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Do IT this week: Layering
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 04:38 p.m. EDT, Sep 05, 2009
Hiram College in Portage County was one of a handful of private colleges statewide to see an upswing in unrestricted donations last year.
The college's 14 percent rise in annual giving to $1.7 million was second among private colleges in the state, according to Hiram's report of numbers from the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges.
Only six of the 26 private colleges that reported year-end fundraising saw donations to their annual funds increase from 2007-08 to 2008-09, Hiram officials said.
''This could have been a very easy year to sit back with a perfect excuse with the economy,'' said Pat Roberts, Hiram vice president for development and alumni relations. ''But we came in early and left late. This was due to hard work and increased momentum.''
According to Hiram's report of the foundation's findings, other private colleges and universities that reported year-end numbers saw a drop of 0.5 percent to 30 percent in the unrestricted giving that makes up their annual fund campaigns.
The foundation declined to release details from its member institutions.
Roberts attributed Hiram's success to strong donations from its board of trustees, who contributed about one-third of the annual fund attainment.
He said momentum on campus is strong, with enrollment growing from 775 five years ago to about 1,150 this fall, a 7 percent increase over the previous year alone.
Over the past five years, the college has spent about $30 million on a new residence hall, student town house and dining hall. It moved and then refurbished an old church from Mecca, Ohio, for the Garfield Institute of Public Leadership.
Only Ursuline College in Pepper Pike posted a larger increase than Hiram in its annual fund, according to Hiram's report. Ursuline giving was up 30 percent to about $522,000, Hiram said.
Ohio is home to about 50 privately supported, nonprofit colleges and universities.
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
Hiram College in Portage County was one of a handful of private colleges statewide to see an upswing in unrestricted donations last year.
The college's 14 percent rise in annual giving to $1.7 million was second among private colleges in the state, according to Hiram's report of numbers from the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges.
Only six of the 26 private colleges that reported year-end fundraising saw donations to their annual funds increase from 2007-08 to 2008-09, Hiram officials said.
''This could have been a very easy year to sit back with a perfect excuse with the economy,'' said Pat Roberts, Hiram vice president for development and alumni relations. ''But we came in early and left late. This was due to hard work and increased momentum.''
According to Hiram's report of the foundation's findings, other private colleges and universities that reported year-end numbers saw a drop of 0.5 percent to 30 percent in the unrestricted giving that makes up their annual fund campaigns.
The foundation declined to release details from its member institutions.
Roberts attributed Hiram's success to strong donations from its board of trustees, who contributed about one-third of the annual fund attainment.
He said momentum on campus is strong, with enrollment growing from 775 five years ago to about 1,150 this fall, a 7 percent increase over the previous year alone.
Over the past five years, the college has spent about $30 million on a new residence hall, student town house and dining hall. It moved and then refurbished an old church from Mecca, Ohio, for the Garfield Institute of Public Leadership.
Only Ursuline College in Pepper Pike posted a larger increase than Hiram in its annual fund, according to Hiram's report. Ursuline giving was up 30 percent to about $522,000, Hiram said.
Ohio is home to about 50 privately supported, nonprofit colleges and universities.
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 05:56 PM, 09/05/2009
Articles like this are very misleading without showing the numbers of all the schools involved.
For examples, CWRU's number only went up by 5.2% which means it brought in more the $5 million over last year. How do you judge which school was more successful.
http://blog.case.edu/support/2009/07/27/fy09fundraising
Orrville, Oh
Posted 03:56 PM, 09/06/2009
Increased donations; to private, nonprofit, tax exempt; Hiram College; demands: Fathers disqualified for affirmative action with white skin, Union workers, consumers, taxpayers, and Americas grandchildren’s children; fund; more donors tax refunds; with money; derived from wages or independent business profit!
Akron, Oh
Posted 05:45 PM, 09/06/2009
It's great to see donors' commitment to higher education. I wonder whether such donors are aware of the low wages paid to adjunct & contingent faculty--which now constitute between 60% and 70% of all college and university faculty in The United States.
At The University of Akron, for example, part-time faculty pay falls in the bottom 5% of pay for all other university employees (including manual and student laborers such as groundskeepers, housekeeping, and student assistants). An adjunct at Akron earning $750 per credit hour earns the equivalent of $8.65 per hour! This is absolutely immoral. Part-timers are also ineligible for most benefits such as university sponsored health insurance, disability insurance, and life insurance. They aren't even eligible for unemployment during the summer. What's more, part-time faculty at The University of Akron are prohibited from electing health insurance (which they must pay for out of their own pocket) during open enrollment. To add insult to injury, part-time faculty in Ohio can't even threaten to organize. Ohio law excludes part-time faculty from the definition of state employees for collective bargaining purposes.
Fortunately, there is a national organization that has begun advocating for better work conditions. New Faculty Majority: The National Coalition for Adjunct & Contingent Equity has been working hard to change higher education. Check out the NFM Website HERE at www.newfacultymajority.info.
Learn why many part-time faculty are on foodstamps and Medicaid!
Akron, OH
Posted 07:28 PM, 09/06/2009
@AkronAdjunct, why can you not organize? Being considered a state employee is not a requirement of unionization.
Akron, OH
Posted 07:29 PM, 09/06/2009
@AkronAdjunct, I know more than a dozen adjuncts and they all use their teaching as a supplemental paycheck. I know not one adjunct on foodstamps or Medicaid.
Pay time employment is just that. It alone is not meant to be a living wage.
Akron, Oh
Posted 08:23 PM, 09/06/2009
@Gain Some More Reality
What good would it do to unionize if state law prohibits universities or the State Labor Relations Board from bargaining with us? See http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4117
It's unfortunate that you define the status quo exclusively through your own experience--which are, by definition, limited.
If you had heeded my earlier admonitions to check out the website http://www.newfacultymajority.info you could have reviewed the links to dozens of resources including articles, blog entries, videos, and published books that detail the nature and extent of the exploitation of part-time and adjunct & contingent faculty in America's colleges and universities.
Also, the following quotation from Hilda Solis, U.S. Secretary of Labor, comes from the American Federation of Teachers website at http://www.aftface.org/www.aft.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=560
"Adjunct faculty are being particularly hard-hit by the financial crisis at the state level. They deserve to be represented in collective bargaining, and their collective bargaining agreements should be respected. I certainly was not implying that adjuncts are not committed to their students, or that they are anything other than excellent educators. In fact, my involvement with California community colleges has shown me that they are committed professionals who are dedicated to helping students succeed. What I wanted to get across is that, too often, adjunct faculty do not get the level of compensation or professional supports that full-time faculty receive to advise students academically, follow students through their academic careers, develop the college's curriculum, etc. Too many adjuncts, I noted, wind up needing to move from college to college each week just to put together a small living."
--Secretary Hilda Sol
Akron, OH
Posted 09:22 PM, 09/06/2009
@AkronAdjunct says "It's unfortunate that you define the status quo exclusively through your own experience--which are, by definition, limited."
That is exactly what you do with statements like "Learn why many part-time faculty are on foodstamps and Medicaid!"
Akron, OH
Posted 09:46 PM, 09/06/2009
I personally would make an effort to get the ORC changed.
Akron, Oh
Posted 10:47 PM, 09/06/2009
@ Gain Some More Reality
Your assertion is a non sequitur. Your argument (if it may be called that) that my challenge for readers to learn WHY many part-time faculty are on foodstamps and Medicaid serves to define the status quo through my own experiences simply does not follow. While I certainly warrant that many part-time faculty do receive such benefits, I am not citing such as a function of my own personal experience (though it is, indeed, consistent with my experiences). Rather, I have referenced (through the New Faculty Majority website) numerous credible citations that support my claim.
It would be very nice if you would respond to my arguments or assertions per se after availing yourself of these excellent resources.
Incidentally, changing the ORC is one plank of a legislative and policy agenda being undertaken by New Faculty Majority: The National Coalition for Adjunct & Contingent Equity. Using tools such as this forum is a mechanism for educating others about the issue.
Akron, OH
Posted 10:27 AM, 09/07/2009
@AkronAdjunct, I looked at the website. There is not one credible course on that website that states "many part-time faculty are on foodstamps and Medicaid." Matter of fact, there is very little data or sources of information provided at that site.
You are making statement that are not backed by any figures. I hope you did not teach students how to conduct research and draw conclusions.
Akron, Oh
Posted 11:35 PM, 09/07/2009
@ Gain Some More Reality
I find it astonishing that, in the span of 12 hours (overnight, nonetheless), you have read 28 books and over 200 articles, blog entries, or other resources and have managed to conclude that there is not one credible source. This is to say nothing about the 27 video segments also available on the site, several of which are entitled "Faculty on Foodstamps".
Perhaps you have simply overlooked the sources which I referenced in my earlier posting, so HERE IS THE LINK TO THE MATERIAL ON THE NEW FACULTY MAJORITY WEBSITE LOCATED AT http://www.newfacultymajority.info.
How you have come to the conclusion "...that there is (sic) little sources of information provided at that site," is beyond comprehension--save the possibility that you have simply overlooked it.
But, for the sake of argument, please allow me to do a simple math problem. $750 x 24 = $18,000. This is how much a typical part-time lecturer at UA would make on an annual basis if they were permitted to teach a full load of 24 credit hours. In actuality, part-time faculty are enjoined from working more than 21 credit hours for fear that they will claim de facto full-time status and seek benefits such as health, life, and disability insurance. So were talking a monthly gross salary of $1,312.00. A married couple with three children and both teaching as adjuncts at UA would earn a gross monthly income of $2,624.00, which would qualify them to receive food stamps.
Why are you so hell-bent on denying the conditions as they exist? I am only stating the facts.
Akron, OH
Posted 11:57 PM, 09/07/2009
@AkronAdjunct, I see you have now changed your story. So now you are saying it "is like living on food stamps and Medicare". Because earlier you said "many adjuncts are on food stamps and Medicare" and that your website has sources to prove it. Yet you have not pointed to one source that proves "many adjuncts are on food stamps and Medicare".
And now you are saying you personally know "most" adjuncts at UA and that they only teach part-time at UA and have no other sources of income. And that your example represents "many" adjuncts.
You jump to a lot of assumptions and generalizations that you cannot prove.
I am not denying the low pay. I am questioning YOUR statements and examples you are using to prove your point. You questioned I base my statements on the few adjuncts I know, yet every example you have posted in this discussion does the same thing. You have yet to point to one resource that shows your examples represent even the typical adjunct - more or less the "many" you keep stating.
Also, can you point to a UA resource that backs your $750 per credit hour? Because, you have also posted a $600 or $650 number so you are not even consistent in your own argument.
Akron, OH
Posted 12:04 AM, 09/08/2009
@AkronAdjunct, adjunct faculty are consider part-time. I do not know any part-time job that you can live on. In your example of two adjunct faculty, married with kids, the parents put themselves in a role that they cannot provide for their own family. That is not the fault of the university.
Akron, OH
Posted 12:30 AM, 09/08/2009
@AkronAdjunct, by the way you are allowed to work up to 30 in a calendar year. Maybe you should read your own policies a little closer. It is up to 21 in academic year, which is fall and spring, and up to another 9 in summer.
Akron, Oh
Posted 10:59 AM, 09/08/2009
@ Gain Some More Reality
You are correct that some clarification is in order with respect to the maximum calendar year teaching load. The University defines an academic year as fall/spring, whereas the calendar year obviously includes the summer. In any event, part-time faculty are rarely afforded the opportunity to teach during the summer because of the abusive practice of "bumping" by full-time faculty who teach on 9 month contracts and who pickup courses in the summer with preference over part-time faculty. This alters the annual maximum potential earnings, but not the annualized or hourly earnings.
Your assertion that adjuncting is part-time work is technically (i.e., by definition) correct. Unfortunately, however, you have missed the point entirely. The reality is that those of us who teach a full-time equivalent load should receive full-time equivalent pay. Perhaps you have heard the term "equal pay for equal work"? To impugn those of us who elect to engage in this profession as being at fault for putting ourselves in a role in which we cannot provide for our families is myopic at best. The reality is that we have been trained as educators, and many of us have earned terminal degrees in our respective disciplines. Another reality is that colleges and universities over-sell graduate programs in the arts & sciences, driving down demand and exerting a downward pressure on wages.
File a Freedom of Information Act request asking the university for aggregate salary data if you require additional proof. I have stated what I make ($750 per credit hour) which is relatively standard for an assistant lecturer in Communication. You can extrapolate the high-points of each salary grade by the bottom-point of the next highest grade. It's really quite simple. I have also stated that $600 is the minimum per credit hour range specified in the rule. Incidentally, this range has not been adjusted in at least nine years.
Akron, Oh
Posted 11:03 AM, 09/08/2009
@ Gain Some More Reality
Also, if you are going to quote me (i.e., using quotation marks), at least maintain fidelity to what I actually said. No where have I even referenced Medicare or used simile to draw an indirect comparison to the economic plight of part-time faculty.
Akron, OH
Posted 11:04 AM, 09/08/2009
@AkronAdjunct, the problem with your statements about full-time equivalent pay is the full-time faculty do a lot more than teach. You are getting paid for the teaching component, while they do much more.
Many adjuncts are not "trained as educators" and as long as adjuncts ranks consist of those people, you should not expect the same pay as the PhD full time faculty.
Akron, OH
Posted 11:33 AM, 09/08/2009
@AkronAdjunct, sorry. You exact words you keep saying over and over again is "Learn why many part-time faculty are on foodstamps and Medicaid!" Which you cannot prove with one shred of evidence that this is the case.
