Here’s a story with some particular local interests: from Inside Higher Ed, “Making Adjuncts Temps — Literally.” The opening paragraphs:
Last year, a small community college in Michigan considered a plan to stop employing adjuncts and to have a temporary services agency instead do the formal hiring. The idea was to save the college money and also to save the adjuncts from contributing to a retirement system in which few of them would ever vest. Although only a few dozen adjuncts might have been affected, the idea drew widespread criticism from faculty groups nationally and the college’s board split on the matter, and put the idea on hold.
Now another community college in Michigan — Washtenaw Community College — is planning to move ahead with a similar plan, and this will involve hundreds of adjuncts. The college says that the part-time faculty members will be better off financially, as will the institution, which could save about $800,000 annually — at a time when deep budget cuts in Michigan have challenged public higher education in the state.
How embarrassing for WCC, especially after what happened in Gaylord. A temp agency? Really?
I read something the other day about kite employees. You put them in the air for as long as you need them, then cut the string. Difficult to imagine top-notch teaching and learning under those conditions.
What happened in Gaylord?
I have to say I have kind of mixed feelings about this. While I do think it’s wrong for all of the obvious reasons, if the part-timers really were going to be able to get the money up front that would have otherwise gone into an unclaimed pension, it might be a better deal for them. A big “if,” admittedly.
Temping and adjuncting (e.g., teaching part-time) are similar in a lot of ways, IMO, at least from an employee point of view. I did both almost 20 years ago. Being an office temp was really good experience that helped me land a full-time and “real job” for a couple of years before I went back to school for the PhD. Being an adjunct during that time gave me a lot of good teaching experience, added a little income, and it helped convince me that if I really wanted to be a full-time professor, I’d have to go and get a PhD.
And both temping and adjuncting are similar in that (IMO) neither one is a very good substitution for something more permanent and career-like.
I thought Kirtland was located in Gaylord. Maybe they have an extended campus site there.