Brooke Jacobson, who is representing PSUFA in the negotiations,
says she's frustrated with the administration's refusal
to budge.Portland State employs approximately 380 part-time
faculty members per term, along with 795 who are full time.
The union representing part-timers at Portland State,
PSUFA, is a local chapter of the American Federation of
Teachers, which represents part-time faculty at a growing
number
of colleges and universities.
Last May, PSU administration reached an agreement with
the
university's chapter of the Association of American University
Professors (AAUP), the group that bargains for full-time
faculty. It took AAUP 13 months to negotiate a
two-year contract.
Over the course of the last academic year, Robert Mitchell
taught 10 different courses to more than 240 students
at three different institutions of higher education.
He earned less than $24,000 before taxes, with zero benefits.
Mitchell, who teaches criminal-justice courses, figures
he spent eight to 10 hours in his car each week, commuting
between his Beaverton home and the campuses of Portland
State University, Washington State University in Vancouver,
and Portland Community College. For every hour he works
teaching, he says he works three more outside of class,
correcting tests, reading papers and preparing lectures.
"When you add it up, I'm making less than minimum wage,"
he says.
Like many part-time faculty members, the 56-year-old
Mitchell feels used. He believes that as a 25-year veteran
of the FBI, he brings a crucial perspective to the classes
he teaches. His students seem to appreciate his expertise.
In a recent evaluation, all 29 of his students in an upper-level
class at Portland State gave him the highest possible
score in each of six categories.
Mitchell's bosses are not without sympathy. Gary Perlstein,
chairman of PSU's Administration of Justice division,
is in charge of hiring part-timers to fill gaps in his
department. "They are over-worked, they are over-exploited,
and the university treats them like shit," he says.
Approximately one-third of Portland State's faculty members
are part-timers. During last year's fall quarter, part-time
faculty taught 18 percent of the course hours offered.
Portland State's reliance on part-timers is part of an
ongoing national trend in higher education. In spite of
a booming economy, universities and colleges are controlling
costs by hiring part-time faculty. A recent report by
the Association of American University Professors estimates
that 47 percent of faculty members in the US work on a
part-time basis.
For some part-time teachers, especially those who have
other jobs that provide benefits, the situation works
fine. For others it is a nightmare. They are the day laborers
of higher education.
At Portland State, part-time faculty members have had
a union representing them for nearly 20 years, but the
current negotiations, which are stalled, suggest that
the teachers are fed up and aren't going to take it anymore.
On July 28, the Portland State University Faculty Association
(PSUFA), which represents PSU's part-time faculty, officially
declared an impasse in the contract talks. The union submitted
its final offer to the state. A week later, PSU administration
responded with its final counter-offer.
Now the union has a 30-day cooling-off period in which
to consider going on strike.
The main point of contention is compensation. PSU currently
pays part-timers a minimum rate of $510 per credit hour
taught, or $2,040 for a typical four-credit course.
The average salary for full-time faculty at Portland
State is $56,400, with a typical course load of 28 credit
hours in the academic year. A part-time teacher at the
minimum rate would get paid $14,280 for teaching the same
amount of courses.
The part-timers want to increase the minimum rate to
$731 per credit hour, a 43 percent jump. The administration
is offering $561.
The 30-day cooling period will end Sept. 3. At that time,
the administration can try unilaterally to enforce a contract,
and the union can in turn legally go on strike, provided
it gives the administration 10 days' notice.
The ex-FBI agent Mitchell isn't active in the union,
but he says that if a ballot to strike were held today,
he would vote yes. His boss Perlstein wouldn't blame him.
"The salary is so low, it's embarrassing," says Perlstein.
Perlstein contends that the $2,400 per course he pays
part-time instructors in his department is more than $1,000
below the national average.
PSU Vice Provost Dick Pratt responds, "I don't know if
anyone knows what the national average is, but we think
that we are competitive. Even our minimum rates are as
high as or higher than what the private institutions pay."
As to the comparison with rates paid to full-time teachers,
Pratt says, "That's comparing apples with cinder blocks.
It just isn't the same work." He points out that in addition
to teaching, full-time faculty members have to hold office
hours, mentor students, publish papers, serve on committees
and, most importantly, contribute academic research.
Part-timers counter that they often do many of those
things. They just aren't paid for them.
Brooke Jacobson, a 62-year-old film scholar who is representing
PSUFA in the negotiations, is frustrated with the administration's
refusal to budge. "There's been no movement on their side
whatsoever," she laments.
Jacobson holds a doctoral degree from the University
of Southern California, one of the top film schools in
the country. She has been teaching popular and well-attended
film and media courses at PSU for 10 years, and she still
pays for her own health insurance.
"We just want to see people treated fairly," says Jacobson.
