EWU Demeans "Part-Time" Faculty in the Issue of the Spokane NAACP President's Race and Applications June 12, 2015

June 12, 2015. In Spokane, Washington, the president of the NAACP is being investigated for her race, and whether or not she gave false information on applications.
http://www.kxly.com/news/spokane-news/First-on-KXLY-Rachel-Dolezal-responds-to-race-allegations/33539322

At Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Washington, Rachel Dolezal has been teaching courses in Africana Studies for five years.

EWU released a statement which discriminates against all teachers in higher education, by making a distinction between "part-time" positions and "professors," stating that she isn't a professor.

Whether or not Ms. Dolezal did or did not provide false information, it is deplorable that the university uses its own hiring practices to demean all faculty--of hiring someone for five years and demeaning her with the term "part-time"

Students will lose confidence in faculty who are treated badly by the EWU administration, and for EWU to make this distinction shakes the foundation of the university.

It is the position at the American Faculty Association that all faculty are professors, and deserve professional and equal pay.

When asked about Dolezal, EWU released this statement Friday:
"Since 2010, Rachel Dolezal has been hired at Eastern Washington University on a quarter by quarter basis as an instructor in the Africana Education program. This is a part-time position to address program needs. Dolezal is not a professor. The University does not feel it is appropriate to comment on issues involving her personal life. The university does not publicly discuss personnel issues."

http://www.kxly.com/news/spokane-news/ewu-releases-statement-on-rachel-dolezal/33552506

Update: June, 12, 2015 Washington Post refers to Dolezal as a professor.
The fascinating Rachel Dolezal story has more layers than one of those flaky Pillsbury biscuits. She’s the president of the Spokane, Wash., chapter of the NAACP and a professor of African American studies at Eastern Washington University, who was outed as not actually being African American. Her years of deception came to an end after her inability to answer a simple question at the end of an interview with KXLY television reporter Jeff Humphrey. “Are you an African American?” he asked.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/06/12/the-damage-rachel-dolezal-has-done/

June 14 and 15, 2015
The website, Spokane Economic and Demographic Data has two articles on this topic:
Chameleon Appearance
"Spokane is filled with idiots, unfortunately. And scummy hustlers. The area has so little diversity (click to see!) it has fake black residents now....At least we can say, with all the news people flying in – its undoubtedly good for the local economy, at least for a few days. Then its back to being the laughing stock of the world."
https://inlandnw.wordpress.com/2015/06/14/rachel-dolezals-chameleon-appearance-over-time-in-photos/

afa commentary:
There are other issues in academia that deserve this type of scrutiny and action:
In Spokane, at least one professor is/was full-time at two institutions at the same time.
In Spokane, at least two English professors in the community colleges didn't have degrees in English, yet they got the first pick of classes, such as composition and literature which they hadn't trained form, and they were on most of the hiring committees.
And this leads to the question, of when Americans will look critically at 911 and realize that the guys who effected it are still free and rich.
As a nation, Americans must restore the ideals of liberty and justice for all, of health, wealth, and happiness for all. We can't sit on the sidelines and expect journalists to make everything right.

Wage Theft "Part-Time Faculty Pay is a Form of Wage Theft," by Dr. Keith Hoeller, Published in The Olympian, May 6, 2015

"Part-Time Faculty Pay is a Form of Wage Theft," by Keith Hoeller
Published May 6, 2015 in The Olympian, Olympia, Washington

In “Wage Theft in America,” Kim Bobo says that “most Americans would be shocked to learn that we have a crisis of wage theft. Employers are stealing money from workers and cheating them of wages owed or not paying them at all.”

"You may be shocked to learn that our community colleges have cheated 8,000 part-time (or adjunct) professors out of hundred of millions of dollars. The two-year colleges have set up a separate but unequal labor system in which the adjunct professors are paid only 60 cents on the dollar for teaching the same courses as their full-time counterparts."

For complete op-ed, please go to:

http://www.theolympian.com/2015/05/06/3710721_part-time-faculty-pay-is-a-form.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
To write a letter to the editor:  http://www.theolympian.com/submit-letter/index.html

Adjunct Professors Deserve More Money and Job Security: Editorial by Dr. Keith Hoeller, Saturday, May 2, 2015

"In the Community Colleges of Spokane (CCS), the 500 adjunct professors average only $14,804 a year for teaching a half-time load. That’s less than half of an annual salary of $15 an hour ($31,200). And it’s only 27 percent of the average CCS full-timers salary of $54,678, with about 100 exceeding $80,000."
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/may/02/keith-hoeller-adjunct-professors-deserve-more-mone/

Washington State Legislators, Please Step Up to the Plate!
Correct this unjust and unproductive situation to help our community and our students.
Otherwise, students see their profs delivering their pizzas on Saturday night.

Adjuncts Walk Out Day, with news from Seattle University Feb. 25, 2015

Nontenured instructors stage walkout over demands at SU
By Katherine Long

Seattle Times higher education reporter

Waving signs and chanting “count the votes,” several hundred faculty members and students walked out of Seattle University on Wednesday as part of a national day of action to call attention to the working conditions of adjunct professors and instructors. 

Originally published February 25, 2015 at 5:55 pm

Updated February 25, 2015 at 9:03 pm

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/nontenured-instructors-stage-walkout-over-demands-at-su/

Washington State Senate Commerce and Labor Committee Pass SB 5231 Out of Committee. Wed. Feb. 19, 2015

Here's an update from Dr. Keith Hoeller of the Washington State Part Time Faculty Association:

"About 3 p.m. on Wed. Feb. 19, SB 5231 (Separate Unions for Adjunct Faculty) passed out of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee.  You can see the vote take place on TVW.org at about 1 hour and thirty minutes into the hearing:  http://tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2015021186 

While the vote has not yet been posted, it appeared that all of the Republicans voted for the bill, and all of the Democrats opposed it.

It is clear that your many letters, and the testimony of six adjuncts at last Friday's public hearing, made a big impact on the committee.

The bill now goes to Senate Ways and Means Committee and we hope to have a hearing.

 

If you have time, it would be great if you could drop the Chair (michael.baumgartner@leg.wa.gov) a brief note thanking him.  You might copy Sen. Sheldon too (timothy.sheldon@leg.wa.gov). "

National Adjunct Walkout Day Feb. 25, 2015 and Chronicle Article by Dr. Keith Hoeller Feb. 16, 2015

February 16, 2015

Unions Need to Step Up for Equality

By Keith Hoeller

Last fall an adjunct professor, who wishes to remain anonymous, created a Facebook page titled "National Adjunct Walkout Day" and posted the following: "On February 25, 2015, adjuncts across the country will come together to insist on fair wages and better working conditions."

http://chronicle.com/article/Unions-Need-to-Step-Up-for/190053/




Tuesday 17, February 2015

Guest Opinion: Part-time faculty at community colleges need rights

"...less well known are the impoverished wages paid to most community college part-time instructors, the result of discounted rate of pay and workload caps. The dismal compensation forces some part-time instructors to accept food stamps and social welfare programs in order to survive. Those who still have student loan debt from their undergraduate or graduate studies face dim prospects of ever being able to pay those debts off. "

by Jack Longmate and Keith Hoeller

http://crosscut.com/2015/02/guest-opinion-part-time-faculty-community-colleges-need-rights/

Please sign petition for SB 5844 (Different Unions for Adjuncts and Tenured Faculty) to Washington State Governor December 18, 2014

From Washington State:

We now have a petition to Gov. Inslee in favor of WA Senate Bill 5844 (SB 5844) to give us separate unions for the full-timers and part-timers.  We have 67 signatures now.Please sign and comment on this petition ASAP, and be sure to spread it around and ask others to sign it too.http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/governor-jay-insleesupport

Cordially,

Keith Hoeller
Washington Part-Time Faculty Association
Seattle, WA
P.S.  We are gearing up for January's legislative session.  Please send me names and email addresses of people you think might support our efforts to pass SB 5844!