There is an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed today about contingent, that is, non-tenure-track faculty: Nearly Half of Undergraduate Courses Are Taught by Non-Tenure-Track Instructors.
I was particularly struck by the quote from Marc Bousquet, author of How the University Works: Higher Education and the Low-Wage Nation (2008): "Most people who are paying tuition are shocked to discover the actual numbers of people who are teaching on a contingent basis, and they're shocked to discover the actual salary that they're being paid."
Really? Do undergraduates care if the prof. is tenure-tracked?
The article is essentially a write-up of the American Federation of Teachers' report "Reversing Course: The Troubled State of Academic Staffing and a Path Forward."
