University of California withdraws employment advert
April 6, 2022 8:49 PM Subscribe
The university of California made to withdraw a job advertisement for an assistant adjunct Professor in Science that offered no salary. Throws a light on university sweat shops. Boston Globe
Sounds like we need a Marshall Plan in education if universities can't afford to pay wages to Science academics.
Sounds like we need a Marshall Plan in education if universities can't afford to pay wages to Science academics.
Is there a non paywall link?
posted by interogative mood at 10:27 PM on April 6, 2022
posted by interogative mood at 10:27 PM on April 6, 2022
Archive snapshot, Help wanted: adjunct professor, must have doctorate. Salary: $0
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:42 PM on April 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:42 PM on April 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Here is a Young Turks video about the job on YouTube.
The Professor who set the whole thing in motion is completely unrepentant.
posted by jamjam at 10:42 PM on April 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Professor who set the whole thing in motion is completely unrepentant.
posted by jamjam at 10:42 PM on April 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Inside Higher Ed, limited free articles: UCLA Will Pay Adjunct, After All (March 22, 2022) After three days of complaints about its previous policy of not paying an adjunct, the university reverses course.
March 19, Bill Kisliuk, director of media relations at UCLA, defends the original job listing: “UCLA is committed to providing fair compensation to faculty across the institution,” his statement Saturday read. “Some positions may be without salary when individuals are compensated by other sources and a formal affiliation with UCLA is necessary. These positions are considered when an individual can realize other benefits from the appointment that advance their scholarship, such as the ability to apply for or maintain grants, mentor students and participate in research that can benefit society. These arrangements are common in academia and, in cases where formal classroom teaching is a component, compensation for these services is provided commensurate to experience and with an eye to equity within the unit.”
March 21, Kisliuk again: “A recent job posting by UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry contained errors and we are sorry. We always offer compensation for formal classroom teaching. We will do better in the future and have taken down the posting, which we will make sure is correctly written and reposted. Our positions are open to all applicants,” read a statement by Bill Kisliuk
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:49 PM on April 6, 2022 [7 favorites]
March 19, Bill Kisliuk, director of media relations at UCLA, defends the original job listing: “UCLA is committed to providing fair compensation to faculty across the institution,” his statement Saturday read. “Some positions may be without salary when individuals are compensated by other sources and a formal affiliation with UCLA is necessary. These positions are considered when an individual can realize other benefits from the appointment that advance their scholarship, such as the ability to apply for or maintain grants, mentor students and participate in research that can benefit society. These arrangements are common in academia and, in cases where formal classroom teaching is a component, compensation for these services is provided commensurate to experience and with an eye to equity within the unit.”
March 21, Kisliuk again: “A recent job posting by UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry contained errors and we are sorry. We always offer compensation for formal classroom teaching. We will do better in the future and have taken down the posting, which we will make sure is correctly written and reposted. Our positions are open to all applicants,” read a statement by Bill Kisliuk
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:49 PM on April 6, 2022 [7 favorites]
These arrangements are common in academia
I knew things were bad, courtesy of a series of housemates who were post-docs at a UC campus. But christ on a cracker, this is horrible.
Many things that are common are nonetheless unacceptable. This being a case in point. Thanks for the post, Narrative_Historian.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:22 PM on April 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
I knew things were bad, courtesy of a series of housemates who were post-docs at a UC campus. But christ on a cracker, this is horrible.
Many things that are common are nonetheless unacceptable. This being a case in point. Thanks for the post, Narrative_Historian.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:22 PM on April 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
What an insult to spend two years working on a PHd and then be expected to work for nothing, ridiculous.
posted by Narrative_Historian at 2:19 AM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Narrative_Historian at 2:19 AM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
Two years? Man, have I got some news for you...
posted by Alterscape at 2:33 AM on April 7, 2022 [66 favorites]
posted by Alterscape at 2:33 AM on April 7, 2022 [66 favorites]
Come on, Bill. I’m pretty sure the gas company stopped taking “the ability to mentor students” as a form of payment a while ago.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:50 AM on April 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:50 AM on April 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
I left academia because the pay was crap but from what I understand this may actually not be a big deal at all? Like it’s some weird arrangement in STEM where industry pays their employee to do academic work and this was one of those positions made for that situation. Which is funny since the person who would end up filling the position is probably making more money than actual faculty.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 3:29 AM on April 7, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 3:29 AM on April 7, 2022 [13 favorites]
I left academia because the pay was crap but from what I understand this may actually not be a big deal at all? Like it’s some weird arrangement in STEM where industry pays their employee to do academic work and this was one of those positions made for that situation. Which is funny since the person who would end up filling the position is probably making more money than actual faculty.
Yes, or someone at the university in a research-related appointment getting a side appointment to teach a class or take on students in some capacity; someone wants to maintain an affiliation with the institution on paper for various reasons related to library access, being able to list that institution on publications; etc. etc.
But the argument of the union is that everyone should be paid for their labor (rather than setting precedents that some labor can be uncompensated), and also that every time someone who is already otherwise employed is given an unpaid appointment, that is one less paid position on offer for that task.
posted by pemberkins at 3:52 AM on April 7, 2022 [25 favorites]
Yes, or someone at the university in a research-related appointment getting a side appointment to teach a class or take on students in some capacity; someone wants to maintain an affiliation with the institution on paper for various reasons related to library access, being able to list that institution on publications; etc. etc.
But the argument of the union is that everyone should be paid for their labor (rather than setting precedents that some labor can be uncompensated), and also that every time someone who is already otherwise employed is given an unpaid appointment, that is one less paid position on offer for that task.
posted by pemberkins at 3:52 AM on April 7, 2022 [25 favorites]
Lots of hot takes here, which for a change may be RIGHT.
Yes, or someone at the university in a research-related appointment getting a side appointment to teach a class or take on students in some capacity; someone wants to maintain an affiliation with the institution on paper for various reasons related to library access, being able to list that institution on publications; etc. etc.
I gave the above answer - as it's how many teaching and other appointments work when the person doing the teaching has another source of fulltime income (e.g. research grant or teaching fellowship that requires you teach at another institution).
I was ready to defend this job-posting as an example of that process and would HAPPILY do so in the future......
but some analysis and commentary a week or two ago ruled that out
https://twitter.com/Chemjobber/status/1506372029645217792
https://twitter.com/mbeisen/status/1505405111098490884
I genuinely don't know what fuckery transpired here.....
posted by lalochezia at 4:01 AM on April 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
Yes, or someone at the university in a research-related appointment getting a side appointment to teach a class or take on students in some capacity; someone wants to maintain an affiliation with the institution on paper for various reasons related to library access, being able to list that institution on publications; etc. etc.
I gave the above answer - as it's how many teaching and other appointments work when the person doing the teaching has another source of fulltime income (e.g. research grant or teaching fellowship that requires you teach at another institution).
I was ready to defend this job-posting as an example of that process and would HAPPILY do so in the future......
but some analysis and commentary a week or two ago ruled that out
https://twitter.com/Chemjobber/status/1506372029645217792
https://twitter.com/mbeisen/status/1505405111098490884
I genuinely don't know what fuckery transpired here.....
posted by lalochezia at 4:01 AM on April 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
Oh wow that’s important context.
A few weeks ago a prof at UCLA tweeted that they were just granted tenure, but didn’t get a yearly COL increase, and had to rent a 2 bedroom apartment about an hour away from campus to house their family and had no prospects of ever buying a house nearby.
It seems to me that the only people able to work in academia (even if you get a tenure track job at UCLA!) are those with generational wealth. For all the DEI initiatives out there, there are some real structural problems that aren’t being addressed.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:18 AM on April 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
A few weeks ago a prof at UCLA tweeted that they were just granted tenure, but didn’t get a yearly COL increase, and had to rent a 2 bedroom apartment about an hour away from campus to house their family and had no prospects of ever buying a house nearby.
It seems to me that the only people able to work in academia (even if you get a tenure track job at UCLA!) are those with generational wealth. For all the DEI initiatives out there, there are some real structural problems that aren’t being addressed.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:18 AM on April 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
I'm an academic physician and I am the director for a fellowship program (an optional training program after residency but before independent practice). The market for training positions has gotten very tight since the number of residency spots has not increased since the late 90s despite a proliferation of new medical schools. International medical graduates (IMGs) are the ones being squeezed the most since programs tend to prefer domestic medical grads.
The point of this is that on at least three occasions this year I have received emails from IMGs who are so desperate to have any job in medicine that might afford them a better chance of getting a residency (and continue their visas) that they are willing to take a research fellowship role that pays $0, requires them to prove they have money to support themselves, and provides very little clinical exposure. (I have absolutely zero control over the terms of this.)
I do not want to be that guy who hires a very capable person for zero dollars and takes advantage of their labor. I also very much want to help folks who are very capable but who happened to have been born outside of the USA get training spots they deserve. It really eats at me.
This is not to say I see both sides of the UC adjunct position. It's egregious. Just like with medical training spots, this is a systems issue: inadequate investment in higher education, exploitation of labor, deliberate restructuring of the academy into haves (tenure-track) and have-nots (adjuncts, visiting profs, post-docs, etc).
I might seem like I have some power to change things. I don't. I'm fixed-term, non-tenure track. The graduate medical education office controls dollars for trainees. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulates number of training spots. It's a goddamn meat grinder.
posted by adoarns at 4:40 AM on April 7, 2022 [24 favorites]
The point of this is that on at least three occasions this year I have received emails from IMGs who are so desperate to have any job in medicine that might afford them a better chance of getting a residency (and continue their visas) that they are willing to take a research fellowship role that pays $0, requires them to prove they have money to support themselves, and provides very little clinical exposure. (I have absolutely zero control over the terms of this.)
I do not want to be that guy who hires a very capable person for zero dollars and takes advantage of their labor. I also very much want to help folks who are very capable but who happened to have been born outside of the USA get training spots they deserve. It really eats at me.
This is not to say I see both sides of the UC adjunct position. It's egregious. Just like with medical training spots, this is a systems issue: inadequate investment in higher education, exploitation of labor, deliberate restructuring of the academy into haves (tenure-track) and have-nots (adjuncts, visiting profs, post-docs, etc).
I might seem like I have some power to change things. I don't. I'm fixed-term, non-tenure track. The graduate medical education office controls dollars for trainees. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulates number of training spots. It's a goddamn meat grinder.
posted by adoarns at 4:40 AM on April 7, 2022 [24 favorites]
I haven’t been employed by a university for 30 years but this is not news. Even back in the 70s and 80s many tenure-track full-time faculty positions at the R1 universities had zero or nominal salary. You, the faculty member, were to generate your salary, direct costs (that of your secretary if you could afford one, your lab techs, stipends for postdocs, and other expenses for your research including reimbursement for university technical assets like sequencing centers, lab animal facilities, etc.), and pay ‘indirect costs’ (which could equal the grant) on top of the actual grant amounts. I was last at a well-funded state university where the department paid me about 10% of the system-wide pay scale for my (assistant/associate) level. No matter how much you brought in, you could never be paid more than the state-approved salary range for that appointment. (Many very successful fundraisers would move to an appointment with a private or uni-associated research institute where they could be paid more, avoid a small percentage on the indirect costs, and maintain their clinical appointment at the university.)
These were regular appointments, not ‘research’ positions. That was a relatively infrequent thing in that era. In addition, members of our department had regular weekly faculty clinic and also served as attending physicians at the university hospital 2-3 mo per year. That clinical income was 100% captured by the department/school. My classroom teaching was, at most, 1-2 lectures a year. Most teaching was in the hospital in small groups or 1 on 1 for procedures. This is not news to you who are academics in the biomedical fields. The current example appears more egregious perhaps because the ad was not appropriately obfuscated. Maybe “salary commensurate with similar positions at UC” might have done it, knowing that - wink - that salary is 0.
posted by sudogeek at 5:03 AM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
These were regular appointments, not ‘research’ positions. That was a relatively infrequent thing in that era. In addition, members of our department had regular weekly faculty clinic and also served as attending physicians at the university hospital 2-3 mo per year. That clinical income was 100% captured by the department/school. My classroom teaching was, at most, 1-2 lectures a year. Most teaching was in the hospital in small groups or 1 on 1 for procedures. This is not news to you who are academics in the biomedical fields. The current example appears more egregious perhaps because the ad was not appropriately obfuscated. Maybe “salary commensurate with similar positions at UC” might have done it, knowing that - wink - that salary is 0.
posted by sudogeek at 5:03 AM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
Some positions may be without salary when individuals are compensated by other sources and a formal affiliation with UCLA is necessary. These positions are considered when an individual can realize other benefits from the appointment that advance their scholarship, such as the ability to apply for or maintain grants, mentor students and participate in research that can benefit society. These arrangements are common in academia and, in cases where formal classroom teaching is a component, compensation for these services is provided commensurate to experience and with an eye to equity within the unit.
People make fun of academic gobbledegook, but yeesh, that's a lot of words to say "exposure!"
posted by Gelatin at 5:08 AM on April 7, 2022 [16 favorites]
People make fun of academic gobbledegook, but yeesh, that's a lot of words to say "exposure!"
posted by Gelatin at 5:08 AM on April 7, 2022 [16 favorites]
Even back in the 70s and 80s many tenure-track full-time faculty positions at the R1 universities had zero or nominal salary. You, the faculty member, were to generate your salary [...] and pay ‘indirect costs’ [...] on top of the actual grant amounts.
"Soft money" appointments (expectation of some percentage of external funding your salary via grants, up to 100%) are indeed common, more in some fields than others. I will note there's been some Twitter uproar about recently advertised soft money positions as well.
I do think that a soft money position for a tenure-track PI position is distinct from the adjunct listing discussed here, although the rationale (that this person is already getting paid in another fashion) is similar.
Still, the union position is not that this is unheard of, but that they have a different vision for academic labor practices.
posted by pemberkins at 5:41 AM on April 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
"Soft money" appointments (expectation of some percentage of external funding your salary via grants, up to 100%) are indeed common, more in some fields than others. I will note there's been some Twitter uproar about recently advertised soft money positions as well.
I do think that a soft money position for a tenure-track PI position is distinct from the adjunct listing discussed here, although the rationale (that this person is already getting paid in another fashion) is similar.
Still, the union position is not that this is unheard of, but that they have a different vision for academic labor practices.
posted by pemberkins at 5:41 AM on April 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
Whups, realized I snarked too hard while sleepy above. Looks like Narrative_Historian is not from the US, so, let me be less snarky: In the US system, a Ph.D is often a 5+ year endeavor. I bailed out on mine after 5 years, ABD, for industry exactly because of things like this. Well, this and also many other toxic horrible things about academia culture.
posted by Alterscape at 7:05 AM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Alterscape at 7:05 AM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
I was accepted into a PhD program and I was naive enough to go despite having no funding. I had only applied to two schools and my preferred one had rejected me. My acceptance letter from the second school said I'd receive a funding letter, but I never got one. With the deadline approaching I entered the program anyway figuring that I wasn't going anywhere else and that everything would get resolved. Shortly thereafter the school admitted that a mistake had been made and the reason I didn't get the funding letter was because there was no funding for me. I was naive enough to think that this was only a temporary issue and if I had to swing a couple semesters on federal loans I could. I soon learned that this is not the way funding works. It took me a while, but I've since come to realize that it was very good thing that I flamed out after only three semesters.
Ironically I heard through connections that one of the reasons I didn't get accepted at my preferred school was that their budget had unexpectedly shrunk and they had to cut the list short because they couldn't justify accepting students without funding them. I think that was very gracious of them.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:05 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ironically I heard through connections that one of the reasons I didn't get accepted at my preferred school was that their budget had unexpectedly shrunk and they had to cut the list short because they couldn't justify accepting students without funding them. I think that was very gracious of them.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:05 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Academia is indeed terrible and riddled with very serious problems but to be clear the spokesman is saying that the "arrangements" that are "common in academia" are
You're coming to LA to do research on something, and you're being paid by, picking someplace random, your home institution of Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. You'd like full access to UC library and computing resources but professors at Nazarbayev University don't have access to UC stuff and doing everything electronic back through a vpn to Astana is a pain in the ass. So they make you an adjunct professor and now you have faculty-level library access, a faculty-level computing logon, etc.
One of the many problems with this job posting is that it doesn't appear to be that kind of "arrangement" that's "common in academia" but just plain-old exploitation.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:08 AM on April 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
You're coming to LA to do research on something, and you're being paid by, picking someplace random, your home institution of Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. You'd like full access to UC library and computing resources but professors at Nazarbayev University don't have access to UC stuff and doing everything electronic back through a vpn to Astana is a pain in the ass. So they make you an adjunct professor and now you have faculty-level library access, a faculty-level computing logon, etc.
One of the many problems with this job posting is that it doesn't appear to be that kind of "arrangement" that's "common in academia" but just plain-old exploitation.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:08 AM on April 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
Whups, realized I snarked too hard while sleepy above. Looks like Narrative_Historian is not from the US, so, let me be less snarky: In the US system, a Ph.D is often a 5+ year endeavor.
The big difference between US and most foreign graduate programs isn't that US programs take longer to go from getting your BA to getting your PhD.
The big difference is that almost all American PhD programs are inclusive programs that contain several years of coursework leading to a master's degree inside them. In Europe at least, you would typically do that coursework at a terminal master's program, and then apply to different phd programs to do your doctoral research. A European "phd program" is broadly equivalent to the part of a US phd program that happens after you pass comprehensive exams and "advance to candidacy," or to being an informal ABD.
Both kinds of programs take roughly equivalent lengths of time, but in the US you spend 5 years in a doctoral program and in Europe you might spend two years in an MA/MS program and then two or three years in a phd program.
themoreyouknow.gif halfthebattle.gif
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:17 AM on April 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
The big difference between US and most foreign graduate programs isn't that US programs take longer to go from getting your BA to getting your PhD.
The big difference is that almost all American PhD programs are inclusive programs that contain several years of coursework leading to a master's degree inside them. In Europe at least, you would typically do that coursework at a terminal master's program, and then apply to different phd programs to do your doctoral research. A European "phd program" is broadly equivalent to the part of a US phd program that happens after you pass comprehensive exams and "advance to candidacy," or to being an informal ABD.
Both kinds of programs take roughly equivalent lengths of time, but in the US you spend 5 years in a doctoral program and in Europe you might spend two years in an MA/MS program and then two or three years in a phd program.
themoreyouknow.gif halfthebattle.gif
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:17 AM on April 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
Oh man, I snarked too hard and I was inaccurate. Time to take a break; thank you for a more thorough/correct explanation, GCU Sweet and Full of Grace.
posted by Alterscape at 7:21 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Alterscape at 7:21 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Welcome to science! As someone who works in a government lab, I'm jealous of academics who many times get at least some of their salary covered by the institution. We are 100% on soft money, I fill out a time card at the end of the week and every hour gets charged to someone's project - either one of mine if I'm lucky enough to be a PI on a grant, or someone else's grant. If you can't find enough to charge to, you go 3/4 or 1/2 time (below that you lose all benefits and are probably out the door). This is to maximize the output of the salaried scientists (management and staff are covered by overhead skimmed off our grants). The pool of hungry scientists compete for work from people with grants, and so underbid the number of hours needed to complete a task, knowing they'll have to work weekends and nights to get the work done.
posted by 445supermag at 7:57 AM on April 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by 445supermag at 7:57 AM on April 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
I seriously don’t understand how this is legal. I understand how they get away with paying less than minimum wage when calculated hourly; but zero is by definition lower than minimum wage. So….how is this legal?
posted by bq at 8:01 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by bq at 8:01 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
They expect the person to pay themselves out of grant money. This is a good deal for a person who can get a grant because the grants are always to the institution, not the person. I suspect this was one of those cases where they already negotiated the arrangement with a person, but had to advertise and compete for the job. They figured that the pool of applicants would be small for a no salary - high experience ad.
Frankly, this is my semi-retirement plan for when I get tired of the soul crushing pressure: find a university somewhere I want to live and tell them they just have to provide me with lab space and I'll take care of my own salary, and I'll pitch in and teach 101 when no one else wants to.
posted by 445supermag at 8:16 AM on April 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
Frankly, this is my semi-retirement plan for when I get tired of the soul crushing pressure: find a university somewhere I want to live and tell them they just have to provide me with lab space and I'll take care of my own salary, and I'll pitch in and teach 101 when no one else wants to.
posted by 445supermag at 8:16 AM on April 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
(Yeah, I've had similar thoughts about retirement plans, 445supermag.)
To be clear - I don't know what's happening with this specific situation.
But state bureaucracy is both a blessing and a curse in academia. Suppose someone wants to take a visiting/sabbatical year at UC from a private institution, but is still officially employed/paid by their own school. It can be difficult to give the person the correct "formal" permissions to access buildings and get email, etc, so this is one way to work around those issues. OR someone needs an extra year on the academic job market after a postdoc, or if they miss getting tenure. A non-university-affiliated year on your resume will basically kill your search, so an unpaid appointment can keep you in the mix for a little longer, and maybe you have a few side hustles to help pay the bills, and friends who let you use their labs to keep working. Finally, as someone noted online, the ability to work around the system like this can be super helpful as a loophole to support people like refugee scholars since the credentialing from even having a UC id card can help backstop other social services.
Of course, if this is fuckery, it's fuckery, and the union point is a super strong one that I hadn't considered. I don't know how to resolve those things, just adding my voice to those above in saying that attacking/closing these loopholes is not always in service of the greater good.
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 10:22 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
To be clear - I don't know what's happening with this specific situation.
But state bureaucracy is both a blessing and a curse in academia. Suppose someone wants to take a visiting/sabbatical year at UC from a private institution, but is still officially employed/paid by their own school. It can be difficult to give the person the correct "formal" permissions to access buildings and get email, etc, so this is one way to work around those issues. OR someone needs an extra year on the academic job market after a postdoc, or if they miss getting tenure. A non-university-affiliated year on your resume will basically kill your search, so an unpaid appointment can keep you in the mix for a little longer, and maybe you have a few side hustles to help pay the bills, and friends who let you use their labs to keep working. Finally, as someone noted online, the ability to work around the system like this can be super helpful as a loophole to support people like refugee scholars since the credentialing from even having a UC id card can help backstop other social services.
Of course, if this is fuckery, it's fuckery, and the union point is a super strong one that I hadn't considered. I don't know how to resolve those things, just adding my voice to those above in saying that attacking/closing these loopholes is not always in service of the greater good.
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 10:22 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Re: the admin workaround of making people adjuncts to allow them access to journals etc., there is no real reason for that to be how things have to be done. Harvard (of all places) has a Person of Interest program (https://huit.harvard.edu/poi-policy) for that explicit purpose. I don't see why other colleges can't do the same aside from inertia.
posted by mon_petit_ordinateur at 10:51 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mon_petit_ordinateur at 10:51 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Big difference between Harvard (private) and state schools (public).
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 10:59 AM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 10:59 AM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
No idea what's happening with this particular appointment, but echoing the others above talking about how common this is, and it's sometimes not at all exploitative. Source: I am the admin who sets up faculty appointments for the academic department I work for. In our case, adjuncts are employed by another academic institution (or, very rarely, industry), and what we're giving them is access to our library (subscriptions etc) and stuff like that. Adjunct appointments for us are completely non-exploitative. Nobody would be hired to do their work if they didn't do it - they don't teach courses or anything, we're just giving them access to our library and making multi-institutional collaborations simpler. But this is medical research. My friends in the humanities report that it's wildly different there.
posted by joannemerriam at 11:42 AM on April 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by joannemerriam at 11:42 AM on April 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
There is a variant of this in business, engineering and law schools, where profs often have high hard-money salaries but are expected to donate some significant fraction back (or maybe 100%) from the proceeds of their $2,000/hour consulting gigs.
posted by MattD at 12:16 PM on April 7, 2022
posted by MattD at 12:16 PM on April 7, 2022
꧁•✩⊹✩٭EXPOSURE٭✩⊹✩•꧂
posted by CynicalKnight at 1:20 PM on April 7, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by CynicalKnight at 1:20 PM on April 7, 2022 [11 favorites]
We are no Harvard, but at this R1 we definitely have person of interest accounts. From my seat, it really does look more like a soft money adjunct position and we should probably push back at these things. The adjunct market should be illegal.
posted by advicepig at 2:09 PM on April 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by advicepig at 2:09 PM on April 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm an adjunct at a prestigious university here in Chile. I don't get paid much, but I like it, it keeps me in touch with the young'uns, and I get to meet some good people and have found one great employee there, so it's OK.
I used to also teach at another, less prestigious but much better-paying university, a short 3-month class once a year. This year, they sent me an email informing me that its pay had been cut to precisely one-third of what it used to be. No explanation, just, "we're paying a third of what we used to pay."
I politely declined.
posted by signal at 3:43 PM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
I used to also teach at another, less prestigious but much better-paying university, a short 3-month class once a year. This year, they sent me an email informing me that its pay had been cut to precisely one-third of what it used to be. No explanation, just, "we're paying a third of what we used to pay."
I politely declined.
posted by signal at 3:43 PM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
If you enjoy being outraged at this sort of thing, you might like the for exposure Twitter account.
posted by signal at 3:44 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by signal at 3:44 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I worked for UC Berkeley for a few years ending about 10 years ago, and there was a mob-style no-show job for a muckity-muck that got paid $300K a year for nothing, so I'm not surprised by this.
One of the best things about working there when I did was that my boss' boss' (etc.) boss was then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, so technically I worked for him. My department put together a grant proposal or something and it was for big money so we made a blue bound book with gold-stamped ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER on the cover. It was pretty imposing.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:32 PM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
One of the best things about working there when I did was that my boss' boss' (etc.) boss was then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, so technically I worked for him. My department put together a grant proposal or something and it was for big money so we made a blue bound book with gold-stamped ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER on the cover. It was pretty imposing.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:32 PM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
....Adjunct appointments for us are completely non-exploitative.
posted by joannemerriam at 14:42
Do you pay the same hourly rate as an assistant professor or even a ft lecturer? If not....adjunct appointments in most cases around the world are INTRINSICALLY exploitative.
posted by lalochezia at 4:39 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by joannemerriam at 14:42
Do you pay the same hourly rate as an assistant professor or even a ft lecturer? If not....adjunct appointments in most cases around the world are INTRINSICALLY exploitative.
posted by lalochezia at 4:39 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I mean, I adjunct at an Ivy League institution. Don’t really care about the money (but it’s actually not bad and of course does help) because I make 2x than an AP working in the private sector. I like to teach and I get library access and an affiliation.
It’s certainly not exploitive in my case but you know what was? All those years in grad school and as a postdoc.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 6:43 PM on April 7, 2022
It’s certainly not exploitive in my case but you know what was? All those years in grad school and as a postdoc.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 6:43 PM on April 7, 2022
This doesn't really seem like a "for exposure" situation, as much as it's a strange byproduct of the way we fund science research in the US, plus the very high self-regard that academia has with itself (such that a break in affiliation of even a year from a university is apparently career-ending).
I've seen situations with what I suspect are zero-salary academic affiliations when someone gets direct industry funding for some piece of research. Rather than running all of the money through a grant to the institution, the company puts the researcher on payroll (I guess because it's less expensive than passing it through the institution, or they can pay more), and the institution lets them keep their affiliation in exchange for teaching one class a semester or something.
It's... not great? But there's no easy solution to it, either.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:51 AM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've seen situations with what I suspect are zero-salary academic affiliations when someone gets direct industry funding for some piece of research. Rather than running all of the money through a grant to the institution, the company puts the researcher on payroll (I guess because it's less expensive than passing it through the institution, or they can pay more), and the institution lets them keep their affiliation in exchange for teaching one class a semester or something.
It's... not great? But there's no easy solution to it, either.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:51 AM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
I thought "Visiting Scholar" status was supposed to cover library access, respectability, maybe a borrowed office? Has it become more expensive or less respected?
Or was it still totally an option for employers who are just flailing for an excuse?
posted by clew at 10:32 AM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Or was it still totally an option for employers who are just flailing for an excuse?
posted by clew at 10:32 AM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
....Adjunct appointments for us are completely non-exploitative.
posted by joannemerriam at 14:42
Do you pay the same hourly rate as an assistant professor or even a ft lecturer? If not....adjunct appointments in most cases around the world are INTRINSICALLY exploitative.
posted by lalochezia at 6:39 PM on April 7
We don't pay anything, because they literally do no work for us. It's 100% a workaround to give them access to our systems (emails, library, etc) to facilitate research across institutions.
Here's an example: MD/PhD medical researcher PI at Prestigious Institution wants to coordinate access to our biorepository of tumor specimens. So they call my boss and say hey, can I get an adjunct appointment? And my boss says sure so they send me their CV and I submit a letter to our office of faculty affairs with their information and a letter from our chair explaining why this will be useful to us. OFA approves, they get access, and they use that access for the job they already have, for which they are compensated handsomely by their home institution. In most cases they never even step foot on our campus.
It's a fundamentally different kind of thing from adjunct teaching positions. I can't tell if the job posting under discussion is this sort of thing or not.
posted by joannemerriam at 12:41 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by joannemerriam at 14:42
Do you pay the same hourly rate as an assistant professor or even a ft lecturer? If not....adjunct appointments in most cases around the world are INTRINSICALLY exploitative.
posted by lalochezia at 6:39 PM on April 7
We don't pay anything, because they literally do no work for us. It's 100% a workaround to give them access to our systems (emails, library, etc) to facilitate research across institutions.
Here's an example: MD/PhD medical researcher PI at Prestigious Institution wants to coordinate access to our biorepository of tumor specimens. So they call my boss and say hey, can I get an adjunct appointment? And my boss says sure so they send me their CV and I submit a letter to our office of faculty affairs with their information and a letter from our chair explaining why this will be useful to us. OFA approves, they get access, and they use that access for the job they already have, for which they are compensated handsomely by their home institution. In most cases they never even step foot on our campus.
It's a fundamentally different kind of thing from adjunct teaching positions. I can't tell if the job posting under discussion is this sort of thing or not.
posted by joannemerriam at 12:41 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
“Responsibilities will include: teaching according to the instructional needs of the department. Qualified candidates will have a Ph.D. in chemistry, biochemistry, or equivalent discipline and have significant experience and strong record in teaching chemistry or biochemistry at the college level. The University of California, Los Angeles and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry are interested in candidates who are committed to the highest standards of scholarship and professional activities, and to the development of a campus climate that supports equality and diversity.”
Candidates were asked to submit a CV, cover letter, a statement of teaching (and an optional statement of research) and three to five letters of reference. ("UCLA Pummeled Over Adjunct Job Without Pay," Inside Higher Ed, March 21 2022)
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:14 PM on April 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
Candidates were asked to submit a CV, cover letter, a statement of teaching (and an optional statement of research) and three to five letters of reference. ("UCLA Pummeled Over Adjunct Job Without Pay," Inside Higher Ed, March 21 2022)
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:14 PM on April 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
I’ll also shed a tear for the learning experience of those students paying through the nose to receive an education from someone who is not only NOT a tenured faculty member of the kind they might expect to be exposed to at a prestigious institution, but who is valued so little that their labor is literally worth nothing.
posted by bq at 1:30 PM on April 8, 2022
posted by bq at 1:30 PM on April 8, 2022
Suppose someone wants to take a visiting/sabbatical year at UC from a private institution, but is still officially employed/paid by their own school. It can be difficult to give the person the correct "formal" permissions to access buildings and get email, etc, so this is one way to work around those issues.
This is what "visiting professor" or "fellowship" slots are for.
posted by praemunire at 1:48 PM on April 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
This is what "visiting professor" or "fellowship" slots are for.
posted by praemunire at 1:48 PM on April 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
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posted by evilDoug at 9:38 PM on April 6, 2022 [35 favorites]