July 23

Out of Work for Doing Extra Work?

If you want a good example of the vulnerability of adjuncts — at least as faculty leaders in Indiana see it — check out the case of the instructor who lost his job because he responded to student complaints. The act that allegedly got him in trouble? Using supplementary materials.

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Pejman Norasteh was teaching statistics this spring at the Indianapolis campus of Ivy Tech Community College when he tried to respond to one set of student complaints and found himself in trouble with the administration for doing so. Norasteh saved e-mail messages he received from students and superiors that document his version of events and that he shared with Inside Higher Ed, minus identifying information about students.

Norasteh — like many adjuncts — didn’t have much control over the material he was supposed to cover. But students started to send him e-mail saying that the textbook was unclear. One student said he was getting “depressed” and giving up when he didn’t understand the required assignments. Another student wrote: “As usual, our textbook does a poor job of explaining concepts. I am adding this chapter to my list of examples of how poor our book is....”

In response to the e-mail messages and personal requests, Norasteh started handing out supplementary materials to cover the same subject matter as the textbook, but with his own explanations. While the students who complained were happy, some others were not. They sent e-mail messages to the division chair saying that they were being asked to do extra work on top of the syllabus because the supplementary materials were not mentioned on the syllabus as required reading. That of course was true, since Norasteh didn’t start the course thinking he would add to the reading beyond the textbook.

At that point, Norasteh received an e-mail from Mark Magnuson, division chair for liberal arts and sciences, and general education at the campus. Magnuson wrote that it was clear to him that “you are not using or following the syllabus or textbook,” adding that “all instructors, adjuncts and full-time, are required to use the syllabus and textbook in each course to meet the statewide agreed upon course objectives. Individual instructors do not have the option of straying from the syllabus and/or textbook.”

While Norasteh disagreed with the e-mail (he says he never stopped using the textbook, and only added material), he backed down and returned to the unadulterated textbook. He even has e-mail from one of the students remarking on his return to the textbook only. But it was too late. Shortly after, he was told his contract would not be renewed. He’s moving to New York City to look for adjunct positions there.

Jeffery Fanter, vice president of communications at Ivy Tech, said he was aware of Norasteh’s situation but said that college policy prevented him from commenting on it directly. But he defended the idea that the college might tell an instructor not to deviate in any way from a syllabus. “I can tell you that there are expectations that certain aspects of a courses syllabus be followed and taught consistent with the elements that were approved by the faculty in a specific department,” he said via e-mail. “The syllabus and curriculum is developed by our faculty. As a transfer institution consistency in our academic delivery is an important part of our mission.”

To faculty leaders in Indiana, Ivy Tech already is suspect on its treatment of adjuncts. Becky Lee Meadows last year found her contract as a full-time, non-tenure track professor suddenly dropped after she tried to organize a benefit concert to raise money for health care for adjuncts at the college. “We’ve been concerned about academic freedom at Ivy Tech for some time,” said Richard Schneirov, a professor of history at Indiana State University and president of the Indiana AAUP.

Schneirov said he understood the need for a common syllabus for a course taught in multiple sections and on multiple campuses. But he said that all faculty members, including adjuncts, need to have some leeway to use their “best judgment” in how to guide a particular group of students through the material.

The Indiana AAUP has asked Ivy Tech officials to reconsider their treatment of Norasteh, but thus far there has been no move to do so.

Norasteh “was creating supplementary materials because students were having trouble,” said Schneirov. Even if some students were afraid that they were getting additional work, he said, how could higher-ups take their side against an instructor doing extra work to respond to student confusion with the assigned textbook? He asked what it says when that is somehow viewed as grounds for reprimand and non-renewal of a contract. “This is not academic freedom,” he said. “This shows that adjuncts have no academic freedom there.”

— Scott Jaschik

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Comments

catch-22

If the instructor had stuck to the textbook, he would still have been in danger of non-renewal, in this case for bad student evaluations. Meanwhile, the VP of Communications writes, “The program and syllabus is developed ...” Oh, they is?

Cheryl Caesar, adjunct asst prof at American University of Paris, at 6:40 am EDT on July 23, 2008

supplementary material optional?

I wonder if the supplementary material provided was considered optional reading. If it was, then there really was no real reason for the students who did not have a problem with the text to complain nor for the administration to take their side.

Terminating a professor for give extra help to students who have trouble with the course, what kind of educational policy is that?

Helena Kalin, at 7:25 am EDT on July 23, 2008

Out of Work for Doing Extra Work

In a student centered, learner centered revolution, this is unbelievable!

John A. Gostan, Ph.D., Professor at NEIA, at 7:50 am EDT on July 23, 2008

What revolution?

“In a student centered, learner centered revolution, this is unbelievable!”

Where revolution?

http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/07/23/aale

Buzz, at 8:20 am EDT on July 23, 2008

Two good comments above. I hope also thatthe textbook itself gets re-evaluated. It may or may not be beyond reproach; ditto the students concerned; but writing textbooks is a lucrative business and writing readably and acessibly should be treated as a serious art.

Rupert Wilkinson(Author of AIDING STUDENTS, BUYING STUDENTS, Vanderbilt UP)

Rupert Wilkinson, And wht about that textbook, at 8:20 am EDT on July 23, 2008

I had something similar happen at University of Phoenix once. A committee had picked a godawful text for graduate statistics. The undergrads were still using a good statistics text, which had been previously used for the grad course. I made the grad students turn in the bad text and buy the undergrad one. This got UoP mad, but they continued to hire me.

TBD, at 9:10 am EDT on July 23, 2008

Well, this would explain why college degrees don’t keep up with inflation anymore! “Consistency” of students means nothing if they are consistently bad.

Nathan, at 9:15 am EDT on July 23, 2008

Adjuncts can be non-renewed for any reason

I understand why articles like try to draw attention to the plight of adjuncts, but the fact is that in almost all campuses, they can be non-renewed for any or no reason (except a few that clearly violate anti-discrimination laws). Public notice won’t change that situation.

Gypsy Boots, at 9:35 am EDT on July 23, 2008

Amazing lazing.

What’s amazing here to me is the reason that the administration even started going after the professor. A student emailed to complain about having to read something that went beyond the bare minimum of the syllabus. So, it wasn’t just that the professor was punished for extra work. The professor was punished in order to protect students from having to overcome laziness in order to learn something.

John, at 9:35 am EDT on July 23, 2008

What is the objective?

This article has got to be the silliest one I have read in a long time. As an adjunct, now currently associated with 4 schools, and “retired” from an 18 year career as a full time professor following a 37 year professional career in government and business, I find it appalling that a paranoid department head would chastise someone for helping the learners along their learning path (Yes, there is a student-led learning “rebelution"...see www.therebelution.com). At the schools with whom I am now associated (One is the world’s largest private university) we are expected to bring our “expertise” to the table to assist students. If that means I will provide supplemental material, so be it! I have even found it necessary to create supplemental PowerPoints and video podcasts to explain the APA style. In summary, I wonder who should be let go!

Edward Winslow, A tired “refired” old business professor, at 9:35 am EDT on July 23, 2008

Boo hoo. The students had to do a couple more readings beyond the book? How dare we ask them to understand their subject matter!

The instructor should be commended for going above and beyond, especially at adjunct pay, instead of punished.

ndgmarie, at 9:40 am EDT on July 23, 2008

Adjunct Out of Work

Issues involving the curriculum, quality of education and roles and responsibilities are in a stage of flux with the national rise of the numbers of adjuncts in universities.

It seems to me that a dedicated educator needs to maintain standards but at the same time have a degree of autonomy.

Education professionals need to consider what degree of interaction and collaboration that adjunct faculty members are offered. Unfortunately adjuncts often do not have a voice in curriculum and policies but are an integral part of our system. They have become the elephant in the room that we need to talk about now.

I applaud the person in the article for his dedication to providing a quality education.

Joan Morris, ARNP, CNE, Instructor at University of South Florida, College of Nursing, at 9:50 am EDT on July 23, 2008

AAUP Comments Suspect

Ivy Tech is not unionized and does not offer tenure. No wonder the AAUP is “concerned"... about those potential union dues. Their position on this issue reveals their true agenda.

Mr. T, at 10:00 am EDT on July 23, 2008

AAUP Deserves Praise

This case shows how academic freedom and academic standards are deeply tied together. Here, an adjunct was fired for trying to increase academic standards by going beyond the textbook. The danger of standardization is a dumbing down of expectations, and that’s precisely what happened at Ivy Tech. Giving individual faculty authority over their classrooms tends to raise standards, not lower them.

Mr. T’s snide comment that the AAUP only cares about union dues is both stupid and wrong. The AAUP rarely seeks to unionize at community colleges (I wish it did). But clearly, Ivy Tech faculty need a union to protect them from an administration this bad.

John K. Wilson, collegefreedom.org, at 11:15 am EDT on July 23, 2008

The issues of arbitrary treatment of adjuncts and requiring(?) to do extra work aside, there are two additional issues to be considered. While it seems reasonable to determine what TOPICS should be covered in a class that may have other classes following in sequence, the idea that there is only one way to cover those topics is absurd. Ivy Tech has displayed its stupid side to the world, as well as its arbitrary nature and poor treatment of professional personnel.

Jerry Weber, Regents’ Professor at University of Oklahoma, at 12:00 pm EDT on July 23, 2008

same thing happened to me

I sympathize with the faculty member in this article. I spent countless hours developing my own supplemental statistics content to help my students and I battled the regular faculty to change the official text. My student evaluations were very strong. I also received praise from fellow faculty who said they could see improvement in student learning. However, without tenure protection, I was replaced by someone who stuck to reciting the textbook in exchange for low student evaluations.

What bothers me most about the situation at the CC in the article, is that the administration seems to be catering to the slackers and ignoring the students who were satisfied with the extra help in learning. This makes no sense to me. Are we pandering to the lowest common denominator of student in order to maintain high enrollments in this age of tough university budgets?

former Stats faculty, Asst. Prof., at 12:00 pm EDT on July 23, 2008

Ah yes, Mr T

Thanks, Mr T. Now we begin to see the real rationale! We also see the continued posture of low expectations that are fostered by the NEA with their strangle hold on local governments in the to maintain the status quo in the K-12 education that has caused to United states to drop in preeminence on international stage. It’s interesting that the NEA is the only “closed (union) shop” left in the US.

It’s no wonder the young digital natives (13-19) have and are staging their own rebellion against low expectations fostered by the 60’s and 70’s generation who are now in control of the NEA. See http://www.therebelution.com/

Edward Winslow, at 12:05 pm EDT on July 23, 2008

the folly of one-size fits all

The fundamental pedagogical problem is that the teachers are not being allowed to teach as they know best. Instead, they are being forced into a departmental cookie-cutter configuration because someone, somewhere, decided consistency was more important than the danger of someone teaching something differently than someone else. And firing someone for going beyond the minimum? Talk about absurd.

It’s one thing to have departmental expectations, that students will be able to learn, do, or have been exposed to X. It’s quite another to dictate how they get there and it just shows how little value is being placed in the teachers themselves. It’s the same old saw, that the teachers are the problem. What about whiny students and stupid administrators who are more concerned with the bureaucratic than the educational aspects of their jobs?

In this instance, it looks like when someone stepped into administration, several someones perhaps, they hooked a hose to their head and sucked out a good bit of their brains. The behaviors discussed in this article show the problem is not so much in the classroom as in the administrations. Let teachers teach and get administrators out of the way.

bradley bleck, instructor at Spokane Falls CC, at 12:50 pm EDT on July 23, 2008

Ok lets face it folks,adjuncts are the peasants in the educational system.Administrtaion can make any excuse they like for not rehiring you.Now the trend is to evaluate anyone they dont like,ect. I was once told I gave too many handouts! Until adjuncts fight back,they will continue to be treated as with inequity.They dont need a reason, they can make one up from bad student reviews to too many abscences.Wake up and fight back!

Diana Ramseyer, at 1:45 pm EDT on July 23, 2008

Out of Work for Doing Extra Work??!!

I agree with most of the comments and wish to add that not only was this adjunct not provided his proper rights but the students were given WAY to much power to sway and influence the future career if this instructor. Students have a right to evaluate but it appears that their emails were given a ludicrous amount on influnce by the administration.

Joan Warmbold, Professor of Psychology, at 2:25 pm EDT on July 23, 2008

Lose-Lose Situation

It is sad that as professors, our top priority can not be the welfare of our students. The only thing that Indiana U. will understand is if every adjunct walks out at the same time and leaves them sitting there inconvenienced. That is the only thing a bully understands.

The worst part is that they are shutting themselves off from future faculty. They could make me an excellent offer, and I would not even give one moments thought to working for that institution after reading all the negative press on this university.

In some situations such as this — there are no win-win situations. If he failed half his class, he would have not gotten a contract renewal due to low performing students. If he tries to help them, then he faces his current situation.

While it is not fair, the professors that have been affected by this instition are possibly better off seeking a new position, though it is unfortunate that it was not by their own choice. At least they can leave with their head held high, knowing they were in the right. Hopefully they will be rewarded with a better and more respected position.

Confused Prof, at 2:50 pm EDT on July 23, 2008

Fighting back?

I’m all for fighting back... But, how exactly should anyone do that in an environment where they can be fired even for making an extra effort? I know I won’t ever apply for a position at Ivy Tech; but, aside from that, I’m baffled.

Rufus, at 2:50 pm EDT on July 23, 2008

Few, if any, standards

All administrators want are robots who do what they are told to do — and nothing more or less. To deviate from plan is to cause them to spend extra minutes away from the water cooler. Learning? What’s that?

One student out of 30 causing a problem? OMG! End of the world! Meetings must be held!

Any wonder why some colleges begin to have enrollment declines? That become graveyards for presidents and organizational death-spirals?

L.L., at 4:30 pm EDT on July 23, 2008

assembly-line teaching

The VP of communications at Ivy Tech succinctly described the biggest problem with schools like Ivy Tech: “...consistency in our academic delivery is an important part of our mission.'’That’s HOW a subject is taught, not WHAT is taught, that’s being standardized. This is the assembly-line model of production being applied in the worst possible place, to the art of teaching.

Ralph deLaubenfels, at 8:25 pm EDT on July 23, 2008

Practicality

This is good stuff, reading what everyone has added. Someone asked, and rightly so, what can be done about this? How can an adjunct practicaly fight back when the results may be: being removed from teaching a class or no longer re-hired by administration? I’d like to see some practical steps on how to keep this kind of thing from happening.

Homecheese, Adjunct, at 5:00 am EDT on July 24, 2008

Some course such as stats should not be taught in a compressed format. I have colleagues who are teaching stats and even chemistry online and they are going through the same situation as this adjunct is. Students just do not want to do the work anymore, they expect for easy answers and easy grades. Thank god I teach computer courses!

CarolinaAdjunct, at 9:30 am EDT on July 24, 2008

What to do?

This website is performing a valuable function by exposing the moronic actions of administrators in response to student complaints. There is no indication here that the department head properly investigated the complaint, elicited the instructor’s side of the story, and made a reasoned judgment. In this case, a reasoned judgment would be that the instructor responded to student complaints about the text by giving them additional materials to make the topic comprehensible. In other words, the instructor was doing his job PROPERLY. It was the department head who was doing his job improperly and who should be censured or removed.

Art Leonard, Professor of Law at New York Law School, at 9:40 am EDT on July 24, 2008

Out of work — I have some for you!

I wish I could get an adjunct in statistics that would work this way with students — I welcome having the instructor in question contact me with a CV. I would love to have an on-line instructor in statistics who absolutely cared most that the students learned and was willing to provide the extras to make it happen.

Jeanne, Dept. head at WKU, at 3:00 pm EDT on July 24, 2008

“Moooo” and other thoughts

The article highlights a growing, intellectually life-threatening phenomenon running rampant through US higher education. I couldn’t help but think of the protagonist Winston Smith in 1984, and what was done to neutralize his rising concerns about his society. The very visible push for “consistency", frankly, does more harm than good in the long run. Look to the fallout from No Child Left Behind, and the increasing pressure to “teach to the test". Part of me wants to cut through the administrative and bureaucratic doublespeak to shout “Sieg Heil". Maybe it would be more effective to simply sound off with a prolonged “Moooooo". As an adjunct myself, I have faced these pressures, and they do major disservices to all parties involved. Does setting aside some time outside regular class meetings to review with students before examinations similarly qualify as nonconformity? In the meantime, more people still wonder why standards in and overall quality of US higher education is slipping.

Chris Deere, Another Adjunct, at 3:10 pm EDT on July 24, 2008

the answer to Chris Deere’s question is “yes'’

At a school I used to teach at, I held my office hours as a study hall; this meant I reserved a classroom for my students to work on homework or otherwise study for the classes I was teaching, so that they could immediately get hints and other assistance.Some students complained about the study halls, saying they were equivalent to extra required class time. Fortunately I had tenure, so I could give complaints like those the attention they deserved.

Ralph deLaubenfels, at 4:20 pm EDT on July 24, 2008

The administration at Ivy Tech seems not to be able to grasp that the ‘products’ it wishes to standardize are human beings, with varied cognitive abilities, not uniform pieces of metal to be stamped into widgets on the assembly line. What’s even sadder is its persecution of an adjunct that, despite what was surely abysmal pay, took extra time to create materials that actually met his students’ individual needs.

I’d be interested to know whether Ivy Tech hires academics for its administrative positions or whether they are MBA types with no grasp of what it’s like to be in front of the classroom!

Humanities Scholar, at 10:30 pm EDT on July 24, 2008

Consistency

I have heard the instructors situation from one of my colleagues teaching at IVY Tech. Apparently, he was the victim of his commitment to his profession and his student.

Professor G., Professor at IUPUI, at 7:45 pm EDT on July 25, 2008

Out of Job for Commitment

There are a few concerns and questions.First of all when we the educators have to choose only one between “Quality Education” and “Consistency” which one should we?

Second, what is going to happen to the future of education in the United States if such schools which are funded by the government can do whatever they want?

cct, Educator, at 1:05 pm EDT on July 27, 2008

The syllabus is a contract between the professor and the students. This professor in effect broke that contract by giving his students additional material to read. Instead, he should have held supplementary sessions for those who wanted them and/or coached individual students. Yes, this would have involved a lot of extra work on his part, but it would have saved his job. He then could have modifed his syllabus to include the extra reading for the next time he taught the course.

I have to make similar adjustments to student needs. You can’t just heap extra work on them. Instead, you have to nurture them.

Bruce Hoag, at 5:05 am EDT on July 28, 2008

What a ridiculous situation it was.

I can not belive that it has happened in the college. Better chance to learn is not only the right of sutdents but also the duty of instructor. As the name infers, the textbook is the textbook. In college, instructor tries to give more and effective information to students. He did his job very well. It is really nonsense eventhough Ivy-Tech should have encouraged him, they made him quit th job. Does anybody have idea to fix this situaton?

hillwee@hanmail.net, Nonsense, at 7:40 pm EDT on July 28, 2008

Just unblievable!!

It’s even sadder that, when I heard from a freind that the gentlman was not even adjunct, but a full time professor.

H.D, Instructor, at 5:25 pm EDT on July 30, 2008

Academic Freedom

Since there were some questions on the comments, that if the additional materials were mandated to learn or if they were additional materials to the objectives of the course so I just wanted to mention that as I mentioned on my e-mail to a students:

“The notes or handout you are given in class are just study guides and ‘not replacements for the textbook’. You can use the handouts to have an idea about what your teacher is covering in class and what to study from the textbook. Once you know what materialsare covered, you can just find those materials to study.”

So it shows that the additional materials were explanatory materials and as and Mr. Jaschik kindly mentioned that on the article, “to cover the same subject matter as the textbook, but with his own explanations.”

The other important matter were the textbooks.

The department was also using a textbook for the other course I was coordinating, Geometry and Trigonometry, which was provided by many people and it was quite unorganized such that you could see 2 different numbers as the pages on the top and on the bottom of each page! And it caused much confusion for the students.

In the middle of the semester, hearing many students were not happy with the clarity of the textbook, I suggested to the department a couple of textbooks for Statistics, to be used for the next semesters, and both of them were rejected by the department for some excuses.On one case the Chair of the Department questioned the credentials of the Author and even after I provided her with a website about the impressive credentials of the Author, She responded that there were so much “POLITICS” involved and she could not approve it as a textbook. I provided Mr. Jaschik with the same website about the Author’s credentials.

I was wondering if we should sacrifice the education for politics? Where is the academic freedom?

Pejman, at 12:35 pm EDT on July 31, 2008

Who is resposible?

By reading the very sad story about this instructor, who was brutally abused by Ivy Tech College Administration for an excellent job he had done for the college and the students, I have a feeling that every educator who is dedicating her/ his life to education is getting tremendously shocked.

I wonder if there is any responsible government organization to investigate and make any appropriate prosecution to the administration of the College for the future of all educators.

It is so obvious that they are misusing their power.

Therefore, in order to prevent this kind of a very poor judgment happening in the future, and Ivy Tech is one of the state-funded colleges in the nation, the administrative officer/s should be changed/ removed.Otherwise they may still spoil the funds they receive from the government by making such a poor decisions.

Joe, Adjunct, at 5:05 am EDT on August 6, 2008

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