The adjunct revolt - Professors fight back

Mary-Faith Cerasoli has been reduced to "sleeping in her car, showering at college athletic centres and applying for food stamps", The New York Times recently reported. Is she unemployed? No, in fact she is a college professor - but an adjunct one, meaning she is hired on a short-term contract with no possibility of tenure, writes Elizabeth Segran for The Atlantic.

A spate of research about the contingent academic workforce indicates that Cerasoli's circumstances are not exceptional. This month, a report by the American Association of University Professors showed that adjuncts now constitute 76.4% of US faculty across all institutional types, from liberal arts colleges to research universities to community colleges. A study released by the US House of Representatives in January reveals that the majority of these adjuncts live below the poverty line.

Over spring break, Cerasoli publicly protested her working conditions on the steps of the New York Department of Education, wearing a vest emblazoned with the words 'Homeless Prof' on it. Her efforts dovetail with a national labour movement in which thousands of adjuncts are fighting for change within the higher education system.
Full report on The Atlantic site