Petition To Eliminate The 9-6 Rule at CUNY

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Ray

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Feb 6, 2015, 4:52:04 PM2/6/15
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There seems to be a new initiative to eliminate the CUNY 9-6 rule circulating around the GC.


Some of the arguments brought up really do make me question why we have this rule to begin with.

"One of the arguments in support of the 9-6 rule is that adjunct faculty are being exploited, that no one should work full time for part-time wages and that adjuncts are entitled to greater parity with full timers. This is a valid assertion, but the fact remains that the 9-6 rule has done nothing to increase the pay of part timers. Rather than promoting parity, the 9-6 rule has only succeeded in diminishing it by limiting employment opportunities for those who are in the greatest need of them."

I know personally I would love to be able to teach more than one class at a secondary college. I've done one class before and after factoring commute costs it doesn't seem worthwhile most of the time to travel away from my home college for just one class.  

I know some colleague's who teach the max at CUNY and then have to commute all over the city to teach at other universities just to make ends meet, when their own department would love for them to teach more if it was possible.

On the other end of the discussion, I wonder how new adjunct faculty would be effected by this rule.  Instead of hiring new faculty, it would generally be beneficial of departments to just give more hours to vetted existing adjunct professors if this rule is eliminated, in effect reducing the number of new hires.

At the very least I think the cap of one class at a secondary college should be eliminated.  The college pays by hours anyways, why should it matter if it was one six-hour class or three two-hour classes.

Yves Cloarec

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Feb 7, 2015, 12:43:30 AM2/7/15
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Dear fellow adjuncts,
Thank you Ray for bringing this to my attention.
I have be privately railing against and wondering about the 9-6 ever since I began as an adjunct at QC in 2012.  Back then I assumed that the University liked it because it prevented them from having to pay adjuncts the health care insurance.  I never quite understood how the PSC thought this could in any way bring parity.
Now that the university pays for adjunct health care anyway, it would make more economic sense (especially for them) to utilize fully those people for whom they are already shouldering the additional expense, rather than hiring new people.
As for not being exploited, how is the current situation (where adjuncts must--secretly--teach at an additional 2 or 3 non-CUNY campuses to earn a living wage) not the epitome of exploitation?
Adjuncts and the departments that hire them, not CUNY and not the well-intentioned but in this case misdirected PSC, should be free to decide how much of a workload they can handle.  
In my personal case, I adjunct at QC in both the English and European Lit Departments.  Almost every semester, I have had to give up one class at one or the other department, because accepting it would have put me over the 9 credit limit.  As for teaching 9 at QC and finding 4 (I have yet to find one 6 credit class in English or French) elsewhere,  I occasionally came close, but never found one to which I could commute and arrive at on time.  Working out the schedules has so far proved entirely elusive.   
I fully understand that doing away with the 9-6 would probably reduce the number of new hires.  And this is indeed an unfortunate consequence. On the other hand, the constant hiring of new adjuncts is what keeps the supply high and the demand low: The artificial maintenance of a high number (one might say " surplus") of adjuncts is what has been keeping adjunct salaries uncompetitive.  And I believe therein lies the heart of this issue. In the medium and long term, elimination or modification of the 9-6 rule would most certainly positively affect the issue of adjunct salaries  

Alexandra C

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Feb 7, 2015, 9:48:52 AM2/7/15
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Hello all,
I'd like to know, where is the petition to support doing away with this? This was the worst decision ever. It is unfair to long-serving adjuncts, who are under-employed, and pound foolish (for cuny), as having to hire new teachers costs money and time. They should want to keep seasoned faculty who have experience teaching, but none of that seems to matter. I used to get 8 credits teaching 3 courses b/c there used to exist a 2 cr course, which they did away i with..now i have to get by with only 6-8 credits since they are stingy about giving 3/ 3 credit courses to instructors..and i am not sure how they decide who gets the courses b/c experience or doing a good job consistently doesn't seem to matter as it should. I have tried and have found that it is very hard to get another class elsewhere (that is convenient for me and fits my schedule). i could survive with 9 credits for sure and as a eng/writing teacher, i really do not want more than this, Moreover, every semester I am faced with the fear of losing one class and consequently losing my health benefits.
I just think they should want to keep faculty in one place and satisfied without having to hustle from campus to campus to scrape out a living and probably not do as good a job b/c they have to take on too many courses. This rule makes no sense whatsoever...even for the new hires it isn't really fair b/c the bigger the pool of adjuncts the thinner we'll be spread until eventually everyone will get one course and lose the benefits, as some already have.
Best,
alex

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