Yesterday, I participated in a 30 minute reflective workshop by Karen Costa as part of the #MyFest22. It was based on the ideas presented in Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown. While I haven't read the book (although it has just been added to my reading list), according to Karen, the idea is that making societal changes can be overwhelming, but if we all work together doing something to change society, the sum of all of our efforts will be a good starting point and lead to societal change.
As she was presenting this idea, I thought of what we accomplished in the area of water and air pollution in 70's to the 90's. When I was a child, the Hudson River was so polluted that we could smell it in the Spring about 3 miles away. Today, there are fishing boats back in the river. While we still have a long way to go, this is quite an accomplishment. How was it achieved? Letter writing to industries along the Hudson, class projects measuring pollution in the Hudson, advocacy groups like the Clear Water sailing up and down the Hudson informing citizens and legislators about the problems and how they could be solved, and educating special interest groups such as those who like to fish, tourism industry, and chambers of commerce of the importance to the overall economy and quality of like that cleaning up the Hudson is a good investment.
As part of Karen's presentation, she used a Google Jam Board. For those that have never used one of this, it is a virtual bulletin board in which users can upload sticky notes with responses from a prompt. This sharing of ideas is a great way to brain storm and even categorize responses to the prompts. In this case, Karen gave us 9 prompts to allow us to reflect on our understanding of Higher Education and the direction we would like to see it go.
In the moment, I found it hard to really "reflect" on where I would want to see Higher Education go. But forcing me to just respond with the first thing that came to mind, but also see what others came up with, stayed with me for the rest of the day. As like many academics, I like to have time to think of an issue, virtually rolling it around in my head, seeing its many angles and possibilities. So this morning, I decided to present some of the ideas that came to mind of what direction I'd like to see Higher Ed go (these are actually not new) and how I could contribute to change in getting them there.
Changing Academia
When asked what I wanted to change in Academia, equity, acceptance, and balance came to mind. I also realized that I was thinking more of the power system, decision making, and organizational structure than the people who make up the university. However, for this to happen, all the people who make up the university from the students to the staff to the grounds keepers/maintenance to top administrators to dept/school heads to tenured faculty to contingents to the community members in surrounding areas need to have a dialog and interest in how the university is run, its goals and policies, and how each stakeholder can influence or benefit from the university.
This got me to thinking about my work the last five years before I retired last year. Last week I was happy to see that something I and my fellow adjuncts had been working on had finally come to fruition. In negotiations for our union contract, we finally had adjuncts represented on the negotiation team. Many of our concerns have been addressed this time around. While it may seem like a baby step, for adjuncts, even a small recognition of what WE want and having representation is a game changer.
I look back to my first year as a representative to the University Senate. I had resisted doing any service work without pay. Three different times I was asked to be on the Senate, and I turned it down 2 times until I finally asked to be paid for it. It was a nominal amount they finally agreed upon, but it was setting the precedent that tenured faculty were paid 8 times more than an adjunct because they were expected to do service and research also. On the other hand, contingents were expected to "volunteer" their service. In other words, pay to have a place at the table.
This was a small concession, but a monumental change that our time was recognized as valuable. It also was a fight towards equitable pay for the same work.
One of the questions I asked at the first committee meeting (all Senators were required to be part of a committee) was why Senators for PT employees (which was the group I represented) were not elected by PT employees. You see, I was elected by Full Time employees only because Part Time employees were allowed to vote. With that simple question, Part Time employees elected me in the next election as they were allowed to vote for their own representation. Again, a small victory, but a change in mindset that Part Time employees should be considered responsible enough to vote for their own representation.
I then realized that each of the committees had annual or biannual reports that were read into the permanent record of the Senate. I asked if there were any committees, subcommittees, or reports on Contingent Concerns required by the Senate. Since 50% of the undergraduate courses were taught by contingents, didn't it make sense that there would be an annual report? This simple question led to my addressing this as a Senator to the Senate and top administration. In the end, we passed a requirement for the report, but then the Pandemic hit and even though it is on the books, I'm not sure if this ever was implemented.
In each case, these were baby steps. But with each baby step, came a growing awareness of how contingents and part-time faculty (which also includes staff at our university) were being treated unfairly. Students began to see how their professors were treated and tenured teachers were shocked at the inequities that they had been unaware of. Initially I viewed each of the groups as enemies against adjuncts. But as I began to speak to them about our work environment, I realized that I needed to inform them of our situation since they were often unaware of it.
Where to go from here
I hope that I have left even a bit of a mark on my university before I left. Looking at the new union contract, it appears I have. But more importantly, others have taken up the mantle to fight for change.
As a retired lecturer (hate this title because I never lectured EVER), I have tried to continue to keep the discussion going, encouraging balance, equity, and acceptance. This is not the same as equal, giving over my own values to avoid conflict, or excluding anyone from the dialog.
This year I have learned about the importance of centering discussions to listen to those who feel/are excluded. I also have always believed it is important to listen to people to understand their perspective but also to set boundaries as to what is acceptable and what is not for myself, my community, and society (balance). Without listening, it is difficult to know how and where to change thinking (both mine and others) for a better university and society. Often it is not a matter of wrong or right but rather what am I willing to accept and when do I set boundaries for behavior (hint: hating someone because of factors outside of their control is outside the boundaries for me).
I continue to do work that I hope will have an impact on others such as working with my former colleagues or Phd students. I continue to try to make the small changes that I hope will turn into changes on a mass level.
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