Part-time faculty members at Emerson College are planning a protest today, to combat low pay, lack of benefits and the inability to advance to full-time status.
In response to these escalating problems, they formed the Affiliated Faculty of Emerson College, Boston’s first union ever established solely in the name of part-time faculty, in March of 2001.
‘We have absolutely no benefits and no health care at all,’ said David Daniel, president of the union. ‘We make up the majority of instructors at the college, but the pay scale is very low compared to the full-time faculty and other part-time faculty at other colleges in Boston.’
Part-time faculty represents 75 percent of Emerson’s professors, compared to the national standard of 50 percent, according to Daniel.
Emerson administration keeps a higher ratio to save money, Daniel said, as the school does not provide benefits to part-time faculty.
‘It’s much cheaper for the school,’ he said. ‘What has happened over time is that Emerson has chosen rather than to create full-time jobs, to hire more part-timers, which is more inexpensive.
‘They are caught in a cycle by habit and the numbers [of part-timers] have grown so much that they cannot do anything about it,’ he said.
However, the school says it employs more part-time faculty simply due to the nature of the school, according to Emerson’s Associate Vice President of Public Affairs David Rosen.
‘It has to do with the type of college it is,’ he said. ‘It is mainly a communications and performing arts school, in which case there is a need for the use of professionals in these fields to teach these programs.’
Rosen said the school is working to increase the number of full-time faculty to benefit students.
‘It is true that faculty advising [for students] is difficult to schedule because of this,’ he said. ‘Emerson is trying to hire more full-time faculty even though it will cost more money.’
Daniel said he acknowledges the reasons for hiring part-time faculty as ‘legitimate,’ but still believes more should be done to improve the standards under which part time faculty work.
Daniel said the administration has tried to impede the union formation, and Rosen admitted his disapproval of the union.
‘Emerson makes no secret that it was opposed to the union,’ Rosen said. ‘It did not believe that it was a productive way to resolve issues. Things could have been discussed and negotiated with individuals of faculty and the administration.’
Daniel said the administration fought against unionizing since the beginning, with ‘bad publicity and by subtly threatening them.’
‘Once we did win, they certainly met with us and did what was expected of them as administrators,’ he said. ‘But they were slow to provide us with information and slow in their process as a whole.’
Daniel said he believes the union has remained solid despite the administration’s efforts to stall because of the importance of its cause. In giving part-time faculty fair pay and benefits, he said, they can in turn assist the students, and thus better Emerson as a whole.
‘It is a way to make the institution better,’ he said. ‘Many students I have are looking for letters of recommendation and it is very difficult for them to find a lot of their professors. Many of these professors move in and out because they are paid so poorly.’
Friday’s protest is sponsored by the American Association of University Professors and Emerson Greens, a student organization on campus. Emerson Greens founder Mandie Yanasak said she agrees with Daniel that the part- time faculty should be treated better to promote Emerson’s standards.
‘It is important for students to support working conditions because these are the conditions in which they learn,’ she said. ‘[Part-time teachers] don’t have enough office space to meet with students and this affects the learning community. It is also an issue that universities are moral institutions that are non-profit and should be striving for the betterment of minds and people. It seems like a basic contradiction.’