Full time faculty wages at the college where I adjunct have been frozen for the last four years - the adjunct wage, which works out to about 40% of the median base wage for full-time faculty, hasn't changed in six years. Adjunct pay at my institution is very close to the bottom of the range you listed in your article.
Adjuncts have no voice, beyond two appointed (not elected) members to the faculty senate, where they serve for one semester - despite the fact that just under half of all courses are taught by adjuncts.
Support varies by department; some adjuncts have a dedicated office available (one office for all the adjuncts in the department) for their use, while others have nothing of the sort (my department). Staff do provide what assistance they can - again, this varies by department. We do have an institutional email address, but are generally not included in department emails beyond the "have you turned your grades in" sort. We have no voice and are never invited to attend department meetings . . .
Bottom line is that adjuncts hardly rate as the red-headed step-child at the college - even though the school would go belly-up if they collectively walked out. Which of course won't happen - not even full-time faculty has a union in my state, much less part-timers.
Yet we are still expected to produce the same quality of instruction and face not just discipline, but non-renewal if we fail to give 100%. Most of the adjuncts do yeoman's work, under far more tedious circumstances than our full-time counterparts - like them, we teach because that is what we want to do and the students are not to blame for the failures of the institution.
Still, it is hard to swallow - particularly when the monthly paycheck arrives.
Nice article, Starry Messenger. Thank you for posting (and allowing my little rant . . .)
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