Adjunct instructors at Merced College closely watching state proposals for better pay

Merced College adjunct professors have their eyes on two new state Assembly bills, in light of a slew of new efforts that would increase wages for some of the lowest-paid instructors in higher education.

Community college adjunct professors in California, who only teach part-time, are often only paid for the hours they spend teaching classes.

Time spent doing other work that is part of a professor’s job — including doing research for lectures, writing lecture material, grading student assignments and other tasks — isn’t counted as time paid for teaching.

Two new bills that advanced Tuesday in the state’s Assembly Higher Education Committee would change that.

Assembly Bill 1752 would require community colleges statewide to pay part-time adjunct faculty at the same rate that full-time instructors are compensated.

Full-time professors are paid higher hourly rates for prep work and office hours in addition to class time.

Another bill, Assembly Bill 1856, would raise the limit on what adjunct instructors can teach from 67% to 85% of a full-time load of classes. Both the Community College Association and California Teachers Association support the two bills.

“Part-time faculty are absolutely necessary,” said Megan Igo, vice president of the Merced College Faculty Association.

“Without part-time faculty, Merced College couldn’t offer the diversity of classes that we do. Adjuncts aren’t treated equitably and these bills would recognize their skill and their time.”

According to the California Community Colleges’ student and faculty demographics report, at Merced College 40.61% of faculty are listed as “temporary” while 21.46% are listed as tenured or tenure track. The Merced Community College District has 333 adjunct professors, more than the number of tenured or tenure-track instructors on the college’s two campuses, which totals 292.

“We’re excited to see what’s happening with these bills in the legislature,” Igo said.

Lawsuit in Southern California could have local impacts

A new lawsuit, too, could help pave the way for higher pay for part-time instructors.

Two adjunct professors at Long Beach City College filed a class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, alleging the Long Beach Community College District “knows and indeed expects” part-time professors to do work outside the classroom without getting paid for that work, violating minimum wage laws.

The instructors who filed the lawsuit are asking to be paid at least minimum wage for all hours worked, the lawsuit states.

“It is way past time that the California Community College system fairly compensate their full-time faculty, who are the backbone of the CCC system,” said Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, in a California Teachers Association news release “For decades, part-time faculty have been overworked and underpaid while making up 40% of CCC faculty and teaching 50% of classes.”

While the lawsuit is specific to the Long Beach Community College District, it could set a precedent for how part-time adjunct professors are paid statewide.

The effort to fairly compensate the state’s “freeway flyers” — as adjuncts are often called as they commute from campus to campus — could see significant advancements as the lawsuit and the two Assembly bills push the issue further.