Part-time college instructors from Madison Area Technical College and UW-Madison held a rally Monday on the steps of the state Capitol to bring light to the treatment of part-time faculty in higher education.
\We need to stop nasty trends from reoccurring,"" said David Boetcher, president of the MATC Part-Time Teachers' Union.
Such trends, according to Boetcher, include dividing full-time positions between many part-time teachers and paying them considerably less than full-time teachers, oftentimes without any benefits.
""Part-time teachers carry the same credentials as full-time teachers yet are paid less than 40 percent of what [full-time teachers] are paid for teaching the same class,"" he said. ""We demand equal pay for equal work.""
According to Boetcher, a revolving-door cycle has been created.
""Part-time teachers are being replaced too fast to attain full-time status,"" he said.
UW-Madison Vice Chancellor John Torphy said the university does not face the same problems as MATC.
""Full-time faculty members have responsibilities to instruction, research, outreach and departmental upkeep that do not apply to TAs,"" he said in an interview Monday. ""Most TAs at UW-Madison are working toward their doctorates and are not making their TA responsibilities their career.""
Problems facing UW-Madison's teaching assistants are of a different nature than those facing the part-time employees of MATC, agreed Anihan Huesmann of the UW-Madison Teaching Assistants' Association.
One of the main issues for UW-Madison TAs is the pay inequality between faculty and TAs. According to Huesmann, faculty will receive a 3.2 percent raise next year while the state is offering the TAA a 1 or 2 percent pay raise. She called the raise proposed to TAs a pay cut because it is less than the rate of inflation.
Speaking at the rally, Sen. Gary George, D-Milwaukee, announced legislation that will address pay equity for part-time teachers.
""It's untenable for part-time teachers to earn a third of what full-time teachers earn,"" he said. ""This is an equity issue'it's a matter of fairness and we're going to hold until this bill passes.""
The cause for the exploitation lies in the misinterpretation of colleges as businesses, Boetcher said.
""Producing profits should not be the primary concern as a business'educating students should be,"" he said.
In conjunction with Campus Equity Week, which intends to raise awareness of part-time faculty treatment in higher education, political satirist Michael Moore will be lecturing today at 6:30 p.m. in Agriculture Hall, Room 125.
