At The VCU We Deserve, decisions that affect us would not be made without us.
Our working conditions are our student’s learning conditions. We must provide VCU students with instructors that have stability, appropriate workloads, and the ability to invest in the institution for the long-term that can only come from fair compensation and voice on the job.
On Wednesday, April 28th VCU Provost Gail Hackett emailed a notice to Deans across the university calling for them to enforce a directive that the provost acknowledged is not yet policy. This course of action would cut adjuncts’ classes to two per semester to keep them from being able to argue that they deserve full-time benefits. This is a further adjunctification of higher education that hurts students and faculty alike.
Implementation of this policy must be immediately paused. VCU administration must allow for time to dialogue in good faith about the best course of action for students and educators.
On behalf of incoming students, current students, and instructors, we will also be submitting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on all administrative correspondence leading up to this proposed policy shift. The public needs to understand why the usual due diligence is being skipped in order to carry out a directive that has not yet been formalized as policy. If documents uncovered by the FOIA indicate that these actions are being carried out as retaliation for union activity, then these actions are illegal.
While we appreciate the challenges of governance, we cannot meet these challenges with short-term thinking. “Solving” the problem of benefits by cutting working hours helps no one. Students need professors with stability as a matter of healthy cognitive development that is a prerequisite for receiving an education. We hope the VCU Administration will prioritize meeting with the Richmond delegation of the General Assembly to advocate for the necessary funding to meet adjunct demands for fair wages, job stability, and healthcare access. We hope to hear a report back on how these meetings go, so that we can work together in overcoming the obstacles to the VCU we deserve.
In the mean time, this rushed policy must not go forward.
