Wednesday, December 16, 2009  Why Outreach to Adjunct
Instructors Is Important  sunset reflecting in the Madison
building  A while ago I worked as an adjunct librarian, and I
remember asking someone at the college what the word 'adjunct'
meant. I know I sounded foolish -- I understood the basic
definition (temporary and part time), but I was unclear about
what the term meant to the wider academic community. I should
have looked in the Oxford English Dictionary, whose definition
refers to being joined, added, connected, annexed, subordinate,
auxiliary, or dependent. In the field of logic, an adjunct is
"Anything added to the essence of a thing; an accompanying
quality or circumstance; a non-essential attribute."  Being a
professor has achieved such status that many highly qualified
instructors seem content with prolonged adjunct positions,
despite the low pay and lack of benefits.* This may be why
community college administrations in New Jersey employed 75
percent of their teachers as adjuncts in 2007.** This