quote:

This is a 0% FTE, unpaid position. If considered to teach future courses, salary will be offered. Actual teaching schedules will vary. For further information regarding application procedures, you may contact the School’s HR department at sw-hr@illinois.edu. For more information about this adjunct teaching opportunity. You may contact a member of the Adjunct Search Committee through the School’s HR department. You may also visit http://www.socialwork.illinois.edu for information about the School.

At U of I.

https://jobs.illinois.edu/acad...cturer-unpaid-111471

It must be something in the water in Illinois.

This from last year:

https://www.chronicle.com/arti...e-a-Volunteer/243221

Created by the Alumni Association. Interesting.

quote:

Alumni who accepted the three-year positions might serve on graduate students' thesis committees, teach graduate or undergraduate lectures, or collaborate on research projects, according to Molino’s email. The program was created by the Alumni Association, it said.

The “zero-time” positions might be valuable opportunities, it continued. “Participating alumni can benefit from intellectual interactions with faculty in their respective units, as well as through collegial networking opportunities with other alumni adjuncts who will come together regularly.”

They are likely to get what they pay for. As a student in that system, I would be livid. But then again, most students are clueless about that sort of thing.

This is the first I've heard of it, but as someone who is rapidly coming up to retirement age, the notion that I could volunteer to do something like what SIU is offering does have some appeal. On the other hand, if you're teaching I think you should be paid. Research collaborations or committee service are fuzzier for me. I've certainly done both without receiving any pay (when not in academia) or without receiving extra pay (when working in higher ed). If (big if) individuals are interviewed and must provide credentials and selected based on ability, I'm not sure what the problem is. But I reiterate: if they are teaching a class, they should be paid. I can only imagine what the unions think of this.

Adjunct positions were never intended to provide a living wage. They are the educational equivalent of piece work. I don't see this as the first in a long road leading to an all-volunteer adjunct workforce.