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An adjunct professor at St. Louis Community College was arrested last week during a Board of Trustees meeting after he allegedly charged toward the area where the board members and the chancellor were sitting.
Steve Taylor, who is a math faculty member, was upset with the ground rules laid out at the meeting, including that applause wasn't allowed, according to an email that Robert Hertel, the president of the National Educational Association at St. Louis Community College, sent to faculty members.
A St. Louis police officer grabbed Taylor and took him down to the floor, where he was handcuffed. Taylor later received treatment at a hospital for bruised ribs and injuries to his face and shoulder.
A Facebook post from the faculty union further described the incident and defended Taylor: "He was tackled to the ground for expressing an objection when administration stifled students' right to voice support for their faculty. Faculty and students were at the board meeting seeking a fair contract for adjuncts with reasonable job security."
In a news conference the faculty union held Friday, Taylor said the adjuncts have been asking for a 3 percent increase in pay.
"Most of us have master's degrees and Ph.D.s," Taylor said. "I teach eight classes a semester. I drive 105 miles a day … and I make about $30,000 a year. I'm not obsessed with money, but my creditors are and we've been … asking for these very minimum things and we've been met with stonewalling, resistance and a haughty, condescending attitude."
In a statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, college representatives said that "disruptive outbursts undermine the process of conducting business in a transparent and respectful manner."
