“Visiting faculty at MU are not just numbers.”

From our colleague Basak Durgun, VAP, in the context of VAP nonrenewals and workload increases for fall. (AAUP has been working on a response to these issues—watch this space.)

As faculty, we are often characterized by numbers. Number of students enrolled in our courses and in the university, number of courses that need to be covered, number of courses we teach, number of research outputs we provide, number of dollars we bring in… As contingent faculty, these numbers are now threatening our employment and careers. We are so much more than these numbers.

• The projections are that up to 70% of people will get infected by coronavirus this year. What if in 2020-2021 school year, a core faculty gets sick and is hospitalized long term? How does the university administration plan on covering the 3–4 classes this person might be teaching and their service responsibilities, when all faculty remaining at the university is completely stretched out? Why not keep us VAPs so that we can step up to the plate and help out in the event that there is another emergency?
• How does the administration plan on retaining students long term once the students realize that the quality of their education is suffering because all of their professors are stretched thin and do not have the time for the one on one consultations and support they are used to? Our students are smart, alert and they pay attention to these factors. Both short and long-term plans should take this into account if MU plans on remaining a distinguished university – In our department we service not only our division but the entire university. I have more students from FSB than any other division in the university. I particularly enjoy how this makes my courses multidimensional. Effectively, we belong to FSB (and the rest of the university) as much as we belong to CAS. Why not support those of us who teach these significant general education courses across divisions so that we can continue being of service to the whole university?
• VAPs are a great tool for recruitment. At a time when MU needs to aggressively recruit in alternative and creative ways, and make a strong case for its value for incoming and returning students, why not keep us and use us to recruit our students? We can give our students confidence that we are still here to serve them the best possible way, without any loss to the quality of education they are paying for. Give us our contracts today, and put us to work, all hands on deck, to recruit students.
• VAPs are incredibly skilled and creative. In my department, every single VAP I know made the switch from in person to remote learning quickly, and skillfully, and with compassion to our students. We are really good at emergency response and stepping up to the plate. That seems like a great thing to hold onto at this time. President Crawford acknowledged this in his email to the Miami community, highlighting the creativity of a VAP from history. My students have said that while they miss our in-person dynamic and the interactive classroom environment I built, they are grateful for the smooth and easy transition I led during this time.

Visiting faculty at MU are not just numbers. We don’t treat our students as numbers either. I am worn down from reading about number crunching in budget updates from the university administration, when the number crunching takes into account a limited vision for the future of the university and students I come to love dearly.

Thanks to @DurgunBasak for permission to share.