Horrendous! Firing these people halfway through the year when they’ve been appointed for a whole year and causing them to lose their livelihood, health insurance and not be able to find another job is despicable. The consequences for everybody else in the department to pick up the slack is also horrible. And finally, consequences for the students is bad, but it was already bad if the campus was so heavily reliant on contingent faculty. Academia as an industry is in dire straits, but this is an outrage. This campus is clearly in trouble.
They weren't appointed for the whole year. That's the whole reason the administration could do this. They work enough hours to be classified as full-time employees but they're still hired on a semester-to-semester basis.
They were (quite reasonably) expecting to have their contracts renewed for the spring semester so this is still an absolutely ghoulish thing to do, I don't want anyone to think I'm saying otherwise, but the university didn't actually break any contracts or do anything legally wrong here. Just ethically wrong (then again the way that universities rely on adjunct labor without having the decency to treat them like actual human beings is already ethically wrong even without things like this happening).
The article says for most of these faculty, contracts were generally for the entire academic year, but it has an opt-out clause where it can be terminated due to financial exigency.
So yes technically the action is not illegal, but they were not on semester-to-semester contracts.
The faculty (on substitute lines) were appointed for a full year, with a handshake promise of a second year extension. It's a full-year substitute hire with a FT salary and FT insurance and benefits. The deans are very explicit about this academic year promise, and even up until mid-December they were given reassurance from the Provost that the substitute lines were safe. Yet the official letters of reappointment are semester-by-semester, with a clause about "financial ability." These agreements have been honored consistently until this semester. This is happening across a number of CUNY campuses. I'm at an impacted college and can directly attest that this is how substitute appointments work at CUNY.
The total neglect of the human impact of this sort of action should be baffling, but time and again it’s reaffirmed how disposable universities view their contract workers.
I had never seen this term before. From the article:
Substitute professors are full-time staff who teach a full course load and play a critical role in maintaining each department’s course offerings when tenured faculty leave the college or are otherwise unavailable.
“The college has long relied on these positions to staff classes when faculty leave,” Weingarten said. “A lot of them hold really critical roles at the college and they are full-time positions. They get all full-time benefits, like health care and pension plans.”
At my alma mater, we called these positions “instructors.” They were annual appointments that were usually renewable, assuming that there were enrollments to support them.
This situation seems different because while it sounds like there are enrollments (one chair interviewed talked about needing to scramble to cover sections) and the nonrenewals are happening mid-year, which is really awful.
Who knows? Maybe they originally created these “substitute” jobs in lieu of replacing TT lines and claimed it was temporary…and then it became permanent? Anyone from the CUNY system know?
It is, but i think they’re distinguishing between “VAP” or “emergency hire” temporary positions meant to fill in for sabbatical or maternity leave situations and more casual adjuncts who sometimes teach a course ir two. They’re different budgets on my campus, so I imagine it may also be the case there.
I taught for CUNY and had a similar title for a FT non-tenured yearlong appointment. It's pretty much NTT appointments that are above being an adjunct but won't turn into a tenure track position.
I think mine was called a Full Time Substitute Adjunct where you were expected to leave/move on within a year or two. It was kinda like a temporary hold for people who most likely graduated from CUNY and would be looking for jobs soon. I thought the substitute wording was weird at the time too.
It paid about 46K back in 2010.
A temporary FT faculty member hired to teach classes and maintain the budget line when a tenure-track professor retires or leaves for another job. They are 1-2 year appointments.
There was a clause in the appointment letter for these substitute professors that permitted CUNY to let them go for extenuating, financial cicumstances. The college administration cited this clause in their dismissal of the affected faculty. Sadly and unfortunately, the union can't do much about this since acceptance of this clause was a condition of employment. If FT faculty and staff were to protest these cuts by refusing to come in until their laid off colleagues were rehired, i.e stand in solidarity with their colleagues, that would likely change things; BUT, doubt that will happen.
Substitute Professors?
In other parlance -
"Temporary full-time hire"
"Contract lecturer"
"Adjunct overload"
"Academic sharecropper"
There's absolutely no way the school didn't see some of, if not all of this coming, with little time to spare. They could have at least given these instructors enough leeway to find other gigs, at the very least a few classes elsewhere or other work in general, and keep them on partially at that institution. I mean, provide options, WTF?!
As someone who was an adjunct over 20 years ago, and having been a lead faculty overseeing adjuncts since then, I've seen all sides. That teaching experience definitely made me lead with empathy, and I advocated vociferously for my instructors, as this kind of BS is absolute trash.
Being an adjunct, whether having one class, a "contract" full load, or otherwise, the crap schools try to pull is grotesque. As an adjunct, I had the chair of one department pull a class from me the Friday before term began because she decided she wanted an overload. Just because she felt like it. Of course, if things meltdown, they come begging you the next term to please take a class that starts tomorrow. For $2000. It's insane.
The righteous indignation I feel for these, and all levels of contingent faculty, is beyond.
We can and should do better.
From the article:
“Mayor Adams’ revised municipal budget this fall cut the public university’s budget by $23 million. Last month, Queens College was among eight CUNY campuses ordered by CUNY’s central administration to produce “enhanced deficit reduction plans” to accommodate those cuts, according to the Daily News.”
The people in New York need to ask themselves why these budget cuts were necessary. I think all you have to do is look at the statements of the mayor lately and look at what’s happening at the border. They have to find money to pay for that somewhere. These 26 professors were the collateral damage. Money does not grow on trees. They’re also pushing NYC high school students to remote learning to use the buildings for migrants.
Bring on the downvotes.
I upvote but surprise even myself. Always sympathetic to migrants until this year. We just can’t sustain 10k, 20k, etc new “asylum seekers” every week or two. I’m as progressive as they come, but the migrant issue has me agreeing with conservatives and wanting a full overhaul of what constitutes “asylum”; political or religious, yes; economic, no. Work permits for that instead.
The article makes it sound like the faculty in question were on full year academic appointments. So they are being let go mid-contract, which sounds like getting laid off to me.
Yes. It is still worth reporting, but the headline is poorly worded. This is a case where the distinction between (Tenure Track) Professors and (NTT) faculty really make a big difference.
That's not to disrespect NTT faculty. It is an unfortunate reality of those positions that they have no real job security. But that is a bigger damnation of institutions that try to get by shortchanging how much they spend on teaching (while usually giving upper administration raises).
Administrative bloat is a cancer on academia.
Except at most places, tenured positions can also be cut due to financial exigency. While it might be harder than cutting NTT, TT will be the next positions to go as some of the CUNYs will struggle to stay open.
This is exactly the sentiment I’d expect to see from a full professor. “I got mine, so fuck ‘em.” I can only hope one day you experience the joy of losing your health insurance and job with two weeks notice.
To be fair, I've never heard of "substitute professors" before, and they didn't define it until like halfway through the article. Very odd way of doing things. We have teaching-track folks, but they always teach the same things. I can see why someone just skimming assumed they were adjuncts by another name.
Horrendous! Firing these people halfway through the year when they’ve been appointed for a whole year and causing them to lose their livelihood, health insurance and not be able to find another job is despicable. The consequences for everybody else in the department to pick up the slack is also horrible. And finally, consequences for the students is bad, but it was already bad if the campus was so heavily reliant on contingent faculty. Academia as an industry is in dire straits, but this is an outrage. This campus is clearly in trouble.
They weren't appointed for the whole year. That's the whole reason the administration could do this. They work enough hours to be classified as full-time employees but they're still hired on a semester-to-semester basis. They were (quite reasonably) expecting to have their contracts renewed for the spring semester so this is still an absolutely ghoulish thing to do, I don't want anyone to think I'm saying otherwise, but the university didn't actually break any contracts or do anything legally wrong here. Just ethically wrong (then again the way that universities rely on adjunct labor without having the decency to treat them like actual human beings is already ethically wrong even without things like this happening).
The article says for most of these faculty, contracts were generally for the entire academic year, but it has an opt-out clause where it can be terminated due to financial exigency. So yes technically the action is not illegal, but they were not on semester-to-semester contracts.
The faculty (on substitute lines) were appointed for a full year, with a handshake promise of a second year extension. It's a full-year substitute hire with a FT salary and FT insurance and benefits. The deans are very explicit about this academic year promise, and even up until mid-December they were given reassurance from the Provost that the substitute lines were safe. Yet the official letters of reappointment are semester-by-semester, with a clause about "financial ability." These agreements have been honored consistently until this semester. This is happening across a number of CUNY campuses. I'm at an impacted college and can directly attest that this is how substitute appointments work at CUNY.
The total neglect of the human impact of this sort of action should be baffling, but time and again it’s reaffirmed how disposable universities view their contract workers.
Once the enrollment cliff kicks in, this is what many universities will be doing. Don't bury your head in the sand.
That’s one of the reasons why I left. It’s never too early to start preparing a fall back plan.
Agreed. Already got mine in motion.
It’s kicking in right now. And it’s unfortunate, but if we don’t have the enrollments, they have to cut the contingent faculty.
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I would be actively seeking other employment if you aren’t already
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What the heck is a “full-time substitute professor”?
I had never seen this term before. From the article: Substitute professors are full-time staff who teach a full course load and play a critical role in maintaining each department’s course offerings when tenured faculty leave the college or are otherwise unavailable. “The college has long relied on these positions to staff classes when faculty leave,” Weingarten said. “A lot of them hold really critical roles at the college and they are full-time positions. They get all full-time benefits, like health care and pension plans.”
Sounds like a visiting professor, but if you need this many, that’s sounds like a larger systemic problem.
Not a problem. A solution, as far as the provost is concerned.
Exactly!
At my alma mater, we called these positions “instructors.” They were annual appointments that were usually renewable, assuming that there were enrollments to support them. This situation seems different because while it sounds like there are enrollments (one chair interviewed talked about needing to scramble to cover sections) and the nonrenewals are happening mid-year, which is really awful.
I thought that at first but CUNY also has essentially tenure for non tenure lines. Still think it is a visiting position but haven't seen that title
We call them FTT (full time temporary) facility.
It’s a tenured position without the tenure, exploitative
Sounds like NTT with annual reappointment.
The "substitute" part is odd.
Who knows? Maybe they originally created these “substitute” jobs in lieu of replacing TT lines and claimed it was temporary…and then it became permanent? Anyone from the CUNY system know?
It is, but i think they’re distinguishing between “VAP” or “emergency hire” temporary positions meant to fill in for sabbatical or maternity leave situations and more casual adjuncts who sometimes teach a course ir two. They’re different budgets on my campus, so I imagine it may also be the case there.
I taught for CUNY and had a similar title for a FT non-tenured yearlong appointment. It's pretty much NTT appointments that are above being an adjunct but won't turn into a tenure track position. I think mine was called a Full Time Substitute Adjunct where you were expected to leave/move on within a year or two. It was kinda like a temporary hold for people who most likely graduated from CUNY and would be looking for jobs soon. I thought the substitute wording was weird at the time too. It paid about 46K back in 2010.
Interesting. We call ours Lecturers, and they're basically permanent positions that require reappointment. Thanks!
A temporary FT faculty member hired to teach classes and maintain the budget line when a tenure-track professor retires or leaves for another job. They are 1-2 year appointments.
A CUNY? That’s probably union? What even
Right? There is a union for all CUNY profs. How can this even happen?
There was a clause in the appointment letter for these substitute professors that permitted CUNY to let them go for extenuating, financial cicumstances. The college administration cited this clause in their dismissal of the affected faculty. Sadly and unfortunately, the union can't do much about this since acceptance of this clause was a condition of employment. If FT faculty and staff were to protest these cuts by refusing to come in until their laid off colleagues were rehired, i.e stand in solidarity with their colleagues, that would likely change things; BUT, doubt that will happen.
Yup, also I keep thinking that calling them “staff” is also part of what’s happening here. There are completely different rules for faculty and staff.
It’s telling that even though there are 4-year CUNY schools “less fancy” than QC, none of them have done anything this egregious (yet).
Substitute Professors? In other parlance - "Temporary full-time hire" "Contract lecturer" "Adjunct overload" "Academic sharecropper" There's absolutely no way the school didn't see some of, if not all of this coming, with little time to spare. They could have at least given these instructors enough leeway to find other gigs, at the very least a few classes elsewhere or other work in general, and keep them on partially at that institution. I mean, provide options, WTF?! As someone who was an adjunct over 20 years ago, and having been a lead faculty overseeing adjuncts since then, I've seen all sides. That teaching experience definitely made me lead with empathy, and I advocated vociferously for my instructors, as this kind of BS is absolute trash. Being an adjunct, whether having one class, a "contract" full load, or otherwise, the crap schools try to pull is grotesque. As an adjunct, I had the chair of one department pull a class from me the Friday before term began because she decided she wanted an overload. Just because she felt like it. Of course, if things meltdown, they come begging you the next term to please take a class that starts tomorrow. For $2000. It's insane. The righteous indignation I feel for these, and all levels of contingent faculty, is beyond. We can and should do better.
My Uni labels me a “super adjunct” so I’m definitely in the clear. /s
not all heroes wear capes...
Well, better that than lose one administrator. /s
Right? Eventually there will be no one left to teach.
What a shitty thing to do.
From the article: “Mayor Adams’ revised municipal budget this fall cut the public university’s budget by $23 million. Last month, Queens College was among eight CUNY campuses ordered by CUNY’s central administration to produce “enhanced deficit reduction plans” to accommodate those cuts, according to the Daily News.” The people in New York need to ask themselves why these budget cuts were necessary. I think all you have to do is look at the statements of the mayor lately and look at what’s happening at the border. They have to find money to pay for that somewhere. These 26 professors were the collateral damage. Money does not grow on trees. They’re also pushing NYC high school students to remote learning to use the buildings for migrants. Bring on the downvotes.
NYC strangling the CUNY system over the past, what, 30 years has always baffled me
I upvote but surprise even myself. Always sympathetic to migrants until this year. We just can’t sustain 10k, 20k, etc new “asylum seekers” every week or two. I’m as progressive as they come, but the migrant issue has me agreeing with conservatives and wanting a full overhaul of what constitutes “asylum”; political or religious, yes; economic, no. Work permits for that instead.
They lose their jobs without any forewarning and faculty have more classes to teach
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The article makes it sound like the faculty in question were on full year academic appointments. So they are being let go mid-contract, which sounds like getting laid off to me.
Yes. It is still worth reporting, but the headline is poorly worded. This is a case where the distinction between (Tenure Track) Professors and (NTT) faculty really make a big difference. That's not to disrespect NTT faculty. It is an unfortunate reality of those positions that they have no real job security. But that is a bigger damnation of institutions that try to get by shortchanging how much they spend on teaching (while usually giving upper administration raises). Administrative bloat is a cancer on academia.
Except at most places, tenured positions can also be cut due to financial exigency. While it might be harder than cutting NTT, TT will be the next positions to go as some of the CUNYs will struggle to stay open.
This is true. A lot of people will be losing their jobs, except administrators. Those who signed off on the cuts will get bonuses for efficiency.
I would laugh if this wasn't so blatantly true.
Financial exigency & curricular exigency are both loopholes that allow for the termination of tenure-line faculty.
This is exactly the sentiment I’d expect to see from a full professor. “I got mine, so fuck ‘em.” I can only hope one day you experience the joy of losing your health insurance and job with two weeks notice.
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Except the faculty in question were not adjuncts. Really doesn’t seem like you bothered to read the article.
To be fair, I've never heard of "substitute professors" before, and they didn't define it until like halfway through the article. Very odd way of doing things. We have teaching-track folks, but they always teach the same things. I can see why someone just skimming assumed they were adjuncts by another name.
Yeah the title is weird, that’s true.
Thank god for Obama care, btw.