This is a compelling statement by our colleagues forced into precarious labor conditions. Any discussion of the political economy of higher education simply must include the situation of these colleagues, and those of us in tenured or tenure-track positions must do all we can to demonstrate our solidarity with them.
In particular, we must analyze the relation of graduate student labor to adjunct labor, and insist that ABDs and recent PhDs are not "preparing to enter the job market," for they are already in the "job system." That is, they are already essential components of the labor force whose role in the political economy of higher education can only be seen in terms of a single, multi-dimensional system.
Read the whole thing; here's the preamble:
We are the non-tenure track faculty who now constitute two-thirds of the instructional workforce at universities and colleges across the nation. We are frequently invisible to administrators, yet we are the first professors and instructors that undergraduate students meet on their journey to becoming engaged learners. We are the majority. We have been silent too long, and it is time for us to reclaim our voices and outline our demands.
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