Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1360078
motorcycle accident, she used the insurance settlement to pay her hospital bills. S e d d i g h z a d e h a n d h e r c h i l d re n u s e t h e emergency room when ill. Perales has a high deductible and pays for all her prescriptions out of pocket. Dana DeMercurio, an adjunct professor who teaches communication studies at four cam- puses — Folsom Lake, Sierra and San Joaquin Delta colleges plus a school in Michigan — says the amount she pays for health care is based on her workload. When her courses are cut and her income goes down, the amount increases. When DeMercurio shares that she works at four colleges and teaches 27 units, people assume that she makes a good living. ey are surprised to learn that despite the prestige of being a college professor, she barely makes ends meet. "It's a real burnout," says DeMercurio, who has a master's degree and is a member of San Joaquin Delta College Teachers Association (SJDCTA). "We have to work many more hours than a full- time employee to make enough money just to have a normal life." e situationis an issue of fairness and com- passion, says CTA President E. Toby Boyd. "CTA works on behalf of all educators to ensure they are supportedprofessionally and treated with dignity. Adjunct professors should not beliving in poverty or barely scraping bybecause of unfairpay systems. at's why CTA and CCA are co-sponsoring Assembly Bill 1269." (Seesidebar, page 34.) Why are adjunct faculty underpaid? Community colleges made a conscious choice to hire more part-time than full-time employees to deliver high-quality, low-cost instruction. Hiring lots of part-time educators saves money, because colleges can pay them less in salary and benets. "Prior to Prop. 13, almost all of the community college faculty was full time," recalls CCA Presi- dent Eric Kaljumägi, a mathematics professor at Mt. San Antonio College. "At that time, funding for colleges was cut. Now you have tens of thou- sands of part-time instructors. At my school, our part-time English faculty peaked at 100, which could probably be lled by 45 full-time positions." As at-will employees, adjuncts can be let go without cause. When enrollment drops, their classes may be reassigned to other faculty, leaving them scrambling. Some adjuncts say they feel like second-class citizens and their full-time col- leagues are unaware of the challenges they face. While some individuals teach part time as a second job or for supplemental family income, most rely on part-time teaching as their pri- mary income and career. Many adjuncts have their eye on tenure, des- perately hoping one of their schools will hire from within when there's an opening. But there's no guarantee; by law, colleges must conduct a broad search when full-time positions open. For Seddighzadeh, a member of the South Orange CCD Faculty Association, it's a painful reality that after 12 years of being an adjunct pro- fessor, she has no seniority at any of the campuses where she teaches. "I apply and apply at colleges, but it's ver y tough to get a full-time position," she says. "But to pay the bills, I need a real job." Recently, her course load was cut drastically, and classes that she expected to teach were sud- denly reassigned. To make ends meet, she gave up her apartment and now rents a room where she stays with her children. "ere's a lot of poverty among part-time fac- ulty," shares Perales, an SJDCTA member. " We have yard sales. One professor I know sold her mattress to pay the rent." Why adjuncts stay in the game Ask adjuncts why they stay in a job where they are so underpaid and most will say it's for the love of teaching and being able to help students achieve their dreams. "Oh my gosh, I love my job," says Krista War- ren Yagubyan, president of MiraCosta College Ac a d e m i c A ss o c i a t e Fa c u l ty i n O c e a n si d e . "I love my students and love t eaching th em important skills." Wa r re n Ya g u bya n t e a c h e s li f e s k i l l s a n d employment readiness to students with disabili- ties, which is considered adult education. She was named Part-Time Faculty of the Year in 2018 by the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. It's ironic, she says, that she received her award the same year her teaching load was cut. "e dean of my department asked me to hire new people to teach adults with disabilities and then cut my hours and told me to go find other work. The depart- ment chair oered me block scheduling so I could work "We work many more hours than a full-time employee to make enough money just to have a normal life." —Dana DeMercurio, San Joaquin Delta College Teachers Association 33 A P R I L / M AY 2 0 21 Noushin Seddighzadeh