Friday Fun From the Defunct Adjunct.

My university offers a range of summer courses, and faculty (especially adjunct faculty who really need the money) are often lining up to teach them. In many cases, the adjuncts miss out because tenure-track faculty get first preference, and while I understand why this happens, it can be a bit depressing to miss out on a summer course because a tenured professor on a six-figure salary decided to bid for the class. It's even more depressing when that tenured professor is also an associate dean earning over $140,000 who is looking to bump his retirement package by padding his end-of-career income figures.

But that's not the main point of my story.

Last year, a happy confluence of circumstances led to me being assigned a summer course. What I did not realize at the time, however, is that while a significant number of our students want or need summer courses, they don't want or need them badly enough to actually make a trip to campus. By offering a regular, face-to-face course during the summer, I was, as I soon came to find out, setting myself up to fail. Of the half-dozen or so summer courses offered by friends of mine at the university last year, the only ones that achieved sufficient enrollment to actually run were the online courses.

It didn't take me long to realize this. About a week before the census deadline, my course had only 7 students. The official limit on our campus, I believe, is 10, but they'll sometimes fudge a bit, and if you are one or two students short of the official number, they sometimes still allow the course to run. That was not, however, the case for me, and on the day of the final decision, I received an email from the university telling me that my class had been cancelled.

I was disappointed, but not panicked. My wife is a tenure-track faculty member (different university), and I get enough classes during the academic year that losing one summer course is not going to break us financially. We're not rolling in money, but we're not on food stamps like a lot of adjunct faculty. I also had not invested any real time in the summer class; it was just a repeat of a course I had taught in the Spring, so it had not required any extra effort on my part of prepare.

So I moved on, planning to enjoy my summer by doing some work of my own, and relaxing a bit. But then came the emails from students about the cancelled class. I understand that students who have signed up for, and planned to attend, a summer course will be annoyed when it's cancelled. What really amazed me, though, was that both of the emails that I received were from students who wanted to take the class, but who HAD NOT SIGNED UP FOR THE CLASS BEFORE IT WAS CANCELLED!!!

Here's the email exchange with one of the students.

From: Tardy Ted
Subject: why was the class cancelled?
To: Defunct Adjunct

Professor,
Do you know if there will be any other history classes? I desperately need this one.

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From: Defunct Adjunct
Subject: Re: why was the class cancelled?
To: Tardy Ted

Ted,

The class was cancelled by the university due to low enrollment. There will be no other History of Baling Twine classes offered over the summer. I believe that there may be a History of Barbed Wire class beginning next Monday. You need to check the university website for course offerings.

Defunct Adjunct

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From: Tardy Ted
Subject: Re: re: why was the class cancelled?
To: Defunct Adjunct

Aww c'mon!? How low could the enrollment be? We're you short one person? Sir I know this was my fault (in my defense I was sick last week) but I didn't do so hot in the class and need to retake. Is there anyway to bring it back??

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From: Defunct Adjunct
Subject: Re: re: re: why was the class cancelled?
To: Tardy Ted

Ted,

I'm not sure why you are complaining to me about this. As I told you in my previous email, it was the university's decision to cancel the class. I had absolutely no say in the matter. I was ready to teach the class—indeed, I still am ready to teach it—and the fact that it was cancelled means that I don't get paid.

If you have any further questions on this matter, you need to take them up with the university's Summer School office (http://www.mycrappycollege.edu/summerschool). This is the office that is in charge of summer classes, and it is also the office where the decision was made to cancel the class. As far as I am aware, once the class has been cancelled, it cannot be reinstated.

Defunct Adjunct

That little conversation actually made me feel much better that the class had been cancelled for low enrollment. If Tardy Ted had indeed signed up on time, the university might have let the course run with 8 students. Can you imagine dealing with this guy for five weeks over the summer? Ugh!