Let Temple adjuncts have a vote!

Dear Provost Dai:

I am a graduating senior majoring in African American Studies, and I support the right of my professors—including adjunct faculty—to vote to form a union. I urge you to allow the approximately 1,300 adjunct faculty at Temple University to proceed with a fair and timely election by dropping the legal challenges Temple has brought before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. Temple’s adjunct faculty should be able to exercise their right to make a choice about unionization. I urge you to let them vote.

Every student who has attended Temple has been taught by at least one adjunct faculty member. After all, adjuncts make up half of the faculty at Temple. They are a valuable part of our university community. Their commitment to our education is compensated with low pay, few benefits and no assurances that they will be able to teach future classes beyond the current semester. This is unfair not only to faculty but to students as well. For example, a professor I make a connection with one semester may not be around the next semester, in spite of excellent teaching and student support.

I believe that adjunct faculty, like all workers, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect by the Temple administration, and I strongly support their organizing to form a collective bargaining unit with the union they have chosen, the Temple Association of University Professionals.

I call on you to allow Temple’s adjunct faculty to hold a fair and transparent election, and I demand that you not use any tuition funds or other resources to hinder their efforts.

Sincerely,

Sarah Giskin,
African American Studies
Temple University