One Faculty Working Together

AAUP chapters across the country staffed information tables and held teach-ins, lobbying days, film screenings, and other activities in conjunction with National Adjunct Walkout Day in February. The grassroots event drew attention to adjunct faculty labor issues and focused on providing fair wages and better working conditions for adjuncts. At least thirty AAUP chapters participated; many highlighted the AAUP’s One Faculty campaign, which provides chapters with tools to address issues of shared governance, working conditions, economic security, and academic freedom for all those who teach and do research in colleges and universities. Participating AAUP chapters joined with more than a thousand faculty members on campuses across the country who used the day to raise awareness about inequalities in the academic labor system.

“The Fairfield University chapter’s Faculty Welfare Committee had an informational table set up all day in the highest traffic area in the campus center,” said Irene Mulvey, chapter president. “The table was staffed by chapter members with information, flyers, buttons, and candy, and we talked with students, staff, and faculty. We all wore our AAUP T-shirts, which say ‘We Are One Fairfield’ on the front and ‘AAUP’ on the back.”

While the day was the culmination of a grassroots effort to shine a national light on the experiences of adjuncts, AAUP members can continue to support the movement to improve contingent faculty working conditions through the AAUP’s One Faculty campaign. More information on the campaign can be found at http://www.aaup.org/get-involved/issue-campaigns/one-faculty.