National Adjunct Walkout Day posed as a nationwide statement of solidarity for part-time faculty members. Professors across the country were vocal about the current injustices facing adjunct faculty at institutions of higher education.

Although an official walkout did not take place at Syracuse University, the administration must recognize these efforts as an important message that university spending should be allocated for the betterment of the community as a whole. A major factor of which is supporting SU’s adjunct faculty in the form of health care benefits, fair wages and job security.

People come before profit and the administration should not exploit adjunct faculty members to maintain low-cost labor. It must recognize the worth of these faculty members in the lives of students and in the university community.

The university must also be more forthcoming in sharing its annual expenditures as a not-for-profit institution. Although university tax forms are available online, these forms do not provide a clear and concise source for students and the community who may be seeking information about spending decisions made by the administration.

The faculty population at SU is instrumental in keeping the university functioning as an academic environment and should be valued as such. When a student graduates, it is the lessons and skills they have learned from faculty members that will aid them in both their personal lives and career paths — not lessons from high-paid university administrators.

According to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, a total of 544 instructors, or approximately 32 percent of SU’s faculty, are part-time, non-tenured members.

“Often teaching several classes per semester for low pay and no benefits, we frequently feel exploited and underrepresented,” wrote Jessica Posner, an SU alumna and adjunct faculty member in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, in a letter to The Daily Orange. “Last year, I was thrilled to accept an adjunct teaching position at SU. I taught 5 courses last year and was paid $17,229.45 with no benefits. I could not afford to pay my student loans.”

Because adjunct professors are paid by credit hour, the time spent grading assignments, planning lessons and meeting with students goes unpaid. Although tuition costs are steadily rising for SU students, it is clear the profits from these costs are not going toward improving the working conditions for adjunct faculty members.

In a letter sent in to The Post-Standard Matt Huber, an assistant professor of geography in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, analyzed 2012 public tax document, which revealed a huge gap between administrative and adjunct wages. Thirty-two of the highest paid employees at SU, excluding athletic coaches, were administrators that were paid an average of $276,432 before bonuses and benefits, which is 15 times the salary of the average part-time instructor.

Syracuse University must recognize that faculty members impact the lives of every student and must be paid fairly, receive health benefits and have job security during their time teaching at SU.

This gross imbalance of wages is a direct reflection of the values SU practices toward adjunct professors and education itself. More so, the lack of transparency between administrators and students about university spending habits further complicates matters. The university does not provide SU students or any interested individual with the means to educate themselves and come to an informed opinion on what spending benefits the university.

The current labor practice and vague disclosure of spending habits carried out by the SU administration is unacceptable. Syracuse University is an institution of higher learning, not of higher profit.

Alexa Diaz is a freshman magazine journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at adiaz02@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @AlexaLucina.

Published on March 4, 2015 at 12:15 am