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from The New York Times Editorial Board. It would be great if folks would write letters to the editor. Many people are sure to write in favor of the editorial's point of view. The email for letters is letters@nytimes.com. You need to include your snail mail address and phone number (though they won't print them of course). Here is the letter I just sent: While I am delighted that the NewYork Times has at long last noticed that higher education has been making use of three-quarters of a million part-time faculty, I am chagrined at the position you have taken, claiming that "the community colleges have to do a better job of screening the part-time instructors they hire, and developing their skills, which means providing mentors...." You relied on a study conducted by the Center for the Study of Community College Engagement and funded by an insurance company (Metlife). The Center's Advisory Board is dominated by community college administrators, including at least six presidents. No adjuncts appear to have been involved in the design of the study. Not surprisingly, the Center has deflected blame on to state legislators and the adjuncts themselves. But college presidents and trustees have not been lobbying their states for more money for adjunct faculty, just the opposite. In Colorado presidents recently led the charge to defeat a bill that would have provided equal pay for all of the part-timers in the community colleges. The study was not scientific. Indeed, it relied on self-report surveys and drew from "from 32 focus groups conducted with part-time faculty, full-time faculty, administrators, and staff at community colleges across the country." While the study produced some correlations, it did not control for all of the variables and the center was left to speculate as to the causes. In other words, the results of the study were more likely simply the perceptions the various players had about part-time faculty. Many of us have

Letters published in response to article http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/opinion/sunday/the-part-time-faculty.html