Tag Archives: Contingent labor

Police to probe ‘dirty deals’ for professorship at Korean universities

Police to probe ‘dirty deals’ for professorship at universities

Police will investigate allegations raised in a suicide note by an hourly lecturer who accused some universities of having requested kickbacks in exchange for professor jobs.

Gwangju Seobu Police Station said Thursday that its officers are trying to verify the contents of the five-page suicide note left by a 45-year-old hourly university lecturer at Chosun University, identified only by his surname Seo, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

The note is reportedly addressed to President Lee Myung-bak.

Seo also alleged that he was forced to write a number of academic papers on behalf of his supervising professor, insisting all the papers were published in the professor’s name. Investigators are currently questioning his family members and colleagues at the university to find out what drove him to end his life.

With Seo’s bereaved family members moving to take legal action against those implicated, the police will likely soon start an investigation into Seo’s allegations that he was asked to provide tens of millions of won by some universities in return for a permanent teaching position.

It is a widely-known secret that many universities here, particularly financially troubled private schools, demand large sums of money in return for a teaching position.

According to the police, Seo said in his note that he was offered the chance to buy a faculty position at a private university in South Jeolla Province for 60 million won two years ago. In March this year, he was also asked to donate 100 million for professorship by a private university in Gyeonggi Province.

Seo alleged that Chosun University was trying to kick him out, saying he had no choice but to kill himself under the mounting stress. “The country should do something for part-time lecturers. We also must do something to change the increasingly corrupt Korean society. I want an investigation into what I went through,’’ he was quoted as saying by the police.

The dead lecturer also claimed that he wrote a total of 54 thesis and other academic papers for his supervising professor and they were all published in the professor’s name, demanding investigation into the matter.

After receiving a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Seoul, he enrolled in graduate school at Chosun University and received a Masters degree and Ph.D. in English literature. Since 2000, he has been working as a lecturer at the university.

Police suspect that after failing to gain a permanent position two months ago, he became extremely disheartened and decided to take his own life.

Meanwhile, part-time lecturers at Chosun University plan to set up a memorial altar on the campus to pay tribute to him and organize a rally to demand law enforcement authorities get to the bottom of the corruption allegations raised by Seo.

A long struggle for part-time lecturers in Korea

A long struggle for part-time lecturers
Couple lives in tent for 1,000 days in protest
By Park Si-soo

For 1,000 days, a couple in their 60s has lived in a worn-out, small tent pitched on a sidewalk leading toward the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, demanding the passage of bills to improve part-time lecturers’ employment status and working conditions.

Kim Young-kon, 62, and his wife Kim Dong-ay, 64, started their protest along with other part-time lecturers on Sept. 7, 2007 when then three major political parties submitted the bill.

Initially, they thought the legislation would be passed soon but their hopes have not materialized yet. In the early days of the protest, many part-time lecturers joined them but now just the couple remains.

Mr. Kim regularly lectures on Korean labor history at a Seoul university part-time and his wife once taught Chinese history. Last winter, Kim’s wife collapsed from chronic fatigue by constant exposure to cold and since then has trouble walking.

Despite the hardship, they are still eating, sleeping and studying under the extreme conditions in their form of silent demand for the establishment of legal grounds for the increase of part-time lecturers’ wages and other improvements to working conditions.

“Nothing has changed,” Mr. Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times. “We will continue our struggle until the bills we have fought for will be passed.”
Paychecks and welfare for some 70,000 part-time lecturers, who cover nearly 40 percent of classes at universities nationwide, have stalled for decades despite their rapid growth. Unlike regular professors, they have not been guaranteed “teacher’ status.”

A report issued by the education ministry in April said a part-time lecturer’s annual income was estimated at 7.68 million won ($6,380), way below per capita gross national income of 20.45 million won last year. Part-time lecturers are not protected by pension or insurance schemes that are provided by schools to other professors. Nine lecturers have committed suicide since 1999, denouncing the poor working conditions.

“They are being exploited without official contracts,” Mr. Kim said.

Lecturers began to receive such unfair treatment from 1977 when the Park Chung-hee authoritarian government downgraded their legal status as a punitive measure against those who instigated students to stand up against the government.

‘Also meaningful for students’
The poor working conditions drew fresh attention after a part-time lecturer took his own life, leaving behind a suicide note in which he accused some universities of having requested kickbacks in exchange for full-time professor jobs. A police investigation of the alleged universities is underway.
The tragic news provided a snapshot of long-established corruptive practices in academia, but at the same time, gave great leverage to the rally.
Scores of supporters from civic and parents’ groups and students’ associations are working with the couple at present, staging a one-man protest at twelve locations nationwide.

“It’s a positive sign, but I don’t think the increasing attention is a surefire way of ensuring the amendment,” he said, calling for more active participation of college students who he claims are firsthand victims under the current system.

“They think this struggle is only for ourselves (part-time lecturers). No, it’s for all,” he said. “With part-time lecturers covering nearly half of all classes, improved working conditions for them should serve positively to students’ achievements.”

At present, two bills designed to upgrade their status by Rep. Lee Sang-min of the ruling Grand National Party and Rep. Kim Jin-pyo of the main opposition Democratic Party, are pending at the National Assembly. But their endorsement is unlikely in near the future as they have been put on the back burner.

“I will never give up,” Kim said, with his eyes showing some fatigue. “I strongly believe this campaign is valuable not only for lecturers but also our society.”

Following the one-hour interview, he rushed to a civic group building for a lecture.

“I’m supposed to sleep in the tent tonight. It’s quite nice to sleep there thanks to the warm weather,” he smiled, showing off a thick draft of his new book on emerging labor issues in Asian states. “It’s my home and research lab as well as the campaign headquarters.”
An event to celebrate the 1,000th-day anniversary of the protest will be held at 6 p.m. today in front of the tent.

U of Iowa goes on adjunct hiring binge

Daily Iowan: UI increases temporary workforce

The University of Iowa has increased its temporary workforce by nearly10 percent this year to accommodate an influx of freshmen.

This year, 2,308 temporary faculty are employed at the university — up from 2,104 in 2009, said Tom Rice, associate provost for faculty.

Despite recent budget cuts, which resulted in the loss of 150 half-time employees, more tuition revenue from this year’s larger freshman class allowed for the boost in temporary workforce hiring, officials said.

AAUP to Universities: Tenure Is Not Just for Researchers

The Chronicle: AAUP to Universities: Tenure Is Not Just for Researchers

In a new report, the Association of American University Professors continues to push for a tenure system that includes contingent faculty members—both full-time and part-time—who are the backbone of the professoriate.

The Adjunct Health Insurance Catch-22

Inside Higher Ed: The Adjunct Health Insurance Catch-22

Tracy Donhardt was so excited that she and fellow adjuncts in the School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis had found a way to get health insurance together that she wanted to let other adjuncts know they could sign up, too.

But when she asked the university’s human resources department for help getting the word out, the whole plan was, almost immediately, shattered. “I contacted them, said, ‘Hey, look at we did, isn’t it great?’ ” she recalled.

Like so many other adjuncts nationwide, IUPUI’s non-tenure track faculty worked without health insurance. The chance to secure an affordable policy seemed sure to please. The plan, developed by the Associate Faculty Advisory Board, of which Donhardt is president, wasn’t going to cost the university a cent in contributions; it just gave the adjuncts the huge actuarial benefit of being in a grou

Adjuncts, job security and compensation…How Fast Is Fast Enough?

Inside Higher Ed: How Fast Is Fast Enough?

SAN JOSE — At a forum for adjunct faculty members Saturday, organizers asked participants to write down notes about their concerns about job security and compensation issues. The first note read aloud asked: “How do we get multi-year contracts?” To which one adjunct in the crowd shouted: “How can we get one-year contracts?”

The differing perspectives reflected in the exchange were present throughout the forum and other sessions here at the biennial joint meeting of the higher education divisions of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. Both unions have placed more emphasis on adjunct issues in recent years — and both can point to organizing drives and contract successes as a result.

AFT Releases National Survey of Part-time & Adjunct Faculty

AFT Releases National Survey of Part-time & Adjunct Faculty

The latest report from AFT Higher Education, American Academic: A National Survey of Part-time/Adjunct Faculty, has just been released. Conducted by Peter Hart Research Associates, this national survey of part-time/ adjunct faculty examines:

  • who part-time/adjunct faculty are;
  • the conditions under which they work; and,
  • how they view their work and the challenges they face on campus.

The survey demonstrates that part-time/adjunct faculty are a diverse group. And, while they are committed to their teaching and eager to serve students, most express concerns about working conditions.

“What is happening in our colleges and universities today is directly linked to our country’s economic future” stated AFT President Randi Weingarten. “Adjunct and part-time faculty play such a critical role in educating our college students and we must work to ensure that they are fully supported.”
The survey is a national sample of 500 part-time and adjunct faculty employed in two- and four-year public and private nonprofit higher education institutions.

Ex-Sussex community college professor may sue for age discrimination, judge rules

Star-Ledger: Ex-Sussex community college professor may sue for age discrimination, judge rules

SUSSEX COUNTY — A former adjunct professor at Sussex County Community College may proceed with a portion of a lawsuit she filed against the college that alleges she was not rehired because of her age, an appeals court has ruled.

While upholding a lower court’s decision that rejected most of the claims made by Joan Stephenson, now 70, a two-judge panel ruled she can proceed with a portion of her lawsuit that alleges age discrimination.

Principles for ‘One Faculty’

Inside Higher Ed: Principles for ‘One Faculty’

A coalition of academic associations is today issuing a joint statement calling on colleges to recognize that they have “one faculty” and to treat those off the tenure track as professionals, with pay, benefits, professional development and participation in governance.

The joint statement, “One Faculty Serving All Students,” calls for colleges to adopt a series of policies that would significantly improve the treatment of adjunct faculty members at many institutions. The statement was organized by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, and has been signed by 14 disciplinary associations as well as by the American Federation of Teachers. The disciplines involved represent such major fields as anthropology, art, composition, English, foreign languages, philosophy and religion.

The Uninsured Adjunct

Inside Higher Ed: The Uninsured Adjunct

While the national debate on health care continues, some adjuncts are trying to draw attention to their status among the well-educated professionals who get little or no insurance from their employers — and who many times go without any coverage.

Adjuncts at Massachusetts community colleges sued the state last week, charging that they were entitled to coverage through state plans, and that they are unfairly classified as consultants rather than employees. Whether adjuncts in public higher education have coverage depends largely on how states define employees and employee status. As the Massachusetts ruling illustrates, adjuncts who teach multiple courses — semester after semester, at the same institutions — can still be denied coverage by their colleges.

Massachusetts: Adjuncts file health care lawsuit

Boston Globe: Professors file health care lawsuit
Adjunct instructors challenge denial of insurance coverage

A group of part-time community college instructors filed a lawsuit yesterday against the state, saying that hundreds of adjunct faculty in Massachusetts’ public higher education system are unfairly denied health care coverage.

The lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of five instructors, follows nearly a decade of unsuccessful wrangling with state legislators to get an adjunct health insurance bill enacted into law. It also comes as schools, particularly community colleges, are increasingly turning to adjuncts amid burgeoning enrollment.

News Analysis: Converting Adjuncts to the Tenure Track Is More Easily Discussed Than Done

The Chronicle: News Analysis: Converting Adjuncts to the Tenure Track Is More Easily Discussed Than Done

By Audrey Williams June

The rationale behind the American Association of University Professors’ recent report urging colleges to convert adjunct faculty members to the tenure track is simple: The faculty is falling apart. The time to do something about it is now.

It’s a clarion call that scholarly associations, unions, lawmakers, and even some administrators have sounded for years, all the while pushing in various ways to reverse a trend that threatens to turn the professoriate into an oasis of faculty members with tenure surrounded by adjuncts with poor pay, no academic freedom, and no job security.

Posters raise questions on adjunct roles at Queen’s University

The Journal: Posters raise questions on adjunct roles

Quality of academic programs, applied lessons will suffer without term adjunct faculty, professor says

The timing of this year’s Fair Employment Week couldn’t be better, Roberta Lamb, Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) political action and communication committee co-chair, said.

Arts and Science Dean Alistair MacLean sent a memo to all department heads this week asking them to plan their 2010-11 budgets and curricula without using term adjunct professors, Lamb said.

Chronicle’ Survey Yields a Rare Look Into Adjuncts’ Work Lives

The Chronicle: Chronicle’ Survey Yields a Rare Look Into Adjuncts’ Work Lives

Adjunct teaching is known as the grunt work of academe: low-paying, part-time jobs filled by highly educated scholars who travel from campus to campus because they can’t find full-time work in one place.

Rhode Island College adjunct faculty ratify 3-year agreement

Providence Journal: Rhode Island College adjunct faculty ratify 3-year agreement

PROVIDENCE — The union that represents part-time faculty members at Rhode Island College has ratified an agreement with the state Board of Governors for Higher Education, the union announced Friday.

The pact with the Rhode Island College/American Federation of Teachers Adjunct Faculty Union is retroactive to Sept. 1 and represents the first contract reached by adjunct faculty members at public colleges and universities in Rhode Island, the union and the college said. Adjunct faculty members are part-timers.

SUNY Binghamton reinstates lecturer; Inquiry to be conducted by SUNY Central not campus

The New York Times: SUNY Board to Oversee an Audit of Binghamton

The fallout from the implosion of the Binghamton basketball program continued Friday, when the SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher announced that the university would not oversee an independent audit of its athletic department.

Binghamton also reversed the firing of Sally Dear, the adjunct lecturer who taught human development for 11 years before being dismissed earlier this week. Dear believed she was dismissed because she spoke out against the basketball program. The university had cited fiscal reasons. But Dear received a letter Friday saying she would remain an adjunct, althoug

Adjuncting at a For-Profit by Piss Poor Prof

Inside Higher Ed: Adjuncting at a For-Profit

What is it like to adjunct at a for-profit? Does one drift to the “dark side” of academia, leaving behind the less-marbled halls of “pure” pursuit of academic arts for the more pedestrian pursuit of job skills? Is it as clear-cut as our fears often define it to move from tweed jackets to suit and ties?

Hiding Adjuncts From ‘U.S. News’

Inside Higher Ed: Hiding Adjuncts From ‘U.S. News’

Everyone knows that adjuncts and graduate assistants do a lot of the teaching these days, right? Well, maybe not everyone.

The American Federation of Teachers on Wednesday posted a blog item asking how it is, given those well documented trends, that magazine rankings give parents the sense that most of the teaching at large universities is done by full-time faculty members. “The majority of top colleges report well over 80 percent of their faculty are full-time and a large number report that well over 90 percent of their faculty are full-time. University of Nebraska-Lincoln even reports that 100 percent of its faculty are full-time,” the blog says of institutions in the U.S. News & World Report rankings, a small part of which are based on the percentage of faculty who are full time. “Amazing!”

Labor Secretary Clarifies Remarks on Adjuncts

Inside Higher Ed: Labor Secretary Clarifies Remarks on Adjuncts

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis last week gave an interview to National Public Radio in which she answered a listener’s question about adjunct instructors in a way that some viewed as questioning their commitment to teaching — but she has now clarified her comments. The comment in question, found toward the bottom of this transcript, is: “[T]he continuance of involvement on the part of part-time faculty members I think is a legitimate issue and should be looked at. Because as it stands, you also find that that faculty member is not as inclined to stay committed to those groups of students that they do teach because they’re off to different — other — what they call, freeway traveling or teaching.…” The American Federation of Teachers approached the Labor Department about the issue and published this statement of clarification that the AFT received: “Adjunct faculty are being particularly hard-hit by the financial crisis at the state level. They deserve to be represented in collective bargaining, and their collective bargaining agreements should be respected. I certainly was not implying that adjuncts are not committed to their students, or that they are anything other than excellent educators. In fact, my involvement with California community colleges has shown me that they are committed professionals who are dedicated to helping students succeed. What I wanted to get across is that, too often, adjunct faculty do not get the level of compensation or professional supports that full-time faculty receive to advise students academically, follow students through their academic careers, develop the college’s curriculum, etc. Too many adjuncts, I noted, wind up needing to move from college to college each week just to put together a small living.”