New Adjunct Whine

[Jacob Segal]

I don't know whether its been mentioned, but for me the worst aspect of
adjuncting is the constant uncertainity about work. Each semester is a
guessing game whether I will have sufficient courses.  There is a kind of
humilating quality to this uncertainty and necessary pleading to
departmental heads.  Recently, I was delighted to be hired by a NYU division
that promises a consistent two course allotment, but that still leaves me
two courses shy of what I need to live.  And when courses are assigned,
there is a worry that they will be canceled due to lack of students.

Today, I will be "observed" by one of my bosses (I teach at three different
colleges), a anxiety producing event intensified by the precarious existence
of the adjunct.   

Teaching if definitively fun at times, but being an adjunct is not fun at
all.

Jacob Segal
NYU (two divisions)
Hunter College
John Jay College 

P.S.  I'd be interested to know why Justin was fired from Ohio State, an
event he has mentioned a few times.