> Obviously, this doesn't mark professors as an especially oppressed group,
> but it is kind of amazing..... robert wood
Those in adjunct hell, many of whom couldn't publish enough articles in those expensive journals to make tenure, arguably are. Their incomes vary widely by discipline, but those trapped in the liberal arts are, by and large, an unenviable bunch. Check out this 2002 data on adjunct historians:
http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2002/0210/0210aha3.cfm
59% of them earned less than $15,000, and only 18% earned more than $25,000 (which was my first full-time salary after college). Only 16% and 17% of them had sick leave and health care, respectively. If you're at a point in life when you want to raise a family, or if you face any significant personal challenges (health conditions, etc.), those are problems.