Qualifications of adjunct professors questionable

submitted by Aaron Brown

March 19, 2007 —

Recently I have had the opportunity to be on the committee that selects an outstanding adjunct faculty member for the annual Anderson Adjunct Award. This really got me to thinking: do we have good adjunct professors?

Like other students, I have had an adjunct from time-to-time, but recently there seems to be a growing number of adjuncts here and sadly, the growth is of those who seem less than qualified to teach college level courses.

In discussions with many of my friends and with other students, the topic seems to be the same: a general sense of disappointment and anger about those we find in the front of the classroom.

When I first came to college, I expected to have full-time, Ph.D. professors imparting knowledge of topics they have studied and researched, not a glorified substitute that isn't fit to teach high school.

I have had some very outstanding adjuncts in my time here at SVSU, but it seems to me that for every good adjunct there's a disproportionate number of bad ones.

If academic integrity is such a high priority for we the students, why then, is it not a priority when selecting our instructors?

Aaron Brown
Student Association Parliamentarian