Union County College & Others in the Hot Seat

Right now ugly things are happening not only at Union County College but also all around NJ as well as throughout all universities in Higher Education. 

It has not been an easy time for faculty or shared governance, but especially for adjunct faculty, who are suffering dire retaliation when they struggle to gain rights for fellow workers. As adjunct faculty, then, we should be putting pressure on our union representatives at @AFT and elsewhere.

Write to everyone, share these articles and links on your own networks, email listservs and social media. Pressure all you know.

Dr. Margaret McMenamin will get bent out of shape because if too many articles come out about malfeasance at her university, and these links become shared and shared again ad infinitum, she loses control. Therefore, we need to let her know she does NOT have the control she thinks she does! 

Thank you, Vanessa Vaile, for getting this list together.

So let Dr. McMenamin know she does not live in a bubble… Please SHARE, and thank you! 

 College Is Accused of Exploiting State Labor Law to Trample Faculty Rights - The Chronicle of Higher Education

 AAUP Report Alleges Shared Governance Violations by Union County College | Inside Higher Ed

United Adjunct Faculty of New Jersey Local 2222 | Stateweb

UCC Chapter of United Adjunct Faculty on NJ

 Union County College responds to adjunct complaints | Union News Daily

 Union County College adjuncts petition school for 'living wage' as contract is negotiated | NJ.com

 Adjunct Alternative or Union Busting? | Inside Higher Ed

 Public Sector Cuts Workers' Hours in Response to Obamacare | National Review Online

 Kean, UCC adjuncts feel disrespected | Union News Daily

 Union News Daily | Union County's Local Source

 Universities Hire More Adjunct Professors and Pay Less | Video | NJTV News

May Day...Will Adjunct Faculty Become Human Rights Activists Working Together?

A while ago, I found a quote from our petition, "Better Pay for Adjuncts," that has been lurking in the back of my mind all these months. 

"I've decided to abandon any hope of being a college-level instructor because I do not want to trade in my blue-collar poverty for a poverty with airs of white-collar sensibilities."

So as I get ready to write something about May Day, and how this day of labor involves adjunct faculty, I also want to take stock of what this writer implies. It has haunted me for quite some time now. 

I have wanted to get all my dispersed thoughts together, a not-so-easy task. 


I began writing this particular piece after the City Hall meeting in Grapevine, Texas, concerning evidence of the fact that police will not release a video of them shooting an unarmed man on February 20, 2015, Rubén Garcia. Seeing all the brown on one side looking up at the white — sitting in their pedestals above — made me think there would never be any justice here in Texas.

The stark difference of the all-white "judges" sitting above listening
gave a somber note to proceedings...
© Ana M. Fores Tamayo

And sure enough, it is already May, and nothing yet is closer to releasing the official video. 

There is an unofficial passersby video released that directly conflicts with what the police are saying, but officers still hold fast to their own story...

So why do some folks want to taint the man?

New School, Old School? The New School Fiasco, Again and Again

ACT-UAW Local 7902's rally, held on March 16th, with adjunct faculty, graduate assistants, students, union workers, officials, & supporters at The New School in New York City
© ACT-UAW Local 7902

In mid March, The New School was having problems with its contract negotiations, and Brian Caterino, who had taught there years before as a contract worker -- though he was paid the same measly compensation adjunct faculty were paid -- commented that this was nothing new. 

I asked him if he would write something about this, and he did...



A few weeks ago, part time faculty at The New School held a day of protest over stalled contract negotiations and work conditions. The part timers who teach 85% of The New School courses have been without a contract since August 2014. The current proposals included reductions in health care benefits to part time faculty and other cuts. Part time faculty want -- among other things -- better health care benefits, adequate payment for online courses, and job security. They point out the discrepancy between the wages of part timers and the extravagant salaries paid to some faculty and administration while others just scrape by. 

While part time faculty make about $16,000 per year, the President of The New School, David Van Zandt, earns over $700,000, and Vice President and CEO James Murtha over $1. 2 million. The New School also opened a new building at the cost of $352 million.

The University Center at The New School
© The New School

These compensations continue the precedent set when ex US Senator Bob Kerrey became president. Not only did he get over $900,000 yearly salary, but also he received a $1.2 million golden parachute when he left in 2010 and continued getting a six figure salary as emeritus president.