things that happened 27 years ago

27 Years Ago 

YSU Part Time Faculty Get Their Last Raise

In Sports --- Tiger Woods plays his first PGA Event  (as an amateur)

In Business – TWA (who?) Files forBankruptcy

In World Affairs -  Founding of European Union  (Maastricht Treaty )

In U.S. Politics  -- NAFTA Treaty Signed by George H.W. Bush

In Popular TV Shows --   Matlock ,Cheers

In Local News ---  PHAR MOR (who?) opens flagship store in Shops at

                                                                                Boardman Park

8-26-18 27 Years

                                        WELCOME BACK TO YSU
                                  NOW ITS   27 years without a raise.
                     
Over 4 years ago we began trying to convince the YSU administration that after nearly a quarter of a century without a raise it was time provide the part time faculty with a significant  raise.   At that time we considered it to be a problem that the current administrators and board had inherited and some time was needed for them to phase in changes.  

                     

  Now it has been 27 years without a raise.   This administration and board now owns this problem.

  Please help us by considering posting a link to this  web blog on your facebook page.

ysuparttimefaculty.blogspot.com

Jim Zupanic   jczupanic@yahoo.com

YSU Jambar Ad 4-28-15

YSU Jambar ad 4-28-15

Jim Zupanic jczupanic@ysu.edu   or jczupanic@yahoo.com   330-539-9188

 Over the last 22 years student tuition and fees have gone up 272% while the Consumer Price Index has gone up 81%.  Part Time Faculty pay has gone up 0% in nominal dollars .  In nominal dollars a host of other outbound money flows have gone up substantially. Inbound money flows besides student tuition and fees have not kept up with the CPI.

YSU Jambar 4-14-15 ad

YSU Student Newspaper ad on 4-14-15

for information contact James Zupanic   at  jczupanic@yahoo.com   or jczupanic@ysu.edu
                                                      or (330) 539-9188


Commentary:  There are many factors that have contributed to the huge increase in tuition and fees.
      Part Time Faculty pay is clearly not one of them.                       
             YSU part time faculty are far from the only people in the country whose pay has not kept up  with the cost of living over the last 23 years.    However  0% versus 81% is so much that even those who have long been willing to partially donate their time teaching are perplexed at the imbalance that has been allowed to develop.    Some other part time faculty, heavily dependent on their teaching income, end up running around to multiple universities trying to work full time  or more for inflation ravaged amounts.                           

YSU Jambar Ad 8-26-2014

 

 
commentary by Jim Zupanic
  Hundreds of YSU part time faculty members begin each day working in businesses and industries of every size.   They work in private and public institutions.  With their education and experience they help make the Mahoning Valley successful in a wide variety of fields.    At least a couple days per week when they finally squeeze the lid closed on one days work they don’t head for home.   They head for YSU , usually physically sometimes electronically.   What do they do there?

                At a student centered institution like YSU they address the prime mission of the university.They lecture, lead class discussions,  guide  student work,  set up labs and administer assessment instruments.   It isn’t over yet.   On weekends there are tests, projects and papers to evaluate.   Time is required to prepare for the next weeks classes.  Part time faculty are often engaged in continuously upgrading their own knowledge.

                Courses taught by part time faculty can range from freshman to senior level.    Part time faculty know what types of technical expertise will be expected of graduates and how they will need to develop on the job.  They are aware of the advantages of a broad based general education component.

YSU Jambar ad 5-1-14

begin 5-1-14 Jambar Ad

end 5-1-14 Jambar Ad

         commentary by Jim Zupanic   

                      The items listed in the ad above  justify  the following conclusions.

The impact of part time faculty on an education at YSU is highly significant.   The conditions under which they teach is not a marginal matter that should be left to drift along without regular examination.   With so many difficulties confronting higher education in the last two decades the status of adjuncts everywhere has drifted downward.

                       Individual departments are not in a position to do much about some of the most important issues.    The problem affects all majors and the mission of the university.

                     Asking that a committee be created is often looked upon as a pathetic gesture intended to sidestep any problem.   The depth of the problem ,however,  requires dialogue that has never taken place.       

YSU Jambar ad 4-29-14

                                                      the above material was place in the Jambar ad
 Commentary on ad  (by Jim Zupanic)

         A significant number of part time faculty just want to be plain generous to YSU and do not feel or express any sense of exploitation or discrimination.   They feel perfectly comfortable as is.   They even make additional monetary and other donations of services to the university.  My apologies to them for suggesting otherwise.   I understand it is not a one size fits all situation.   Many people of all sorts donate their various services to the university with no compensation at all.

       However, for many the situation is a real problem and the improvement of compensation and amenities should be a top priority of the university community.   If compensation is improved some  might just use it enhance their donations to the university.   We all thank you.    Others would need to use it to pay a medical bill or rent.  Teaching a class is often a love but it is also a real pile of work.

      The academic world often seeks to enjoy a respected place as a "shining city on the hill".
A place that always questions itself as it questions others.   A place that seeks to prove itself an exception to Reinhold Neibuhrs statement that  
  "The disposition to hide self interest behind the facade of pretended devotion to values, transcending self interest, is well nigh universal." (The essential Reinhold Neibuhr, Yale Press,1986  pg 123)