Letter to the Editor

If the part-time lecturers’ one-day walkout happens next Wednesday, October 11, I will not cross the picket line. I encourage all faculty to do the same.

Part-time lecturers are paid by the piece: $7,300 per course base salary. For some, one course is all the work they can get. Right now, the administration is proposing a median annual increase of 2.4 percent or about $180 per course. Assuming a four-month semester, this amounts to a $45 per month raise or $11 per week. That’s $1.57 more per day, not even enough for a cup of coffee. And that's *before* taxes.

The lecturers are holding firm, but I've seen many negotiations in my lifetime. I can tell you with near certainty that both sides want to avoid a strike. If our administration would come up even marginally, it could help prevent the walkout. I hope they will, because this institution can certainly afford to give the lowest paid faculty more than cost of living increases.

Moreover, if the lecturers do walk out for one day, it is imperative that the one day be an unqualified success. Put another way, if we want this dispute to end and end quickly, then the surest way to make that happen will be for all faculty to honor the picket line. That will bring the university to a standstill, and that in turn will bring the administration to the table.

The larger issue here, however, as we know is the corporatization of the university and of higher education in general. Rather than hire tenure-track faculty to do this work, employers like Tufts have brought into being a casual workforce who can teach college at a fraction of the cost. This structural process devalues not just the work of our part-time colleagues, but the work we all do. By contrast, the lecturers are attempting to re-introduce some dignity to our collective endeavor.

I moved from Providence College to Tufts University this year, because Tufts is a progressive institution. As a community, we are on the side of the underdog. All faculty should stand together with our part-time lecturers. They deserve every cent they are asking for.

Come Wednesday, I will be on the picket line with them.

Cedric de Leon, Associate Professor of Sociology Tufts University Cedric.De_Leon@tufts.edu Personal Website: https://cedricdeleon.academia.edu/