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Local takes, larger issues

CAMPUS FACULTY: Adjunct faculty members teach more than 60 percent of classes at Metro. This is a common theme among most Colorado state colleges and universities. Adjuncts normally do not receive benefits such as health insurance from the college and are payed less than tenured professors. Tenured professors have job protection that adjuncts do not enjoy. Below are responses from campus faculty members about what this means for teachers and for students.

"It really depends on the professor. There are outstanding adjunct professors and outstanding full-time professors. I think full-time tenure/tenure-track professors would have greater continuity. There is a contractual obligation for tenure/tenure-track professors to teach over and over again and hold more prestige, and with adjunct faculty it’s far more relaxed. I think they (adjuncts) should have benefits. All Americans should have benefits."
– Robert Hazan, full-time faculty member

"The hope with having adjunct teachers is that you are bringing people into the classroom who can augment the talent of your full-time faculty. You want adjuncts with some specific expertise that adds to the students’ experience. Hopefully, that is what we are doing."

"Higher education in Colorado appears to have suffered due to the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Voters were wise to suspend this law, whose provisions seem to be committed to cutting off public funding of higher education."

"I know President Stephen Jordan wants to reduce the number of adjuncts. Hopefully, he will find the funding to increase the number of tenure-track or similar full-time positions to ensure that students don’t suffer."
– Shaun Schafer, adjunct faculty member