ADJUNCTS NEED TO SIT AT THE TABLE

Sheryl Sandberg, best-selling author of the book “Lean In” tells women that they need to “sit at the table”.  She encourages them that in order to be leaders in today’s business world and in society in general, they shouldn’t sit on the sidelines.  They should not underestimate their abilities simply because they are women.  They need to negotiate for themselves and not take the first offer made to them.  No one, Sandberg says, gets the promotion by sitting on the sideline.

In Sandberg’s TED TALK, she quotes the numbers of CEOs in the world and compares them to the number of women in those positions.  Women are simply outnumbered in the business leadership world.

     “SIT AT THE TABLE”

Photo courtesy of businessinsider.com

All of that strikes a chord with me, not only because, as a woman, I agree with her, but also because it makes me think of the adjunct situation in higher education.  Unlike, the numbers of women CEOs who are in the minority, adjuncts far outnumber the full time faculty in our colleges and universities in the U.S. 

The Maryland Higher Education Commission, in their 2014 Data Book cite the following figures.  In our state community colleges, approximately 29% of the faculty are full-time, while about 71% are part-time (i.e. adjuncts).  Likewise, in the four year colleges in Maryland, 40% of the faculty are full-time and 60% are part-time.

Adjuncts are not alone.  We are many.  We are not outnumbered.  But are we at the table? Until recently, the answer would be a definite NO.  We have been on the sidelines and have been there for seemingly eons.  Now, in some cases, we are on our way to the table.  Some of the adjuncts even have a seat.  But still this is not the general rule.  We NEED TO BE AT THE TABLE on a regular basis, not merely in certain cases; not merely as an afterthought.

Adjunct faculty members are making progress.  To continue on the road to the table, we have to talk with one another support one another.  As Sandberg tells women in “Lean In”, we must not underestimate our abilities and we must be actively engaged in negotiations with our colleges and universities so that we are part of the solution to the problems that we all have encountered along our journey.    

Adjunct faculty, like those at the Maryland Institute of Art (MICA), must understand the importance of standing together to discuss our needs with the college leadership.  We can do that only if we are AT THE TABLE.  In some cases, being at the table may involve a few easy steps where the faculty and the leadership can speak about each side of the issues without fear of reprisals.  In others, it may mean becoming members of a union.

The key, however, is that positive results can come from different ways of communicating.  It’s listening with open ears and hearts.  In the case of MICA, it was necessary to become members of a union.  In the case of the University of Maryland University College, it has been a new policy of “Meet and Confer”.  In the end, it is not a matter of the structure of the conversation between adjunct faculty and leadership, it is that it happens at all.  Adjuncts must be AT THE TABLE.