Gah. Thank you for guest posting here. My partner was an adjunct for 15 years; helped start a union here. I was an adjunct and 'visiting asst professor' for seven years before getting a tenure-track job (where, indeed, none of that experience translated into anything except me being expected to do more work than the typical new tenure-track asst prof). Between my experiences and my partner's, it's fair to say that I am not surprised by your colleagues' public failure to react, act, respond. One of the many problems with this multi-tiered inequality masquerading as a meritocracy is that tenure-track profs get pitted against every other professor, whether they realize or not. TT profs are 'lucky,' or 'talented,' or 'deserving, and administrations enjoy these false conclusions because they enable TT profs to fail to support, advocate for, or agitate for the mass of adjuncts and precariously employed professors while benefiting from their labor. Such a broken, defiled system.
This is really insightful, Rebecca. Fortunately, I left before there were many adjunct professors hired by my department. But the college is increasingly moving to the non-TT lecturer model (my TT position was replaced by a lecturer position), which creates privilege divides within departments. It's really an unhealthy model, especially when everyone's credentials are so comparable. I love your phrase "multi-tiered inequality masquerading as a meritocracy." Yup. A lot of us who found ourselves on the TT realized that we'd won the lottery and that we could never reasonably expect to do so again. The vagaries of "fit" and other fine points that tip the scales between the last three candidates who give campus interviews show how false the rigid class divides are between TT and contingent faculty.
One point I might gently disagree on is the idea that TT profs actually have the power to advocate for adjuncts or other contingent faculty. Support is another matter, and I suppose agitation is always on the table. But sometimes those budget decisions are administrative brick walls, and people learn to pick their battles with position proposals. The freeze out that Jenn describes, however, is never justifiable. It's not hard to let people know that they are seen and valued.
Yes, I agree! I’m thinking of tenured professors treating adjunct and contingent colleagues poorly, and failing to use their privilege to remind admins (definite brick walls and ‘no’! parrots) to do better, behave better. If tenured full profs won’t raise the issues, who will besides the occasional union member?
I also (always?) wonder about the role of shame. TT faculty can easily forget or ignore working conditions for contingent and precarious colleagues, and structures ad systems enable TT faculty to do exactly that ("put head down, do my stuff, deal with tenure, repeat, repeat..."). So the shame comes in -- in what you experienced/described -- re: 'oh shit...I didn't ever even think about Jen. I never thought about the implications of me teaching Jen's classes. I never acted as if Jen had expertise in these areas. I never asked about the expertise or experience...'.
Despairingly honest--what a loss for your university. I'm wondering if the arts have lost their place in the university setting--unless it's the Yale Drama School for theatre? Where literature and English departments are concerned, John Guillory's new book _Professing Criticism_ published by the U of Chicago and covered in The New Yorker and The New York Times startles. Here's a link to The New Yorker piece: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/23/has-academia-ruined-literary-criticism-professing-criticism-john-guillory -- admittedly, I haven't read the book. Note that he's now retired.
It’s a hard choice, as I firmly believe the arts and especially humanities belong in university still (I mean, just look at the lack of critical thinking rampant today), but I also went through the BFA experience, and. I’m mixed. On the one hand, it was fantastic training and high caliber education. But it also would have been arguably more appropriate in a conservatory setting. And then on the other-other hand, arts training should be more accessible than only for those that can afford Yale or Tisch. But then you can say that about all higher ed, can’t you. I dunno.
Thank you! I may have seen this article before but I need to look at it again.
There is also this article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/06/the-end-of-the-english-major. I was keenly aware that if higher education had not been made more accessible to the masses, I would never have been a professor. My undergraduate degree was from a tiny private college in Appalachia (now a decent-sized university), and my graduate degrees are from a land grant university. This is more a question of privilege than anything. But without a doubt, if the arts are confined to elite conservatories, they will once again become a path only for the most privileged. This may have become a practical inevitability, but I believe that studying and teaching literature, and now using that foundation as a writer, has made me a much more complete person than if I had stuck to my initial plan, to become a stenographer, or even if I'd followed my first major, Political Science, to a career in law.
At the same time, Jenn's story reminds me that the pain of leaving a passion behind after having tasted deeply of it for so many years is greater than the pain of never having known it. As a romantic, I suppose I'll always prefer having loved and lost to having never risked love to begin with. But it does indeed complicate the question of pursuing a career in the arts or humanities!
I would have liked a living wage for it though. Or any iota of respect. Adjuncts get none.
I’m still teaching at DU and, as much as in my department all faculty are adjunct (an issue in itself), I do feel like I can stay and do my good work with dignity. This other university was adding insult to injury and shouldering me out. I saw the writing on the wall and left on my own terms before they could “sack” me. Though it isn’t even that, when you’re an adjunct. I don’t think they expected that--I think they assumed I’d keep taking the abuse, as I had for so long.
I returned to the private sector. I got an MA in 95, worked in a variety of public and private sector jobs in my field, archaeology, then returned in 2004 to get a PhD. Finished in 2011, adjunct full time for 3 years (12 courses in the course of a year, including 5 the semester I gave birth...in October). Got a TT in 2013, toxic department that ended in this. I left in 2021 to return to the private sector. It about broke me, but I am doing SO much better.
As a tenured professor, I spoke out against something wrong in my department. I was lied about, investigated based on those lies, and a report written about me which I was never allowed to see. I was determined by a closed process to be insubordinate and threatened with removal. It was a three-year process which I walked away from. At some point we (three of us were targeted) called a meeting of faculty and laid out the facts, and were met by complete silence. Which is to say, as Rebecca says below, it is a multi-tiered inequality masquerading as inequality and it happens at all levels. I was honestly shocked at the time--I thought I was protected by tenure. I now realize it is inherent to the system, and no one is immune from it. Where you are on that tier decides the form it comes in. Congrats on getting out, and I really enjoyed your piece. You may like this article on silence of colleagues during gaslighting/academic mobbing: /Users/mmeyers/Desktop/AcademicMobbingBookCh3.pdf
My first thought upon reading was a moment of bittersweet happiness.
It's so rare for the curtain of gaslighting to part, in my experience, and for someone to challenge it. But then, that moment is over, dignified sadness remains.
I am not surprised at your reception. I would expect nothing less, as that's the kind of reception I've seen when academics get called out for gross misconduct.
"Bittersweet happiness" is a perfect phrase for it. I plan to share a bit of the epilogue on my own newsletter on Monday, which details a little more of what happened next. To this day, I had no response from anyone, including the secretary at the end of this section.
I suppose you're right, that I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was just so used to how bubbly and performatively emotional they all normally were. But it did show me, baldly, my real value to that institution.
Whew. I was an adjunct for YEARS. I believed my dedication and high evaluations would translate to a job offer at the university someday. And then one day, I finally realized that wouldn’t be happening. I watched my beloved class given away, my time slotted back for intro courses, my pay never increased, and my presence never invited into meetings or discussion. Most of the faculty at the university (where I worked as a full-time staff member for 6 years prior to teaching!) didn’t know my name or that I taught there. I’m still sorting through feelings of it all, bc I genuinely loved teaching. But I left and haven’t looked back.
I will absolutely be reading your book (so glad for this interview here!) and deeply appreciate you sharing your story. Loved the build up to your, “I’m quitting,” moment.
Thanks, Amanda -- I'm glad that you found your way clear of exploitation. But I relate to your mixed feelings about it. For me that has been a grieving process that is finally (a year later) beginning to shift into more optimism about life after academe. What are you up to these days?
Thanks, Joshua! I’ve really enjoyed your writings about this and your honesty about the process of leaving academia. I ventured out as a freelance copywriter a year ago; it’s been a truly wonderful shift for me.
Ugh it sounds like you were in an almost identical situation. It's like, every awesome positive review you get, you're like Yay now I'll surely be offered a TT position (or at least my application will move through the process quicker). Nope. And my beloved class (that I made from scratch) had MY textbook--like, the one I wrote!--as the required book for the course. I wonder if they're still using it. (...who am I kidding...)
I've come to this late, Jenn, after reading your latest. That silence, moving on with the agenda. Wow. That you stayed through it all. Wow to you. And "Friend" Tenured Jim?
Gah. Thank you for guest posting here. My partner was an adjunct for 15 years; helped start a union here. I was an adjunct and 'visiting asst professor' for seven years before getting a tenure-track job (where, indeed, none of that experience translated into anything except me being expected to do more work than the typical new tenure-track asst prof). Between my experiences and my partner's, it's fair to say that I am not surprised by your colleagues' public failure to react, act, respond. One of the many problems with this multi-tiered inequality masquerading as a meritocracy is that tenure-track profs get pitted against every other professor, whether they realize or not. TT profs are 'lucky,' or 'talented,' or 'deserving, and administrations enjoy these false conclusions because they enable TT profs to fail to support, advocate for, or agitate for the mass of adjuncts and precariously employed professors while benefiting from their labor. Such a broken, defiled system.
This is really insightful, Rebecca. Fortunately, I left before there were many adjunct professors hired by my department. But the college is increasingly moving to the non-TT lecturer model (my TT position was replaced by a lecturer position), which creates privilege divides within departments. It's really an unhealthy model, especially when everyone's credentials are so comparable. I love your phrase "multi-tiered inequality masquerading as a meritocracy." Yup. A lot of us who found ourselves on the TT realized that we'd won the lottery and that we could never reasonably expect to do so again. The vagaries of "fit" and other fine points that tip the scales between the last three candidates who give campus interviews show how false the rigid class divides are between TT and contingent faculty.
One point I might gently disagree on is the idea that TT profs actually have the power to advocate for adjuncts or other contingent faculty. Support is another matter, and I suppose agitation is always on the table. But sometimes those budget decisions are administrative brick walls, and people learn to pick their battles with position proposals. The freeze out that Jenn describes, however, is never justifiable. It's not hard to let people know that they are seen and valued.
Yes, I agree! I’m thinking of tenured professors treating adjunct and contingent colleagues poorly, and failing to use their privilege to remind admins (definite brick walls and ‘no’! parrots) to do better, behave better. If tenured full profs won’t raise the issues, who will besides the occasional union member?
Thank you!
Even the normally bubbly theatre people just clammed up. It was gnarly. Felt really weird to leave that room, after that long.
I also (always?) wonder about the role of shame. TT faculty can easily forget or ignore working conditions for contingent and precarious colleagues, and structures ad systems enable TT faculty to do exactly that ("put head down, do my stuff, deal with tenure, repeat, repeat..."). So the shame comes in -- in what you experienced/described -- re: 'oh shit...I didn't ever even think about Jen. I never thought about the implications of me teaching Jen's classes. I never acted as if Jen had expertise in these areas. I never asked about the expertise or experience...'.
Exactly. It’s like I don’t even cross their mind. But you better believe the Chair knows--the one that assigns which classes to which profs. He knows.
Despairingly honest--what a loss for your university. I'm wondering if the arts have lost their place in the university setting--unless it's the Yale Drama School for theatre? Where literature and English departments are concerned, John Guillory's new book _Professing Criticism_ published by the U of Chicago and covered in The New Yorker and The New York Times startles. Here's a link to The New Yorker piece: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/23/has-academia-ruined-literary-criticism-professing-criticism-john-guillory -- admittedly, I haven't read the book. Note that he's now retired.
It’s a hard choice, as I firmly believe the arts and especially humanities belong in university still (I mean, just look at the lack of critical thinking rampant today), but I also went through the BFA experience, and. I’m mixed. On the one hand, it was fantastic training and high caliber education. But it also would have been arguably more appropriate in a conservatory setting. And then on the other-other hand, arts training should be more accessible than only for those that can afford Yale or Tisch. But then you can say that about all higher ed, can’t you. I dunno.
Thank you! I may have seen this article before but I need to look at it again.
There is also this article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/06/the-end-of-the-english-major. I was keenly aware that if higher education had not been made more accessible to the masses, I would never have been a professor. My undergraduate degree was from a tiny private college in Appalachia (now a decent-sized university), and my graduate degrees are from a land grant university. This is more a question of privilege than anything. But without a doubt, if the arts are confined to elite conservatories, they will once again become a path only for the most privileged. This may have become a practical inevitability, but I believe that studying and teaching literature, and now using that foundation as a writer, has made me a much more complete person than if I had stuck to my initial plan, to become a stenographer, or even if I'd followed my first major, Political Science, to a career in law.
At the same time, Jenn's story reminds me that the pain of leaving a passion behind after having tasted deeply of it for so many years is greater than the pain of never having known it. As a romantic, I suppose I'll always prefer having loved and lost to having never risked love to begin with. But it does indeed complicate the question of pursuing a career in the arts or humanities!
I would have liked a living wage for it though. Or any iota of respect. Adjuncts get none.
I’m still teaching at DU and, as much as in my department all faculty are adjunct (an issue in itself), I do feel like I can stay and do my good work with dignity. This other university was adding insult to injury and shouldering me out. I saw the writing on the wall and left on my own terms before they could “sack” me. Though it isn’t even that, when you’re an adjunct. I don’t think they expected that--I think they assumed I’d keep taking the abuse, as I had for so long.
Indeed. It's bad everywhere. Even a large university like Penn State happily exploits non-TT and adjunct faculty as long as people will put up with it. https://www.spotlightpa.org/statecollege/2023/02/penn-state-english-pay-bendapudi-liberal-arts/#:~:text=The%20living%20wage%20for%20a,annual%20income%20jumps%20to%20%2470%2C989
Indeed. I'm much happier out than I was in. And my health is a lot better.
What are you up to these days, Maureen? I'm sorry that you had such a traumatic exit, but I'm glad to hear that you are happier now.
I returned to the private sector. I got an MA in 95, worked in a variety of public and private sector jobs in my field, archaeology, then returned in 2004 to get a PhD. Finished in 2011, adjunct full time for 3 years (12 courses in the course of a year, including 5 the semester I gave birth...in October). Got a TT in 2013, toxic department that ended in this. I left in 2021 to return to the private sector. It about broke me, but I am doing SO much better.
As a tenured professor, I spoke out against something wrong in my department. I was lied about, investigated based on those lies, and a report written about me which I was never allowed to see. I was determined by a closed process to be insubordinate and threatened with removal. It was a three-year process which I walked away from. At some point we (three of us were targeted) called a meeting of faculty and laid out the facts, and were met by complete silence. Which is to say, as Rebecca says below, it is a multi-tiered inequality masquerading as inequality and it happens at all levels. I was honestly shocked at the time--I thought I was protected by tenure. I now realize it is inherent to the system, and no one is immune from it. Where you are on that tier decides the form it comes in. Congrats on getting out, and I really enjoyed your piece. You may like this article on silence of colleagues during gaslighting/academic mobbing: /Users/mmeyers/Desktop/AcademicMobbingBookCh3.pdf
Thank you! I’ll check it out.
That’s...ugh I’m so sorry. The rot runs deep, doesn’t it.
My first thought upon reading was a moment of bittersweet happiness.
It's so rare for the curtain of gaslighting to part, in my experience, and for someone to challenge it. But then, that moment is over, dignified sadness remains.
I am not surprised at your reception. I would expect nothing less, as that's the kind of reception I've seen when academics get called out for gross misconduct.
"Bittersweet happiness" is a perfect phrase for it. I plan to share a bit of the epilogue on my own newsletter on Monday, which details a little more of what happened next. To this day, I had no response from anyone, including the secretary at the end of this section.
I suppose you're right, that I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was just so used to how bubbly and performatively emotional they all normally were. But it did show me, baldly, my real value to that institution.
I've found the collegial gaslighting to be worse than the exploitation, personally.
I'll look for that post.
Totally gaslighting. Reading Herb Childress' book just smacked me in the face: I was like "Holy cow I'm being gaslighted! What da..."
Whew. I was an adjunct for YEARS. I believed my dedication and high evaluations would translate to a job offer at the university someday. And then one day, I finally realized that wouldn’t be happening. I watched my beloved class given away, my time slotted back for intro courses, my pay never increased, and my presence never invited into meetings or discussion. Most of the faculty at the university (where I worked as a full-time staff member for 6 years prior to teaching!) didn’t know my name or that I taught there. I’m still sorting through feelings of it all, bc I genuinely loved teaching. But I left and haven’t looked back.
I will absolutely be reading your book (so glad for this interview here!) and deeply appreciate you sharing your story. Loved the build up to your, “I’m quitting,” moment.
Thanks, Amanda -- I'm glad that you found your way clear of exploitation. But I relate to your mixed feelings about it. For me that has been a grieving process that is finally (a year later) beginning to shift into more optimism about life after academe. What are you up to these days?
Thanks, Joshua! I’ve really enjoyed your writings about this and your honesty about the process of leaving academia. I ventured out as a freelance copywriter a year ago; it’s been a truly wonderful shift for me.
Very cool! If you'd be interested in a Zoom call sometime, I'd enjoy hearing more about your journey.
Let’s make that happen sometime!
Ugh it sounds like you were in an almost identical situation. It's like, every awesome positive review you get, you're like Yay now I'll surely be offered a TT position (or at least my application will move through the process quicker). Nope. And my beloved class (that I made from scratch) had MY textbook--like, the one I wrote!--as the required book for the course. I wonder if they're still using it. (...who am I kidding...)
Thank you very much, and I'm gad you got out!
I've come to this late, Jenn, after reading your latest. That silence, moving on with the agenda. Wow. That you stayed through it all. Wow to you. And "Friend" Tenured Jim?
I mean. Yeah… I didn’t think I’d be left that alone but. Whew.