Hello: As of about 6 am on Tuesday morning, the organizers of this open letter (Carolyn Betensky, Talia Schaffer, and Seth Kahn from Tenure for the Common Good) are closing it for signatures so we can take the day to check the list and make sure it’s all tidy, and send it in on Wednesday. If you meant to sign and just didn’t get here in time, you can leave a comment with your signature info, and one of us try to get back here later in the day to get any last-minute signatures.

Please check back here for updates, we hope within the next week to ten days.

Dear US News and World Report rankers,

We write as a group of tenured, tenure-track, and contingent faculty who would like to propose that you consider adjusting the "faculty resources” section of the America’s Best Colleges rankings in order to more accurately reflect current academic realities. Currently you allocate only 5% of this category to part-time vs full-time faculty, while you give 35% to faculty salaries. However, those faculty salary numbers do not reflect the majority of college instructors, who are contingent faculty: underpaid temporary workers (see https://www.aaup.org/issues/contingency/background-facts; and  http://www.newfacultymajority.info/facts-about-adjuncts/).

Consider:

• contingent faculty are underpaid, exploited, and exhausted^[a][b][c][d]. Sometimes they are homeless or working several jobs, and they generally do not have health care. (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/28/adjunct-professors-homeless-sex-work-academia-poverty)

• contingent faculty must teach double or triple the number of courses as tenure-track faculty, usually at multiple schools.

• contingent faculty rarely have an office of their own and are not paid to hold office hours, read drafts of student papers, or advise students.

• contingent faculty are hired for a course or a semester, often without oversight, mentorship, or access to basic resources (like a copy machine) to do their jobs.

• contingent faculty generally are not allowed to choose which courses they want to teach and often don’t have any ability to determine the course content.

• contingent faculty are hired and fired irregularly, which makes it impossible for them to mentor students for the duration of the student’s college life, write recommendations, or take a stable role in the student’s life.

• contingent faculty are not generally granted citizenship in their departments, which makes them unable to serve on committees or shape policies.

• contingent faculty are powerless to affect the terms of their employment, which means they can be given enormous classes with far more students than any one person can handle.

As Dan Edmonds points out, "If you are paying for a college education today, you are paying comparatively more money than previous generations have paid — nearly $70,000 in annual tuition, room and board, and fees at America’s most expensive schools — to be educated by a more poorly-resourced [and] poorly paid … group of educators.” In short, “you want to ensure that the college to which you'll pay tens of thousands of dollars a year treats its faculty well enough to provide the best possible education for students.” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/noodleeducation/2015/05/28/more-than-half-of-college-faculty-are-adjuncts-should-you-care/#66c894a01600)

If 50–75% of the faculty are working under these conditions, it changes the entire environment of the university in ways that the nation’s premier ranking system really needs to register. A university that mistreats its employees this way is not giving its students a good education — no matter how much it may pay its few remaining tenure-track faculty members.

Please consider switching the percentages for faculty salaries and part-timers to reflect the reality of today’s campuses.

Thank you,

Carolyn Betensky

Professor of English, University of Rhode Island

Talia Schaffer

Professor of English, Queens College CUNY and Graduate Center, CUNY

Seth Kahn

Professor of English, West Chester University of PA^{[e][f][g][h][i][j][k][l][m]}

John Arnold

Associate Professor of History, SUNY-Fredonia

Nicole Cooley

Professor English and MFA Director, Queens College CUNY

Larry G. Harris

Professor of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire

Tanya Agathocleous

Associate Professor of English, Hunter College, CUNY

Kathleen Frederickson

Associate Professor of English, UC Davis

Susan Miller-Cochran

Professor of English and Director of the Writing Program, University of Arizona

Roger Maioli

Assistant Professor of English, University of Florida

Drew M. Loewe

Associate Professor, Writing and Rhetoric

St. Edward's University

Dara Rossman Regaignon

Director of the Expository Writing Program and Associate Professor of English

New York University

Brian McCullough

Affiliate Faculty, School of Music

University of Minnesota

Brian Bailie

Assistant Professor of English, University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash College

David M. Grant

Associate Professor of English

University of Northern Iowa

Mike Garcia

Assistant Professor of English and Writing Director, Luther College

Colleen Tripp

Assistant Professor of English

California State University at Northridge

John Duffy

Associate Professor of English

Francis O'Malley Director of the University Writing Program

University of Notre Dame

KimMarie Cole

Associate Professor of English

State University of New York at Fredonia

William B. Lalicker

Professor of English

West Chester University

Rick D. Johnson

Professor and Doctoral Practitioner

Various Institutions

Ashley Patriarca

Assistant Professor of English

West Chester University

Gita DasBender

Senior Faculty Associate

Seton Hall University

Beth Sutton-Ramspeck

Associate Professor of English

The Ohio State University, Lima

Matthew M. Thiele

Assistant Professor of English

Glenville State College

K. Jamie Woodlief

Instructor of English

West Chester University

Christina M. LaVecchia

Adjunct Assistant Professor

University of Cincinnati

Jane Harty

Lecturer in Music

Pacific Lutheran University

Lisa Konigsberg

Instructor of English

West Chester University

Karen Lentz Madison
Senior Instructor
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Martha Livingston

Professor and Chair, Public Health

SUNY Old Westbury

Jan Rieman

Senior Lecturer

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Sonja L Andrus

Associate Professor of English

University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College

Darin Jensen

Adjunct English Instructor

Des Moines Area Community College

Melody Gustafson

Part-time Faculty

Kent State University

Adam Hubrig

Associate Coordinator of Composition, Graduate Teaching Assistant

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Tyler Carter

Assistant Professor of English Language

Duke Kunshan University

Aaron Barlow

Professor of English

New York City College of Technology (CUNY)

Karin Evans

Professor of English

College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn IL

Eric J. Hawrelak

Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Bloomsburg University of PA

Dawn M. Armfield

Assistant Professor of Technical Communication

Minnesota State University, Mankato

Matthew A. Vetter

Assistant Professor of English

Indiana University of PA

Christie Toth

Assistant Professor of Writing & Rhetoric Studies

University of Utah

Paula Patch

Senior Lecturer in English

Elon University

J. Michael Rifenburg

Associate Professor of English

University of North Georgia

Caprice Lawless

2nd Vice President

American Association of University Professors

Susan Sipple

Professor of English

University of Cincinnati Blue Ash

Laurie McMillan

Associate Professor of English

Pace University

Dayna Goldstein

Associate Professor of English

Texas A&M University - Texarkana

Michael McCamley

Associate Professor of English

University of Delaware

Michelle LaFrance

Assistant Professor of English

George Mason University

Darci Thoune

Associate Professor of English

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Craig A. Meyer

Assistant Professor of English

Texas A&M University - Kingsville

Paige West

Claire Tow Professor of Anthropology

Barnard College and Columbia University

Sonya C. Green

Associate Professor of English

Lipscomb University

Amy Woodworth

Assistant Professor of Writing Arts

Rowan University

Kara Laskowski

Assoc. Prof, Dept Chair, Human Communication Studies,

Chapter President, APSCUF-SU, Shippensburg University of PA

Glenn Blalock

Associate Professor, Writing / English

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Liliana Naydan

Assistant Professor of English

Penn State Abington

Jessica Ulmer

Instructor of English

Midlands Technical College

Nancy Mack

Professor of English

Wright State University

Allison Walker

Instructor of English

High Point University

Geoffrey Clegg

Assistant Professor of Business and Technical Writing

Midwestern State University

Steven J. Haase

Professor of Psychology

Shippensburg University

Misty Beck

Lecturer, Environmental Studies

Bates College

Brett Griffiths

Director, Reading and Writing Studios

Macomb Community College

Jenn Fishman

Associate Professor and Director of First-Year English

Marquette University

Anna Kornbluh

Associate Professor and Associate Head, Department of English

University of Illinois, Chicago

Mitzi Jones

Assistant Professor of English

University of Arkansas--Fort Smith

Drew Daniel

Associate Professor of English

Johns Hopkins University

Nicole Peterson

Associate Professor of Anthropology

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Elizabeth Kalbfleisch

Assistant Professor of English, Director of WAC/Writing Center

Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT

Brian Hendrickson

Assistant Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition

Roger Williams University

Neely McLaughlin

Assistant Professor of English

University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College

Sharif Youssef

University of Toronto Faculty of Law

JD Candidate

Martin Armstrong

Adjunct Faculty in Philosophy and Humanities

City Colleges of Chicago

Robert Morris University

Courtney Adams Wooten

Assistant Professor and Writing Program Administrator

Stephen F. Austin State University

Nacogdoches, TX

Timothy R. Dougherty

Assistant Professor of English & Director of First-Year Writing

West Chester University of PA

Marisa Allison

Doctoral Candidate and Adjunct Faculty

George Mason University

Corey McCall

Senior Instructor, Philosophy

Louisiana State University

Sarah Perrault

Associate Professor

University Writing Program

University of California, Davis

33

Ryan Fong

Assistant Professor

English

Kalamazoo College

Jamison Kantor

Assistant Professor

English

Ohio State University

Mary Gri

Associate Professor

English

Case Western Reserve University

Christopher Findeisen

Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities

University of Southern California

Jennifer Nelson

Assistant Professor

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

David Fieni

Assistant Professor

Foreign Languages and Literatures

SUNY Oneonta

Jordan Alexander Stein

Associate Professor

English and Comparative Literature

Fordham University

Gary L. Herstein, Ph.D.

Independent Scholar

Anupam Basu

Assistant Professor of English

Washington University in Saint Louis

Courtney E. Rydel

Assistant Professor of English

Washington College

Sebastian Lecourt

Assistant Professor of English

University of Houston

Rolf Norgaard

Teaching Professor and Assoc. Director

Program for Writing and Rhetoric

University of Colorado Boulder

Daniel Hoffman-Schwartz

Affiliated Scholar

Dept. of Comparative Literature

Princeton University

Ted Underwood

Professor of English and Information Sciences

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Monica H. Green

Professor of History

Arizona State University

Cheri Lemieux Spiegel

Professor of English

Northern Virginia Community College

Curtis Perry

Professor of English

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Associate Professor of Philosophy

Elmira College

Irene Tucker

Professor of English

University of California, Irvine

Paul Fyfe

Associate Professor of English

North Carolina State University

Brita Thielen

Doctoral Student and Graduate Teaching Assistant

English

Case Western Reserve University

Jacquelyn Ardam

Visiting Assistant Professor of English

Colby College

Mariano Siskind

Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature

Harvard University

Jeffrey C. Kessler

Adjunct Faculty, DePaul University

Visiting Lecturer, University of Illinois Chicago

Anicca Cox

Graduate Fellow

Michigan State University

Jonathan Beecher Field

Associate Professor

Clemson University

Megan Ward

Assistant Professor of English

Oregon State University

Michelle Clayton

Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies & Comparative Literature

Brown University

Michael W. Sears

Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

Clemson University

Caroline Levine

David and Kathleen Ryan Professor of the Humanities

Cornell University

Chris Blakley

Marshelle Woodward

Assistant Professor of English

Canisius College

Thom Dancer

Assistant Professor of English

University of Toronto

Rachel Mennies Goodmanson

Adjunct Instructor of English

Carnegie Mellon University

Chatham University

Eric C. Martin        

Assistant Professor of History & Philosophy of Science

Baylor University

Jamie Henthorn

Assistant Professor of English

Catawba College

Gwendolyn Beetham

Associate Director, Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies

University of Pennsylvania

Charles Houck

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Global Studies

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Joanna Crosby

Associate Professor

Philosophy and Religious Studies

Morgan State University

Kirsti Cole

Associate Professor of English

Minnesota State University

Debra Lattanzi Shutika

Chair, Department of English

Associate Professor

George Mason University

Emilio Sauri

Associate Professor of English

University of Massachusetts Boston

Scott Selisker

Assistant Professor of English

University of Arizona

Johanna Winant

Assistant Professor of English

West Virginia University

Elizabeth Rivlin

Associate Professor of English

Clemson University

Megan M. McIntyre

Assistant Director for Program Development & Lecturer

Dartmouth College

Lisa Tremain

Assistant Professor and Writing Program Administrator

Humboldt State University

California

Seth Brodsky

Associate Professor of Music and the Humanities

University of Chicago

Amy Tahani-Bidmeshki

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow

Occidental College

Eliza Brown

Assistant Professor of Music

DePauw University

Elisha Cohn

Associate Professor of English

Cornell University

Simona Livescu

Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

UCLA

Joseph Fletcher

Assistant Teaching Professor

Department of English and Comparative Literature

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Lucinda Ramberg

Associate Professor of Anthropology and Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies

Cornell University

Robert Lehman

Assistant Professor of English

Boston College

Anne Lounsbery

Associate Professor of Russian Literature

Chair, Dept. of Russian & Slavic Studies

New York University

Marybeth Shea

Senior Lecturer

Professional Writing Program/Department of English

University of Maryland College Park

Daune O’Brien

Lecturer

PWP/Department of English

University of Maryland College Park

Angela Clark-Oates

Assistant Professor, Rhetoric and Composition

California State University, Sacramento

Rachel Sagner Buurma

Associate Professor of English Literature

Swarthmore College

Ben Chappell

Associate Professor of American Studies

University of Kansas

Tom Eyers

Associate Professor of Philosophy

Duquesne University

Brandon Schechter

Elihu Rose Scholar in Modern Military History (Faculty Fellow)

New York University

Sofya Aptekar

Assistant Professor of Sociology

University of Massachusetts Boston

Rebecca Holden

Senior Lecturer, Professional Writing Program

English Department

University of Maryland, College Park

Jennifer MacLure

Assistant Professor of English

Kent State University

Laurie A. Finke

Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies

Kenyon College

Mark Forrester

Senior Lecturer, Professional Writing Program

English Department

University of Maryland, College Park

Sumanth Gopinath

Associate Professor of Music Theory

School of Music

University of Minnesota–Twin Cities

Tim Watson

Associate Professor and Chair

English Department

University of Miami

Kate Wilson

Lecturer, Professional Writing Program

English Department

University of Maryland, College Park

Danuta Hinc

Senior Lecturer, Professional Writing Program

Department of English

University of Maryland, College Park

Rob Carson

Associate Professor of English

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Allison Schachter

Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and English

Vanderbilt University

Collie Fulford

Associate Professor of English

North Carolina Central University

Irene Duranczyk

Associate Professor, College of Education and Human Development

University of Minnesota

Amy Ratto Parks

Lecturer, Assistant Director of Composition

University of Montana

Rebecca Richardson

Lecturer, Program in Writing and Rhetoric

Stanford University

Justin Bell

Associate Professor of Philosophy

University of Houston-Victoria

Jacob Tootalian

Digital Teaching Fellow, English

University of South Florida

Jocelyn Rodal

Visiting Fellow, Center for Humanities and Information

Pennsylvania State University

Sarah J. Townsend

Assistant Professor of Spanish & Portuguese

Pennsylvania State University

Jill Galvan

Associate Professor, English

Ohio State University

Nancy Simpson-Younger

Assistant Professor of English

Pacific Lutheran University

Amy Bauer

Associate Professor of Music

University of California, Irvine

Masha Belenky

Associate Professor of French

The George Washington University

Vanessa Osborne

Lecturer, The Writing Program

University of Southern California

Allen MacDuffie

Associate Professor of English

The University of Texas at Austin

Daniel Guentchev

Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Bemidji State University

Johanna Sellman

Assistant Professor, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

The Ohio State University

Rob Wakeman

Assistant Professor of English

Mount Saint Mary College

Miriam Reumann

Teaching Professor, Dept. of History

University of Rhode Island

Mary Mullen

Assistant Professor, English

Villanova University

Robin R. Meyers

Distinguished Professor of Social Justice

Oklahoma City University

Eileen E. Schell

Professor of Writing and Rhetoric, Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition

Syracuse University

Donna Strickland

Associate Professor of English

University of Missouri-Columbia

Timothy Burke

Professor and Chair

Department of History

Swarthmore College

Heidi D. Rosenberg

Adjunct English Instructor

Madison College

Laura J. Davies

Associate Professor of English and Director of Campus Writing Programs

SUNY Cortland

Kevin Mattson

Connor Study Professor of Contemporary History

Ohio University

Julie Anne White

Associate Professor of Political Science

Ohio University

Lisa Lazar

Associate Professor of Bibliography

University of Akron

Samir I. Bitar

Lecturer, Arabic Language and Cultures

University of Montana

Alexander Izzo

Professor of Mathematics

Bowling Green State University^[n][o][p]

George Whitwell

Associate Professor of Chemistry

NC Wesleyan College

Karl Aho

Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Tarleton State University

Leslie Wilson

Counseling Faculty

San Diego State University

Molly Lancaster

Adjunct Professor, Psychology

Santa Monica College

Walter Kalaidjian

Professor of English

Emory University

Thomas M. Hering

Adjunct Associate Professor

Biomedical Engineering

Case Western Reserve University

Emily B. Stanback

Assistant Professor of English

University of Southern Mississippi

Antonietta Di Pietro

Adjunct Professor, History and Italian

Florida International University

Melissa Michelson

Associate Professor, English as a Second Language

Pasadena City College,

Maureen McVeigh Trainor

Instructor of English

West Chester University

Devin M. Garofalo

Assistant Professor of English

Florida Atlantic University

Matthew Unangst

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, History

Washington State University

Amy Kesselman

Professor Emerita

Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies

SUNY New Paltz

Erik Geschke

Associate Professor of Art

Portland State University

Dr. Felicia Darling

Math Professor

Santa Rosa Junior College