By Colleen Flaherty and Kaitlin Mulhere
It started as a simple question on social media: What would happen if adjuncts across the country walked out on the same day, at the same time?
That question got answered Wednesday -- sort of -- on the first-ever National Adjunct Walkout Day. There were some big walkouts at a few institutions but, for a variety of reasons, adjuncts at many more colleges and universities staged alternative protests, such as teach-ins, rallies and talks. Still, the movement led to unprecedented levels of conversation on many campuses, in the media and elsewhere about the working conditions of the majority of college faculty (those off the tenure track). And as a result, adjunct activists declared the day a success -- while wondering what comes next….
. . .
Recurring themes resonate with adjuncts’ concerns nationwide: a desire for better pay, job security and respect that’s not afforded them in the current faculty “caste” system, [Robert Porter, a longtime non-tenure-track instructor of African-American, African and diaspora studies] said….
