I received this e-mail a few days ago. It describes an initiative which I hope could be replicated elsewhere. I think there’s two issues here: the provision of support for contingent faculty and the lack of responsiveness of professional associations to the problems facing this expanding group. Such proactive displays of solidarity as detailed here will unfortunately be necessary until both universities and professional associations address these issues properly.
Help contingent faculty members get to the National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference
Summary
Over a dozen contingent faculty members working in women’s and gender studies and related disciplines have organized three conference sessions on the theme of contingent labor in academia for the National Women’s Studies Association’s 2014 annual conference. Five participants did not receive enough funding from either their respective institutions or the NWSA to attend.
You might be asking – what is a contingent faculty member? Contingent faculty member is a term for anyone who is not a full-time, permanent member of faculty (tenure track or otherwise) at a college or university. This includes adjunct professors, part (and often full-) time lecturers, visiting professors, post-doctorates, and some staff members. Contingent faculty very often earn less than a living wage with little to no benefits, and currently make up over 75% of the professoriate.
Now you might be saying, but what does this have to do with women’s and gender studies? First, women comprise a majority of this precarious workforce, and many are women of color, in disciplines in the humanities and social sciences that have historically contributed, and continue to contribute, to women and gender studies departments and that, like WGS, are marginalized within academia. Second, as a discipline, women’s and gender studies is grounded in social justice and includes deep analysis of structural issues like racism, sexism, and classism (and their intersections). Because the problems faced by contingent faculty are structural – that is, they are both caused by and indicative of a deeply inequitable system – those working in women’s and gender studies are well positioned to contribute to conversations examining the problem and its solutions. And finally, these sessions mark a watershed moment for the field, as they will be the first coordinated attempt to address the issue of contingent labor during an annual conference. With the acceptance of three roundtable sessions on contingency, NWSA has shown support for the work that needs to be done to address working conditions in higher education. We need your help to match that support with funding.
What We Need
Contingent faculty have been, and continue to be, left out of professional development opportunities because of lack of support from the colleges, universities, and associations of which they are faculty and members, including the funds to attend conferences. Although all of our participants applied for funding from the NWSA and their institutions (where possible), five participants were not able to access enough funding to attend the conference.
- Money raised will help five contingent faculty members attend the NWSA. Members have all already been accepted as participants in the conference, and have registered.
- Additional money will be donated first to contingent faculty and other precariously employed individuals who have also been accepted to the conference, but did not receive sufficient funding, either from the NWSA or their employers.
- Any further additional money will be donated to the NWSA for the creation of a fund to support contingent faculty travel expenses for future conferences, directly addressing the increasingly precarious nature of our profession.
The Impact
By supporting contingent faculty members, you will enable our roundtable participants to contribute to the first multi-session discussion on the theme of contingent labor at an NWSA conference. The roundtable participants are eager to collaborate with conference attendees – not only to make contingent faculty’s voices heard, but also to outline some concrete steps that NWSA members can take to address these issues in women’s and gender studies departments and programs around the country.
We anticipate that outcomes of these initial efforts (including this fundraising effort!) will help to ensure that conversations about the future of women’s and gender studies include *all* members of this diverse and ever-expanding discipline for years to come.
Details, Details
$500 per person ($2500 total) will get our remaining five participants to the conference. We know we can reach this goal with your help…and we think we can raise even more! Every dollar we raise over $2500 will be distributed to other contingent faculty members and precariously employed individuals who do not have sufficient funding to attend the NWSA conference. Any additional funds raised will be donated directly to NWSA to create a fund for contingent faculty to attend future conferences.
Other Ways to Help
- Even if you can’t donate to the campaign, you can still support us. Ask folks to get the word out: share it on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and the rest of the usual suspects.
- Contact one of the organizers and donate a “perk” to the campaign.
- Get more information on women & contingency in higher ed through the New Faculty Majority Women & Contingency Project: http://www.newfacultymajority.info/women-and-co…
- Support research & advocacy efforts regarding contingent faculty in your discipline, at your university, and beyond!
Mark Carrigan 