by David Murray

Most of us agree that life as a full-time adjunct is no kind of career. The pay is low, benefits are nonexistent, we have no formal job security, and our years of dedicated teaching will not count for anything except more of the same. Every year we do it, the odds of getting the tenure-track position that some of us secretly hope for decrease. (Cary Nelson, current President of the American Association of University Professors, estimates that fewer than ten percent of his fellow doctoral students at the University of Illinois in the early 70s made it to tenure—and that was then.)

Some of us have spouses or partners who provide a main income, and some have day jobs and teach purely for fulfillment or to contribute to a discipline. But most of us, studies show, rely on adjuncting for a full-time income. And we can easily fall into the habit of treating it as if it were a real career even though it’s not.

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