By Robert Hannigan

Having worked as an adjunct at several colleges and universities in this region over the past thirty years, and meeting dozens of other people doing the same, I feel that I can venture two broad generalizations. One is that institutions of higher learning in greater Boston have been extremely fortunate. Virtually all of the adjuncts I have met are highly educated people and extremely devoted teachers. The only thing that really separates them from the rest of the faculty is the fact that, in a very difficult market, they have not been able to find a ‘regular’ job.

The second is that the contributions of these people have been terribly underappreciated. Department chairs and other members of the faculty have often been supportive. But those higher up have generally been inclined simply to take financial advantage of the situation and bank on the fact that adjuncts will do good work because of their commitment. That such a policy is indefensible goes without saying. But to so undervalue the contributions of the people who are doing so much of the college teaching in the Boston area also suggests that these institutions may have priorities at odds with those they claim.

In this age of high tuition, students would be shocked to know how little of their money goes to the adjuncts who are teaching many of their classes or how much work that low pay forces those adjuncts to take on. Without adjuncts organizing, sad to say, it is a situation unlikely to change.

Robert Hannigan holds a Ph.D. from Princeton. He has been an adjunct member of the History Department at Bentley University for over 25 years. He also teaches part-time at Suffolk University.