by Andrew Brownstein

In April of last year, Solo Dowuona-Hammond raised his hand and made the motion for thousands of adjuncts at New York University to accept their first-ever contract with the administration. Though far from perfect, the contract brought immediate benefits: Some professor’s salaries jumped from $20 to $50 an hour; adjunct faculty could take sabbaticals knowing that they would have a job when they returned; and most importantly, the university could no longer fire adjuncts without cause.

At the time, Mr. Dowuona-Hammond, an adjunct lecturer in the McGhee School of Liberal Arts, born in Ghana, believed in the effort and the organization that made it all happen, the United Auto Workers. The adjuncts unionized under the UAW banner and the labor giant, in turn, brought NYU to the negotiating table.

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