Academia, Religion

Duquesne University Professor Dies In Abject Poverty

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

250px-Holy_Ghost_Fathers_sealMargaret 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.

885 thoughts on “Duquesne University Professor Dies In Abject Poverty”

  1. A Machiavellian Guide to Destroying Public Universities in 12 Easy Steps:

    (6) Increase the reliance on part-time faculty members and one-year contracts to teach most courses. Those faculty members are more vulnerable and amenable to administrative control (you should also drastically increase the number of administrators in order to manage those disempowered professionals). Afterward, criticize the quality of college graduates. This will enable even more managerial oversight and assessment.

  2. Bron, The thing about Oldman is he could give a rat’s ass. He would be happy doing stage in Britain w/ his colleague, Colin Firth

  4. pete, I saw that story. Being it was a Colombian, I laughed and forwarded it to my son. He laughed a bit harder, being Colombian. No pun intended w/ “harder.”

  5. SOTB and myself also are on the side getting the short end of the stick. We were born w/ plastic spoon in our mouth, as I know you were also. However, the people getting that short end are the union members by their fat cat leaders, and that short end is placed where the sun don’t shine. We simply have different perspectives. I can live w/ that, I think SOTB can, why can’t you?

  6. Movies! One of my assigned topics. I forget the other 2. Anyway, I want to take this opportunity to find some agreement but also w/ maybe a little rain on the parade for “youse guys.” True Romance was my introduction to this REAL actor. Oldman is the antithesis of a movie star, he is an actor. A brave actor not only on stage or the screen, but in real life. You see, Oldman detests Hollywood for many reason, including but limited to, their blind politics. You see, this man is a CONSERVATIVE. I spoke on the Dylan thread that politics should not change our views on art, travel, food, etc. However, politics has permeated all of those aspects of our culture, to its detriment. So, you folks like a conservative, w/o even knowing it. Now, please all tell me you knew. 1, 2 ,3..

  8. SOTB,

    “Nick and I have the unfortunate privilege to see the unseemly side of unions because we are professional snoops.”

    Most pro-union people are aware of the abuses of some union officials. That doesn’t mean we’d be willing to throw out the baby with the bath water. My mother was a garment worker for many years–both before and after marriage.

    Before unionization in her shop: No guaranteed forty-hour work week, no pay for working overtime, no paid holidays, no paid vacation. After unionization, that all changed. She certainly had a better quality of life.

    Before our first teachers’ contract in the school district where I taught: Elementary teachers had no break/time away from their students during the course of an entire school day–no duty-free lunch, no coffee break, not even a bathroom break. Imagine going for nearly seven hours without being able to go to the bathroom unless you left your class unattended–which teachers rarely did.

    Many young people in this country aren’t aware of how unions helped workers in this country fight for and win benefits that provided them with better working conditions as well as a better quality of life.

    1. SOTB,

      As Elaine said above yes there is a “seamy side” to Unions. As I said before I was intimately involved with one Union and trust me I saw the seamy side of it. However, that union “seamy side” and all did so much to make its workers lives better and to protect them from predatory and uncaring management. As a “snoop” you’re no doubt aware that all institutions, of one form or another, have a seamy side. That is more of a fact of current human nature, than it is of the worthlessness of institutions.

      Let me put it into cruder terms. The fact is that by the evidence of my life experience, you put me into almost any situation and I’ll do fine. I seem to have the propensity to land on my feet. The same is probably true of you and of many people who comment here, including Nick. My take on that is that I have an obligation, moral duty if you will, to be on the side of those who get the short end of the stick lifewise. The explanation for that is simple. As successful as I’ve been negotiating this crazy life, I never know when my luck will run out in a new situation. I know that is the case for most people who are not to the manor born. It would be hubris on my part if I let myself become over confident that I can handle anything that comes my way. That is the moral lesson that the Greeks imparted. That’s why to me all philosophies that preach true moral behavior contain within them the extrapolation of what you know as the “golden rule”. As Rabbi Hillel said “All else is commentary, now go and learn”.

    1. “One of the reasons is that Le Carre was one of the producers.”

      Gene,

      I didn’t realize that. Watched it with my wife, who is not a fan of the genre and she liked it a lot. If you can make a movie about espionage that can appeal to more than genre fans, then one must consider it an outstanding film. When it comes to that literary genre Le Carre and Deighton have always been my favorites. Smiley and Harry Palmer play different roles in the hierarchy but they both ring true. I actually fot hooked on the genre reading Fleming in the 50’s and when “Doctor No” arrived, followed by “From Russia with Love” I was excited. However, afterwards they lost the quality that attracted me to Fleming in the first place as Q’s inventions began to drive the movies. Then I saw “The Ipcress File” and it blew away Bond. That led to Deighton, which then led to the master Le Carre.

  10. SOTB,

    “As Nick seemed to empirically validate about his culture.”

    Nick’s one person from that culture. You may have described his cultural experience and your perception of it–but isn’t the same experience of many other Italian Americans.

  11. OS, Good for you on the letter writing, reminding him of the ‘do no harm’ admonition was appropriate.

    Ried was on the news again asking why the Republicans just can’t take “yes” for an answer on the budget and sign the continuing resolution. Later Chris Hayes had a graphic that showed the progress of the budget talks starting with the President’s original budget, from apparently 2010. What is being offered to the Republicans is very, very, close to the Ryan budget in terms of total dollars which is maybe 20% of that original request.

    I appreciate that Chris Hayes is doing his job but really, where are the Democrats? All the Republicans have been doing for days is whining and raging that the Democrats are unwilling to compromise. And really, even without talking about dollars Democratic politicians aren’t explaining what the demands in program cuts laundry-list encompasses let alone the dollars.

    Segment from Chris Hayes show: (you have to watch a commercial)

    http://video.msnbc.msn.com/all-in-/53171277#53171277

  12. I’m beginning to think our federal politicians are more like a handfull of marbles in a blender than a government.

  15. Blouise,

    Absolutely. I think people overall are getting noticeably fed up with both parties behaving badly. I was on the phone earlier tonight with a buddy from high school, a guy I consider an “Eisenhower Republican”, and his attitude was much the same; a pox on both their houses. My only concern is will they go independent or be sucked into the LP or Teabaggers. We need some more alternatives, but neither one of those ends in a desirable outcome. It concerns me that the general malaise might translate into what happened in Germany before the war when the Nazis came to power almost by default because of the vacuum created by the other malfunctioning and ultra-partisan political parties of the time. History never repeats, but patterns sure do.

  18. Gene,

    I tell you though, I think this works to our favor as the comment I hear most often isn’t about republicans or democrats but about the inability of either one to govern.

  19. Blouise,

    “That is how I know he can be beaten. He’s a fanatic. And the fanatic is always concealing a secret doubt.” :mrgreen:

  20. Blouise,

    Oh, I know. The population of this state is the extremist GOP’s prime target audience and they tend to lap up the propaganda like it was manna from Heaven. I agree with the assessment that this is an overall net loss for the GOP though. On a national level, they aren’t fooling anyone. There will be blowback at the polls. To what degree remains to be seen.

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