it was exempt from NLRB jurisdiction. The motion was denied.
Although Duquesne was founded by, and is sponsored by, members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, it does not depend financially on the Catholic Church, does not require its faculty members to be Catholic, and does not require its student to study Catholicism.
As universities focus on increasing their endowments through cost cutting measures like hiring more adjunct professors, they lose sight of their raison d’être, to provide a quality education for their students.
Only a small part of the U.S. News & World Report rankings are based on the percentage of faculty who are full time. Even this small part is being gamed by the universities. The University of Nebraska interpreted the U.S. News question on the percentage of full time faculty to cover only those faculty who are tenured or on a tenure track and not to cover adjunct faculty. While U.S. News has since detailed that adjuncts should be counted, the low contribution to a school’s ranking, just 5%, is obscene.
The Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice has declared that “Union busting is a mortal sin.” Georgetown University, one of two Catholic universities to make the U.S. News top 25, just recognized its adjunct professors’ union, citing the Catholic Church’s social justice teachings.
H/T: Daniel Kovalik, Austin Cline, Mark Oppenheimer, Claudio Sanchez, Scott Jaschik, Moshe Z. Marvit.
“the 2011 Gary Oldman version of “Tinker, Tailor” is hands down the best version ever done.” (Gene)
Yes!
Gene,
Re the shutdown and your post to lotta at 11:15pm … one has to remember where local is for you.
Gallup is showing 40-35 — “At this point, the public tends to be slightly more likely to give Obama credit for acting responsibly than the Republican leaders in Congress, just as they gave President Clinton slightly more credit 18 years ago during the shutdown.”
At any rate … the actual proofing of the pudding will be seen in a few days if there is any movement in the polls. If they remain constant as they did for Clinton 18 years ago, the repubs lose big time.
Up here in liberal Cleveland land people are just making jokes about how Boehner has gone from orange to yellow. Maybe, now that the game is over, we’ll talk about it more … probably not. All people are really talking about is getting on-line and signing up. The shut down is just yawn time.
Also, the original “The In-Laws” is one of my favorite 70’s comedies. Right up there with “Blazing Saddles”. “Serpentine, Shel! Serpentine!”
SOTB,
I’m a little more versed in Le Carre’s work than many. I’ve read most of his books even before I took a modern authors 300 level course on him in college. Although it differs just slightly and in insignificant ways from the book (largely for reasons related to changing formats), the 2011 Gary Oldman version of “Tinker, Tailor” is hands down the best version ever done. That’s no slam on the Alec Guiness version either, but I think Oldman really captured the George Smiley of the books in a unique way. I’m just disappointed that, based on US box office, I doubt they’ll make “Smiley’s People” or any of the other Smiley books with that cast. I sure hope they do though. In fact, I have it on my DVR right now. Highly recommended.
As a movie the Gary Goldman version was fabulous because besides his great Smokey how they were able. to delineate the complex plot so clearly was genius. Yet my heart and minds eye see Guineas as the real Smokey. Read the books first and of course loved them. A great writer who was done proud by the filmakers.
Yeah and I think it is a law, especially in NJ, that if a patient reports criminal activity to the provider he/she is obligated to report it to the LEO’s. I think… I don’t think HIPAA applies to activities Tony made known to Dr. Melfi.
@Gene H. – Yes I want to see the movie version. It sounds like a really cool spy movie. I do like British spy movies too. I think the Tailor of Panama with Pierce Brosnan was so cool. It shows how SOME spooks can figure out how to feather their nests with unreported booty income. Like that movie with Peter Falk in The In-Laws? “Yes sir he recovered $5 million US sir!” “Hey wait didn’t we find 10?” “Uh shut up Sheldon… yes sir 5 million…”.
Us honest versions just suffer in silence…
SOTB,
No explanation needed. If I wanted to call anyone a name, I would do it, and those who know me well understand that I am perfectly capable of dressing down anyone who crosses me. I don’t equivocate. What I don’t do is respond to whining and ankle-biting.
If anyone has trouble understanding the English language, it is not my problem.
SOTB,
While your effort is admirable, in the end, others are not responsible for nick’s behavior (or the consequences of it). He is.
I understood what OS said just fine, nick. Both times. So far, you’re the only one who has conflated any sort of insult out of it. This isn’t the first time you’ve done that in this forum; read a comment as about you that is not really about you at all.
@OS – Nick seems to think you called him a “sociopath”. Judging from the way you corrected me once for throwing the clinical phrase around to easily without diagnosis, I just assumed you wouldn’t do that. I read your last sentence in the posting and I did not see you calling him that. I thought you were just referring to your PowerPoint slides. I think if you explain Nick will possibly lower his angst level a bit. I for one would prefer a pleasant Nick versus the other Nick.
OS, Going to bed, I’ll check on your Yes or No answer tomorrow. Sleep well, I always do.
SOTB, Amazing. I have said the same thing. And, I realize my attitude it ethnic, east coast blue collar. That has been, and will be scoffed @ in a minute. Some folks, even NYer’s, are just so sensitive.
SOTB,
“Just because we are quasi-spooks doesn’t mean we are rolling in the green-backs my friend.”
That reminds me of the line in “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” by John Hurt’s Control. “Richman just didn’t seem appropriate.”
A Board of Ethics could decide.
Translation, Passive-aggressive, cowardly chiickenshit. Simple yes or no answer, were you saying I am a sociopath?
OS:
that doesnt sound good.
so the viagra dialates more than just the vessels of the cavernosum, eh?
Gives new meaning to the phrase his eyes were bigger than . . .
@Mike S – But I deal with guys like Nick almost daily. Since I live near NYC I see a lot of them. Boston too. Nick didn’t say he’d from NYC but I suspect he does hail from there. One thing I know about the old-school Italian culture (and Sicilian too), you usually only get one chance to be dishonest with them. Like the old Jamcian proverb Dubya could never get right?
So I think Nick is being honest with us. He showing his real side and not the facade he sometimes has to use in his pretext-ops. I appreciate that despite it is rude and crude sometimes. I just mark it up to his geographic and family culture. He’s not PC for sure. But I haven’t seen hardly ONE Big-Appler/Italian that ever was PC. And I’m from NJ, PC just doesn’t exist there. The people Nick and I are lampooning (i.e. the Sopranos) is actually a real cross-section of the people of northern NJ and NYC and Long Island area. OK the criminality is not common (well kinda’ sorta’ – hey sorry Nickie I couldn’t resist 🙂 ).
SOTB,
I was born in Brooklyn and lived, or worked, in every borough of NYC. My Italian friends hailed from Howard Beach, from Island Park, from Graves End, from Archer Avenue and other enclaves.
Rays v Red Sox. Should be a tough series for Boston. I like the Rays. Played 3 consecutive elimination games. That makes you tough. I like seeing those Red Sox fans filled w/ angst. Rays in 5.
When I write, I use plain English (and occasionally Gaelic). No explanation is necessary. Any interpretation beyond exactly what I have written is in the eye of the beholder, and I assume no responsibility for the inability of others to read simple English sentences.
I will, however, translate from Gaelic into English if asked nicely.
OS,
No, I hadn’t heard of that one. Yikes!