Faculty Forward Florida
No matter what the color of your skin or where you come from, most of us believe America should be a place where all are free to pursue their dreams and contribute to our communities. In a country as rich as ours, everyone – regardless of if your parents are rich or poor, Black, brown or white – should have an opportunity to learn without being trapped in mountains of debt.
Across Florida, adjunct professors have moved to form unions in response to a broken higher education system that has pushed far too many students and educators into poverty. Florida’s students are drowning in student debt–up 28% in only 10 years — and many are making the tough decision to drop out of higher education at record rates. At the same time, colleges increasingly looked to lower-paid adjunct professors to fill the gaps to make up budget shortfalls. Currently, 70% of faculty in the Florida College System work as part-time adjuncts with little to no job security.
Increased tuition, mounting student debt, and low wages aren’t problems that adjunct professors can solve alone, that’s why they are coming together to form their unions and call on administrators to stop fighting them and instead join them in Tallahassee to advocate for the investment educators and students need. In just two years, 9,000 adjunct professors — more than half of those in the state college system — have organized or are moving toward union representation.
Adjunct professors at colleges and universities across Florida are calling for:
- fully-funded college for all
- student loan forgiveness
- a minimum of $15/hr and a union for all campus employees
Mentions in the Press
- Florida College Suggests Cash-Strapped Professors Get Medicaid. Bloomberg News
- Adjunct professors angry at MDC email about Medicaid sign-up ahead of union vote. Miami Herald
- ‘It keeps you nice and disposable’: The plight of adjunct professors. Washington Post
- They’re sticking with the union: more Florida adjunct professors joining forces. Florida Phoenix
- USF adjuncts to rally as new survey reveals poverty among Florida professors. Tampa Bay Times
