ETSU’s College of Arts and Sciences is giving adjunct professors who make less than $800 per credit hour a $100 raise.
The raise comes after student and faculty activists began the Adjunct Action movement to bring attention to the issue of adjunct pay.
“I’m excited that the raise is happening,” said Connor McClelland, one of the student organizers of the Adjunct Action Movement. “However, I would like to see [adjunct pay] continue to go up to the point that we are paying people fairly and competitively.”
Austin Cable, another key student organizer of Adjunct Action, believes the movement is in part responsible for the raise.
“I think the raises were 100 percent a direct effect of the pressure that was put on by the Adjunct Action campaign,” said Cable. “When we talked to the [United Campus Workers Union] they said they had been asking the administration for a raise for four years, and then the second the students get involved, people actually start talking about it.”
McClelland also believes Adjunct Action played a large part in securing the raise for adjuncts in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“At the last Board of Trustees meeting that we attended, we talked to Dr. Noland, and we expressed some more direct interest in making sure that pay was adjusted in the College of Arts and Sciences because that college has probably the highest number of adjunct professors,” said McClelland. “I think that our pressure on the college of Arts and Sciences was very impactful because we were making sure a raise couldn’t be avoided in that college. That was the elephant in the room of adjunct pay.”
Adjuncts at ETSU are paid $600 a credit hour on average and can teach up to three classes a semester.
“The average salary at ETSU for an adjunct was $600 a credit hour and they can teach three classes, so adjuncts were making around $1,800 per class and $5,400 per semester, which equals $10,800 a year,” explained Cable. “We didn’t think that was okay. If someone’s trying to live off that much, then they’re not going to be able to pay attention to students and give them the quality education they deserve.”
While Cable and McClelland both said they see the $100 per credit raise in the College of Arts and Sciences as a positive change, the organizers intend to keep pushing until their goal of $1,000 per credit hour for all adjuncts on campus is met. Adjunct Action also plans to take the issue to the state level.
“We see this as a step in the right direction,” Said McClelland. “It also stokes our fire to say, ‘Hey, they’ve conceded this much. Let’s keep fighting to make sure we get to the change that we desire, and that’s fair because we’re not there yet. We’re working on it, but we’re not there yet.’”
