By Charles Loiacono     

The Time Has Come

Election time is a good time to reflect on the vote.

It is the vote—the right to have a say in choosing those that represent you—that separates democratic societies from despotic tyrannies.

When a group or a people are denied the vote, they are disenfranchised. They are denied the most basic tenet of a democratic society. No reason, no excuse, no explanation can ever justify the denial of the vote.

And yet, here in the halls of academic freedom, in the air of enlightenment, in the megaphone of democracy the adjunct faculty is denied the vote.

Members of the adjunct faculty do not vote for department chairs. They are supervised by department chairs, assigned by department chairs, evaluated by department chairs, hired by department chairs, and given cause for dismissal by department chairs. But they have no voice in deciding who shall be the department chair. For the adjunct faculty there is academic responsibility without academic representation.

In our country, the mandate to be responsible and follow the rules without representation is anathema.

How did such an anomaly come to exist? The answer to that question conjures up the ugly history of suppressing the under classes.

For years here at NCC, and currently at many of the nation’s colleges and universities, adjuncts are treated as underclass members of the academic family. Treated as transients, paid less, denied tenure, and unappreciated, adjuncts were never considered worthy of the vote. They were “added to but not essentially part of” the college community.

Thankfully, that is changing fast around the country. To be sure, it has changed here at NCC. There is more work to be done, but we are getting it done. The one symbol that perpetuates the separation of the adjunct faculty from the college community is the denial of the vote. Ironically, that denial says more about those who withhold the franchise then it does about those denied. Having to justify denying the faculty that teaches more than half the courses on this campus must strain one’s belief in his own values.

A look at the facts can be instructive. While the election of chairs is detailed in the NCCFT contract, one sentence verifies the fact that the administration controls the existence of the chairs: “The Vice President of Academic Affairs…shall have the right to remove a department Chairperson after a minimum of one semester service for just cause.”

Another line in the NCCFT contract is also instructive: “Each academic department will elect a Chairperson.” An academic department is composed of full-time and adjunct faculty. Indeed, many departments have more adjunct faculty than full-time faculty. In such cases, most of the “citizens” of that entity are disenfranchised.

Adjuncts are “most-timers” not “part-timers.” A full-time English professor teaches 24 contact hours a year. An adjunct English professor teaches 18 contact hours a year.

That’s 75% of a full-time load—anything but “part-time.”

There are other obvious facts that must be considered. Chairs spend much of their time dealing with the adjunct faculty. Assigning adjunct courses is not only a big job, it is one that gives a chair control over some very important decisions—decisions that impact seriously on the professional lives of the adjunct faculty. The temptation to disregard the needs of those who have no voice in choosing the person making those decisions can be significant.

During the recent AFA election for department representatives, one chair interjected herself deeply into that department’s election. When I was told the details of her involvement, I was shocked.

Two full-timers were running. One was an incumbent and one was not a member in good standing. The chair was actively supporting the latter and opposing the former. We can only guess that the incumbent DR was seeing to it that the chair followed the AFA contract. This chair made several calls to Vice President Bob Gaudino suggesting changes in the election rules so the candidate she supported could run. We can only imagine that she had the votes lined up to defeat the incumbent.

This, of course, was way out of line, and we will deal with this interference with an AFA election, but it points out the danger in denying the adjunct members of that department (all departments) the right to vote for a representative chair. Most of the grievances we have fought in the past dealt with chairs violating the contract. The war that consumed this campus for years had to do with adjunct rights being trampled on.

That’s over, and this college is the better having seen the end of that war. The one thing that can ensure a lasting peace is to enfranchise the adjunct faculty by giving them the right to vote. Nothing can cement both faculties more effectively than that simple act.

A wise administration and a determined Board of Trustees must meet with the AFA on common ground—democratic ground.

The time has come!