Education

NYU, New School adjuncts want more pay

By Aida Sall

Wages for adjunct professors at NYU are so low that some of them cannot afford health care. That’s according to leaders of the adjuncts’ union, which organized a recent protest to urge  higher wages for those part-time instructors.

“What do we want? … Contracts!”

“If we don’t get it? …  Shut it down!”

That’s what protesters chanted in late July in Union Square Park during a rally organized by Adjuncts Coming Together Local 7902, a more than 4,000-member affiliate of the United Auto Workers. Comprised of adjunct instructors from New York University and The New School, the union began negotiating for better pay with university officials in April.

“NYU could not run without its adjunct professors,” said union organizer Annie Levin, who has taught writing and literature at NYU and Fordham University. “We are definitely ramping up the energy and the momentum in the union in the upcoming months as well … And [university officials] will see how much trouble the union will give them,” Levin said, “which is why it is so important to continue.”

“Faculty success and student success are inextricably intertwined,”said protester Natalie Jonas, who will be a sophomore at NYU in the fall. “One cannot exist without the other. When our educators feel supported, they can give that much more to students.”

The Union Square protest’s co-sponsors and participants included members of the NYU Graduate Student Organizing Committee, the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, the NYU Contract Faculty United, NYU Law Students for Economic Justice, New York University Young Democratic Socialists of America and the Hunter College Young Democratic Socialists of America.

The union’s current contract, which expires in August, is currently five years old. Also covered by the contract are graduate students who are classroom assistants and health care workers.

In addition to higher wages, the union is negotiating for better job security, health care benefits, pension benefits, and increased compensation for work outside the classroom, especially during the pandemic and other teaching equipment.

Founded in 2002, following several years of organizing efforts, the union elected its first executive officers in 2005.

“Adjunct professors do not get paid nearly enough,” said David Holzman, a NYU Tandon School of Engineering adjunct professor and union organizing committee member. “Given the current cost of living, coupled with the rise of inflation, it is simply not a sufficient amount of money and it is affecting people’s livelihoods.”

Holzman said adjuncts are not sufficiently compensated for all the hours they invest in grading papers, counseling students during required office hours and providing additional, miscellaneous support to students.

He added, “The protests made me hopeful. And I felt like we were finally being heard by an institution that has historically not wanted to hear me.”