We are all Workers
by Renee McGarry
When Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona signed SB1070 (“Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhood Act”) into law on Friday, April 23rd, I felt like many of us had the morning after Obama won the presidential election: I went to sleep in one United States and woke up in a different one. Of course, with Obama’s election — for many […]
Privatizing Public Education
by Renee McGarry
On March 4 at 4 p.m., the Adjunct Project and a large group of students will march on Governor David Paterson’s Manhattan office. This will be a part of our effort to participate in the National Day of Action to Defend Education. We want you to join us in both the protest outside of the Graduate Center and the […]
Where’s the Anger?
by Renee McGarry
Forgive me if you’ve heard this one before. On September 11, 2009 I passed my second exam and advanced to candidacy. On September 10, 2009, I was told I wasn’t going to receive my first paycheck until October 8, 2009. I also discovered that about 150 graduate assistants — through no fault of their own — were in the same situation. Rather than […]
Stifling the Economy of Ideas
by Renee McGarry
Sometimes data and statistics fail us. I work in the humanities so I’m not entirely surprised to say this, but I was shocked when I saw the data released in a recent report by the American Association of University Professors on the Economic Status of the Profession. Swimming in charts and graphs, it looked as if academics were faring […]
Naming the Problem
by Renee McGarry
Adjuncting RENEE McGARRY They say when it hits the New York Times Sunday Style section you know the trend is over, and probably has been for at least a year. I have a distinct memory of such an event, the moment when the Style section did a photo essay on Doc Martens. I think it was 1995, and if I know […]
Free Choice and Adjunct Equity
by Renee McGarry
In a news conference on Friday, January 30, Mayor Bloomberg announced what many are referring to as his doomsday budget. This included one billion dollars in budget cuts, the core of which calls for laying off over 23,000 city workers. According to Bloomberg, the majority of these workers will be New York City public school teachers — as […]
Of Earth Monsters and Adjunct Lecturers
by Renee McGarry
Where other cultures have an earth mother, the Aztecs have an earth monster. Their creation myth takes all our ideas about this familiar paradigm and goes topsy-turvy. The female creature from which the earth grew doesn’t nurture her people but terrifies them and demands ritual sacrifice. Quite frankly, this image is what made me fall […]
