A few weeks ago a number of Marist adjunct faculty met to discuss issues most important to us. Although inequitable salaries, lack of job security and benefits were important topics of our conversations, we also believe that improved adjunct teaching conditions can improve student learning. We already have significant interest and support from many fellow adjuncts for creating a new bargaining unit at Marist, and we are writing to ask that you join us.
More and more adjunct faculty around the country are coming to the conclusion that all faculty, students and community stakeholders should have a say in our education system. We believe our work to organize an adjunct union is a vital part of improving education and achieving democracy in America. We hope that you will join us.
Lori Helbeck, Business Administration
The first and most important reason for voting YES is because I love teaching and guiding students through the constructs they will face in their future and I deserve to be treated on an equal plane for the hard work I put into lectures, projects, exams, and care for student success.
The second reason is the passion and respect I have developed for teaching (all levels) that yields amazing contributing members of society.
Ron Greene, Social Work
Working as an adjunct at Marist College for the past several years has surely been a rewarding experience. While that is true, the possibility of being employed at the institution as a union member is particularly encouraging. If Marist adjuncts were able to do something to improve salaries and provide at least some benefits that would be good. But, even more importantly, improvement in the working conditions adjuncts encounter is needed. Together, we need to advocate for dedicated office space, computer “banks,” and conference/meeting space and my hope is that collectively we can win these improvements and more for adjunct teaching professionals. Please join me and support our union by voting yes.
Karen Comstock, Psychology
I have witnessed strong dedication to students by part-time faculty over the 10 and half years that I have been teaching at Marist College. I believe we can support this dedication by forming a union in the following ways: 1) a legally binding contract can protect the right to speak openly and forthrightly about administrative policies and proposals, and give adjuncts a voice in academic affairs; 2) collective bargaining can ensure an adequate professional development fund that supports faculty staying current in their field; 3) a legally binding contract can establish clear and enforceable procedures for due process and academic freedom; 4) a fair salary and benefits are key components in boosting morale, which in turn supports instruction with more energy focused on academic outcomes.
Lucien Mott, History
I have worked as an adjunct history instructor at Marist College since 1987. I have few complaints over the last 27 years with Marist but I do feel insecure at times when it comes to my job security and reappointment. I am a member of a union right now at SUNY New Paltz and I feel that a union would be beneficial for both the administration and adjunct instructors here at Marist.
Morris Stern, Philosophy
In a free market economy, in many employment situations, and especially with adjunct professors, the bargaining power of employers and employees is not equal. It is much more difficult for an employee to find new employment–especially on agreeable terms–than it is for an employer to hire new employees on employer’s own terms. Thus, employers have much less incentive to compromise than individual employees. Forming a union gives us an equal say at the bargaining table. It equalizes the employer’s and employees’ power and makes bargaining fair. In a free market, unionization is often necessary, and especially for adjunct professors, in order to complete the free market’s own promise of fairness.
Raphael Kosek, English
Teachers are the backbone, the heart of any educational institution; we care deeply about what we do and our students. And because I have always told my students that in order to gain anything worthwhile, you must be willing to step out of your comfort zone, these shared ideals have given me confidence to move forward in unity, which is why I am on the organizing committee for Adjunct Action. I support the right to collectively organize for I believe unionization will help to improve adjunct working conditions and student learning.
In one of his short stories F. Scott Fitzgerald says, “At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.” We can no longer hide in the caves waiting for others to lead us out. We can no longer be complicit in the uneasy complacency of our own reality. We ask the Marist College administration to not invest student tuition dollars in a fierce campaign to undermine my colleagues and my right to organize. I call on the administration to instead respect the democratic process and remain neutral throughout the process.
Please support us in this very democratic and valid endeavor.
Nicolas Veroli, Philosophy
I’ve been teaching as an adjunct professor for 15 years and I love what I do. Here at Marist, I have really come to appreciate the earnestness and vivacity of my students and the profound commitment of my colleagues to education and to the life of the mind.
I think a union would not only improve the working conditions of the least remunerated members of the Marist Community (us, the adjuncts), it would also make Marist an even more vibrant intellectual community, ensuring professors’ freedom of speech. Let’s not kid ourselves: when your job is on the line twice a year, you’re going to be hesitant about speaking your mind. And that directly affects the quality of education your students are going to get.
Ron Harris, Mathematics
I’ve been at Marist for 35 years teaching statistics, calculus and excursions in modern mathematics. During my time as an adjunct, Marist has experienced tremendous growth and we, as adjuncts, have been an integral part of that growth. When they needed us, we were there. What we are looking to do now is to win a union for recognition of our past and continued service. As a union, we can come together to win fair pay increases and benefits.
Steve Schwartz, Sailing Instructor
I love teaching at Marist! It is how I define myself.
As an adjunct instructor, teaching basic sailing for 15 years, I have been fortunate to have enjoyed a warm and supportive relationship with each one of my supervisors and all the administration I have come in contact with. I have been lucky to have had a consistent and secure work schedule, and an outside (of Marist) job that provided me with benefits and financial security. These factors have afforded me the opportunity to focus all my attention on my students’ needs, and to provide them with the best of what I have to offer. It benefits them, and it benefits the college as a whole.
I understand that not all adjuncts are as lucky as I am, and have to struggle to make ends meet, compromising their ability to concentrate solely on their teaching responsibilities.
I believe the path to achieving the maximum potential of all adjunct instructors, and thereby make Marist a better place to work and get an education, is for all faculty to have a chance to attain a secure future. I believe the surest way to do that is with a unified faculty, and a collective bargaining agreement.
As I see it, forming a union is the best way to aid us in achieving this goal.
Cheryl-Ann Murphy, Education
Being part of the Carmel Central School District union throughout my educational career has helped to provide me with a safe work environment, equal opportunities for professional growth as well as appropriate salary. Forming such a union at Marist College will help to ensure, that as professionals, we continue to strive for professional excellence and have an equal voice on campus. It is important that all members of Marist faculty have collective agreements which provide members with equal worker rights, protection, and educational opportunities to continue professional growth. Unions give workers a voice in creating a better work environment by participating in mutual decision making. I fully support forming an adjunct union at Marist College.
Dan Saraceno, Communication
What do I think a union will mean to Marist adjunct faculty? I hope it leads to knowing when and what we are going to teach in hand in a timely manner. I would like adjunct and full-time faculty salaries to reflect our value to the institution and dedication we show by serving above and beyond the call of duty. And, our union will be a forum and place where we, as adjuncts, see and know who we are.
Gary Kenton, Communication
I have taught as an adjunct at Marist for six years, and I am privileged to work with students and faculty. But my efforts to be more involved in my department and the greater campus community have been rejected or ignored at almost every turn. My attempts to meet with other professors to discuss a common class, or to gain access to an office with a computer on campus, have been met with indifference or outright hostility. It is this lack of respect and meaningful dialogue that led me to jump at the opportunity provided by Adjunct Action/SEIU to establish a bargaining unit at Marist. I believe this is the only way that adjuncts will have a voice, not only in improving the working conditions of all adjuncts, but in delivering a better experience for our students.
Stephen Ford, Philosophy and Religious Studies
I am fortunate enough to be able to afford to work as an adjunct. Unfortunately, this is not the case for most of the adjunct faculty at Marist who cannot support their families on $3,000 a course.
We are working at a college where the president is the third highest paid president of a private college in the country but adjunct faculty are often earning the minimum wage. We have advanced degrees and should be treated as professionals.
I believe that the only way to remedy this problem is by organizing and negotiating for a fair salary with reasonable benefits. For those adjunct instructors, who like me, have other sources of income–we should think about our fellow adjunct faculty, and the future of higher education. What was a middle-class profession has already become a low-wage, no benefits job. It’s up to us to change that.
Stephen Miller, Philosophy
I have worked at Marist College as an adjunct professor in Philosophy for nine years. Marist is a great place, and I believe a union will help it become even more democratic. Hopefully, the process will help make it possible for me to send my own children to Marist College in the future.
In a climate of fundamental rethinking of college education, those who teach the majority of the students need a voice for the future of our jobs and our profession. I am excited at the chance to join SEIU/Adjunct Action in making Marist College even better.
Scott Myers, Paralegal Studies
For the past three years, I have worked as an adjunct in the paralegal program after having served as the program’s director for 25 years. In my time as director, I was often approached by hard working and effective adjunct teachers asking for an increase in pay from the college norm after years of fine service. The collegial model, so often mentioned, provided me access to administrators who listened politely and cheerfully rejected my lengthy and articulate requests.
I will be voting in favor of unionization, not only because I believe in the need to empower an essential constituency within the school, but also because I believe that the dozens of adjuncts who taught in my program over my years of service deserved better pay and a voice sufficiently loud to accomplish changed circumstances for adjunct faculty.
Richard Lahey, Education
Having taught for over 30 years in public education I have found great value in union participation. It has made my professional teaching experience comfortable and secure. I believe an adjunct union at Marist would greatly improve a sense of camaraderie and morale.
Clinton Bennett, Philosophy and Religious Studies
As an active union member at another college I have benefited from an equal partnership in negotiation with management. I believe that unionization is the best option for adjuncts at Marist. It is not only about working conditions and contracts but how to participate more in teaching, learning and the ethos of the whole college community.
Anne McCabe, English
I think unions are healthy and necessary. I believe that changes in higher education are very long in coming. I offer this as food for thought. I know what I shall do about the union. I shall vote for it. Balancing power is always necessary to keep both sides honest. Unions are not perfect, but they can be honed to be responsive to the needs of the unionized much more quickly and effectively than those who are quite comfortable maintaining a status quo, which, needs reformation.
William Panuska, Education
Being an adjunct is “enjoyable hard work.” Like all hard work, it deserves acknowledgement and respect for the talents adjuncts bring from their experience.
If you believe our generation should be paid fairly, we must start setting this precedent now.
Colette Cunningham
Adjunct professors put a lot of effort into making sure we get the most out of our classes to prepare us for the future. It’s important to show our appreciation by standing with them.
Nicolas Maglieri
Workers’ rights are human rights. Justice for Marist Adjuncts.
Sarah Slichter
