How much — or little — are adjunct professors at your college paid?
In the academic hierarchy, adjunct professors are at the bottom rung of the ladder. They’re professors who serve on short-term contracts without the possibility of tenure. For the past several years, debates have been swirling in academia over whether these professors are underpaid or exploited.
Student reporters are delving into the issue and getting answers. A Columbia Spectator investigation culled salary data from adjunct pay stubs over the spring and summer and found that adjunct pay at Columbia ranges from $4,500 to $15,000 per course among 10 different arts and sciences departments. The base pay is $5,000 per course, which can be increased at the department’s discretion. Only the visual arts department pays adjuncts below the base pay rate, which hasn’t changed in over a decade, according to a professor interviewed in the investigation.
The chasm between the low and high ends of the pay spectrum is wide. But overall, according to one professor in the investigation, pay at Columbia is higher than at many universities.
Note that many of the professors in the article requested anonymity. This is a wall you’ll often hit in stories about faculty pay; professors are afraid to speak out for fear of losing their jobs, particularly adjuncts who have little to no job security. Anonymity should rarely be used in any form of journalism, but sometimes it’s necessary, especially to tell the stories of employees who have little negotiating power. Be careful with it, however, and review the Student Press Law Center’s guide to protecting sources and information first.
Be sure to verify your facts independently, as the Spectator reporters did through the pay stubs. Try to source and verify your data with hard numbers from official sources, such as public records requests. Average salary data can often be found online for employees at public institutions.
Also, the Chronicle of Higher Education is gathering pay and other data about adjuncts across the country — search their database for your college.
Make sure not to let anonymity become a vessel through which disgruntled sources funnel their personal vendettas or grudges. Anonymity should be a last resort used in covering stories that challenge powerful people and institutions.
— Tara Jeffries
