Dive Brief:
- Non-tenured faculty at George Mason University are overworked, underpaid, and under-supported, according to a new report.
- Conducted by doctoral students at the university, the study shows that 23% of the adjunct faculty members have annual household incomes of less than $30,000.
- An additional 23% of the adjuncts depend on their teaching income to avoid falling to poverty or near-poverty levels.
Dive Insight:
The contingent faculty members also reported that they were hired under lax requirements — only 59% were asked for references and only 50% had to interview for the job. Many were hired just before the semester started: A third of the adjuncts had less than two weeks to prepare for their courses and a quarter had less than a week to prepare. Nearly 40% of the respondents in the report aimed to work in a tenure-track position or gain teaching experience.
Despite being focused at George Mason, the study likely has implications for higher ed at large.