Editor’s note: Craig Greenman is a visiting assistant professor of philosophy at Grand Valley State University. The opinions expressed in this piece are his own.

Dear Editor,

I would like to comment on your story, “Navigating Direction: UAS Weighs Possible No Confidence Vote in GV Senior Leadership Team,” from Dec. 16, 2024. I’d particularly like to address your student readers.

Students: When the Lanthorn uses the term, “faculty,” you might get the impression that all GVSU professors are equal, and they all have the same rights and pay. They don’t. Many are “adjunct faculty,” that is, part-timers. They teach about 20% of your courses, but they’re paid only a portion of what full-time faculty make. Chances are, if you’ve taken some intro-level courses, you’ve been taught by somebody who made about what you did at your summer job.

I am a “visiting professor,” a full-time temp who teaches eight courses per year. Along with “affiliate faculty,” we cover another 25% of your courses. We earn more money than part-timers and we get some benefits, but we make significantly less than our tenured and tenure-track colleagues, who are permanent or on their way to being so. They teach six courses each year and average around $80,000 (that’s at their lowest pay grade; many earn more). My salary is $50,000. They also do some “service” work that I don’t do, but that isn’t enough to bridge the gap. Also, visiting professors like me are only allowed to stay at GVSU for three years, so no matter how much you like us, unless we move to a different kind of contract (which is a longshot), we’re out.

Most people in higher education would say, “Equal pay for equal work!” If women are regularly paid less than men, or people of color less than white people, that becomes a social justice issue. But, when adjunct, visiting and affiliate faculty are paid less than their colleagues for the same courses . . . crickets. Our “adjuncts” and “visitors” typically aren’t invited to contribute to GVSU’s policymaking either, beyond an occasional survey response or departmental remark. So, even if the University Academic Senate (UAS) wants more representation from the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), these acronyms have little to do with us. Which means– because we teach almost half of your courses– they may have little to do with you.

To be fair, many GVSU departments, I’m told, would like to hire more tenured and tenure-track faculty; they blame administration for wanting part-timers and temps. Some point out that as we seek educational equity for you, we should seek contractual equity for faculty. Without getting more decision-making power, which is what UAS is trying to do, they can’t as easily make changes. Still, “faculty” isn’t powerless, and this situation existed long before the “no confidence” vote idea. My colleagues have been genuinely kind to me and others, but as great as they’ve been, it doesn’t pay the bills. Hopefully, as UAS pursues more inclusion in administrative decisions, it will remember the inequality in its own ranks.

Sincerely,

Craig Greenman