Education Intelligence Agency:
“AFT Calls Higher Education Teaching the Wal-Mart of the Professions.” That was the headline one delegate wanted to avoid when he offered an amendment to Resolution 29 – Addressing the Academic Staffing Crisis. The resolution asserted that more than 70 percent of all college and university instructors are part-time or temporary. The resolution then stated that “this trend makes higher education one of the most extreme examples nationwide of the trend toward decreasing job security and benefits – the Wal-Mart of the professions.”
A delegate moved to strike that last phrase because he was worried that headlines would compare academe to Wal-Mart. Since I was the only reporter on the floor at the time, I decided to fulfill his prediction.
The deletion was defeated and the original wording was approved by the delegates.
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