by Lee Shainen

EVER SEE THAT commercial about herding cats? It reminds me of trying to get adjuncts to organize. Faculty members, in general, are an independent and eccentric lot. Off the top of my head, I'd say they are right up there with quirky inventors and solitary gold miners on the wacko scale. But adjuncts are not only weird (imagine going to college for six to ten years and then picking a profession that pays less than the national poverty rate and provides no benefits, or that pays a decent wage and benefits, but is a complete dead end); they are also paranoid. The typical adjuncts are afraid that one wrong move or word will mean that their contracts will not be renewed.

They are reluctant to join anything or to sign anything, and most feel incapable of paying dues or membership fees of any kind. This is a difficult group to organize. Oh yeah, and all that education makes us opinionated as can be. No poverty consciousness in the opinion department, no sir, which means getting faculty to agree on anything (besides wanting more money) can be a hair-pulling, frustrating exercise in endless verbal volleyball.

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