There’s a cottage industry of writers talking about the atrocious salaries and working conditions of adjunct professors. In the past few year, there have been dozens and dozens of articles. It’s been a side topic on this blog for ten years, because when I started blogging, I WAS an adjunct at an Ivy League college. No office. No benefits. $3,000 for the semester with 30 hours per week of prep work. It actually cost me money to teach that class, because I had to pay a babysitter. A year before I started blogging, both my husband and I were adjuncts and were so poor that we recieved government food vouchers.

In Salon, a writing professor asks the Association of Writers and Writing Programs to stop ignoring the fact that 70 percent of all college classes are taught by contingent labor.

I think it’s time to have a stern talk to those who are in those situations. Time to walk away, folks. No more work for free. Universities will not change as long as there is a long line for these jobs. It’s far better to do a job that is slightly boring, but comes with a weekly paycheck, than to do your dream job for free.