An Adjunct Conundrum

 The NYIT Chronicle Imagine this scenario: you are in class with an amazing professor. The professor explains everything, and is very knowledgeable about her career field. However, you need to get in touch with her for any of a variety of reasons: you recently failed a test in her class or you need advice about registering. When you go to find her, you find that she doesn’t keep office hours, and she does not respond to the emails you sent her. You’re really worried about passing the class, but you have no way to get in contact with her.  This is the “adjunct conundrum” that NYIT students face. Adjuncts are faculty members that are hired by colleges on a part-time basis. According to the 2007-08 student handbook, there are 714 faculty members who are employed by NYIT. Of that number, almost 60 percent (419 to be exact) are hired as adjuncts.  NYIT is a school that prides itself on providing “career-oriented” education. This means that rather than training student to be philosophers, NYIT wants to give students the tools needed to find a successful career after graduation. To this extent, there are benefits to having adjunct professors. Many are still active in their field, so they are aware of changes in the field. In addition, the contacts that an adjunct may have can be helpful for students looking for internships and jobs. Finally, and perhaps most important, many adjuncts are relatively young enough to be able to relate to students and make the subject seem important.  However, for every good adjunct professor, odds are there are two bad ones, and the downsides to adjuncts are as numerous as the pluses. Adjuncts can be difficult to contact, because many do not keep office hours like regular professors. Few check use or check their NYIT e-mail, and most adjuncts are not listed in the NYIT directory. Many teach at multiple schools, so they cannot give students the attention that full-time professors can afford. And even if an adjunct is a great professor, odds are HE OR SHE  only teaches one class, which means most students will only have that professor once. Even worse, good adjuncts often leave, depriving students of the chance to take their class.  We at the NYIT Chronicle believe that there needs to be a better system of separating the good adjunct professors from the bad. Good adjuncts must be rewarded, either with money or with the potential for full-time employment. However, poorly reviewed adjuncts should be swiftly removed. Too often we have seen adjunct professors receive horrible reviews on the end-of-semester student evaluations only to return the next semester. The students are then left to believe that the evaluations are useless, and in turn, students don’t take much care in filling them out.   Also, adjunct professors should be required to use their NYIT email addresses, and they must be listed in the NYIT directory.  Finally, we believe that the process of hiring adjuncts should be made open to students. This is not to say that students should decide who is hired, but we should be able to receive an explanation as to why an adjunct was hired, and why they remain even after receiving poor reviews.   Our problem is not that NYIT hires adjunct professors — most colleges rely on them. We understand the value of hiring professors who are active in their field. However, the sheer number of adjunct professors is troubling. We understand that it is cheaper to employ adjunct professors because they do not require benefits, but we feel that NYIT should not be run like a company. NYIT is in the business of shaping minds, not saving money. This month’s editorial board cosists of: Nigel Chiwaya, Adam Distler, Mirette Misak, Fayon Pellew, Bill Peters, Leah Veal