Dear members of the administration and board of trustees,
There is a major issue of importance to all MICA students, staff, faculty, and alumni: a fair, equitable, and sustainable future.
MICA staff, faculty, students, and alumni are often one and the same. Part time faculty members are also staff members. Alumni are also faculty members. And students comprise the next generation of educators and practitioners who will carry this community forward.
We Are One MICA.
While all of us are integral to one another’s success, part time faculty members are routinely treated like extra parts in some uncaring academic machine.
The most experienced, longest-serving part time faculty members earn significantly less per course than the least experienced, recently hired full-time faculty members.
They are so poorly compensated that even if a new part time faculty member were teaching a full credit load, they would qualify for food stamps.
And while they would not earn enough to qualify for a government health insurance subsidy, they would earn too little to cover their actual healthcare needs.
Part time faculty, who teach almost half of the classes at MICA, are empowered with neither employment security nor predictability. Meaning:
Students do not know when a favorite part time faculty member is teaching another section, or
Whether or how to reach part time faculty when seeking letters of recommendation, or
Whether part time faculty will be around to mentor them during an entire academic year.
How can anyone plan ahead in the shadow of a poorly compensated, last-minute appointment system desperately in need of reform?
These are issues of deep concern to the entire MICA community. We will not be divided. We are all integral to one another’s success.
One Fight. One Future. One MICA.
Please do your part to work through these issues with the part time faculty union members at the bargaining table. They are a group of people dedicated to crafting creative solutions for creative futures who, like us, want tomorrow’s artists and educators to graduate into a fair, equitable, and sustainable future.
Please show all of us that you are one and the same.
Sincerely,
Members of the MICA community