Adjuncts Are “The Dirty Little Secret of the Academy”

At Dissent, Moshe Z. Marvit’s interview with lawyer and adjunct organizer Dan Kovalik is a must-read. Kovalik represented Margaret Mary Vojtko, the adjunct professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Penn. who died in poverty after working as an adjunct for 25 years. In his interview with Marvit, he talks about Vojtko’s life, how universities keep adjuncts down, and what he’s trying to do about it. (“It had always been my perception that going into the academy would be a great life. You would get a good salary; you would get benefits; you would get the benefit where your kids could go to school for free there or at a reduced rate. Adjuncts don’t get that. I’ve come to learn that 75 percent of all faculty around the country are adjuncts. It’s this kind of dirty secret of the academy. Meanwhile there are just a few at the top who are doing well. It looks a lot more like the corporate world than like nonprofit education.”)

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