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We Own You: USC Wants to Prevent Adjunct Faculty from Teaching Elsewhere

Tenure track faculty are often contractually limited in how much teaching they are allowed to do outside their primary university. Adjunct faculty, on the other hand, typically receive much lower pay and far fewer benefits compared to tenure track faculty. Adjuncts often make up for their lower compensation by teaching at two or more universities at a time. For many, this double dipping is necessary in order to make even a modest living.

USC upset some observers this week by advertising an adjunct faculty position that includes a ban from teaching at another university:

Maria Maisto, the president of the New Faculty Majority, a coalition of non-tenure-track faculty members, …said the demand was problematic. “I can’t see how it can be ethical for them to say what an adjunct can or cannot do to make a living. I can understand that is a specialized course, unlike, say, English composition, but people have a right to question as to how they can put that kind of stipulation,” she said. “I’m curious about what the legal opinion might be.”

Lawrence Picus, vice dean for faculty affairs at the Rossier school, said their assumption was that the adjunct, who would bring a very special kind of expertise, already had full-time employment as a professional, for example, as a superintendent of a school system or a school principal.

“We use adjuncts to meet very specific needs. They teach on an occasional basis and we want them to focus on our school, rather than across multiple universities,” Picus said. “Our intent is not to make life difficult for anybody. But we ask that the person not be teaching at a similar program at another university.”

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/25/usc-job-ad-rankles-adjuncts#ixzz1t3oTyE9N
Inside Higher Ed

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