*More than 50% of college faculty nationally are adjunct
or part-time teachers
*Adjunct faculty receive no benefits
*25% of part-time faculty receive public assistance
*31% of part-time faculty live at or below the poverty
line
*$22,500 is the average salary of adjunct faculty
*60% of part-time faculty have an additional job
Student debt high. . .donors giving millions. . .research
contracts coming in. . .state funding increased. . .adjuncts shamefully
underpaid. . .the tenure system under attack. . .students have become "customers".
. .
Where does the money go?
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Separate and Unequal
100 top CEOs have as much money in retirement accounts as
50 million families, or 41% of American families.
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Mandatory gun insurance?
A friend of mine proposes an interesting idea. Why not
treat guns just like cars and require insurance? Like cars, guns are dangerous
machines; there are unintended accidents; sometimes they are used intentionally
to kill and injure others. Insurance might be used to cover the cost of police
work investigating and cleaning up gun violence, as well as health and funeral
costs and loss of income due to a family member being injured or killed. Gun
insurance will not stop gun violence, but it will make gun owners financially
responsible for harm caused by misuse of guns. Is it workable?
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Diversity
There's an ad in Oprah's magazine for diverse Barbie
dolls. You can choose from eight skin tones, 18 eye colors, 20 hairstyles and
23 hair colors.
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The Southern poverty Law Center has created a simple Tolerance Pledge. It may help to clarify what we mean by welcoming diversity. It says that we should have "respect for people whose abilities, beliefs, cultures, race, sexual identity, or other characteristics are different from our own."
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The Southern Poverty Law Center is tracking nearly 800
hate groups in the United States. Hate groups are defined as "any group
with beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people --
especially when the characteristics being maligned are immutable."
I appreciated reading the information on adjunct faculty. In my opinion adjunct faculty has a place in the system, however not as a replacement for the doctoral and tenured faculty. The quality of the education that college students are receiving is affected by this practice. If we are going to "save" money by hiring adjunct faculty then the students should see a direct reduction in their tuition costs. On another note, why would anyone get a doctorate to teach at a college level if they will be by passed by for adjunct faculty and not have employment benefits after they receive the degree? I think that is misleading as we recruit scholars. Do we really value the doctoral degree?
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