“The die is cast: my retirement is gutted”: Studies in Precarity

In solidarity and gratitude, we are sharing a series—”Studies in Precarity”—of stories from departing contingent faculty, who still have much to teach us. Scores, perhaps over 200, of Miami contingent faculty have received notices of non-renewal for 2020–21. Many may soon find themselves unemployed and without health insurance in the middle of a pandemic and economic crisis. 

These non-renewals cannot be attributed only to COVID-19. They follow many years of spending on areas outside our core academic mission (athletics and sky-high upper-administrator salaries) that could have served to protect our educational mission from the damage of the current crisis. To the visiting assistant professors, instructors, and part-time faculty who taught long hours, built relationships with students, and contributed to our intellectual and social lives: Your absence will diminish our students’ educational experiences and opportunities, and you will be missed. Thanks to all of you for your work at Miami. #OneFaculty 

From Kathryn LaFever, International Studies:

I’m 61 years old. Since 1999, I have been teaching at Miami University, where I have been a non-permanent faculty member, a Visiting Assistant Professor (VAP), since 2009. In April 2020, I was on the schedule to teach in the fall of 2020, four years from a 20-year retirement, when I was fired by Miami University. 

I’ve been teaching on three campuses of MU since 1999, but I’ve been a full-time VAP since January of 2009. More specifically, in the fall 2014, three weeks into teaching that semester, I was finally given a 75/25 VAP teaching contract to keep me as non-permanent faculty. A 75/25 VAP is supposed to teach 75% and do administrative duties for 25% of the time. It also meant that my summer and winter term pay was based on 75% not 100% of my wages. After a few years, inexplicably I was assigned a basic 4/4 course load in lieu of administrative duties on the Oxford campus, yet maintained a 5/5 course load, teaching on two MU campuses, and my 75/25 VAP status. 

I’d like to underscore that for eleven years, I taught a 5/5 course load. Additionally, I taught classes during most summer and winter semesters. Of course, the pay for most summer courses was prorated, meaning I was paid by the head based on enrollment. Further, over the years, I taught multiple courses in our program, including the writing-intensive policy analysis as well as senior capstone courses. I applied for promotions over the years, to no avail. 

I enjoyed working with students and worked hard in the field, including staying active professionally. Despite the fact that there were significantly fewer professional development resources available to me as a non-permanent faculty, I was scrappy and about once per year cobbled together enough money (including my own) to present at conferences. I volunteered as a conference session monitor and served on the editorial board of international publications. I also published multiple articles, including, for example, a substantial, single-author article in an SSCI-indexed publication with a 33% acceptance rate. Further, my book — in my field and based on 11 years of teaching global issues and events — was just published in April of 2020. Currently, I have several manuscripts on subjects relevant to the field in which I taught, and am writing another book under contract that’s set to be completed in 2020.

Over the years, my service to the university has included serving on multiple committees. I was honored to be the Faculty Advisor of Miami University Model UN (MUMUN), the MU Student UNICEF Organization (which I helped to initiate on our campus), and the Men’s Handball Club. Further, I served as a Faculty Member on the Fulbright Campus Interview Panel Committee and Judge for the Graduate Student Forum.

Now the die is cast; my retirement is gutted and set in stone. I can’t “double-dip” pensions, which means I am sentenced to earning less than $1500 per month (pre-tax) instead of about twice that amount, which, while not that great, I would have gotten at age 65. 

Miami’s action — firing me in April effective in May of 2020 and so close to my retirement — was unconscionable. During a WebEx conference, the dean made it clear there is no chance I’ll be hired back. I’m devastated.

I started a gofundme campaign to raise money for my retirement. Thank you for this platform and for those of you willing to donate and forward my story.