I broke the cardinal "two weeks notice" rule for an adjunct position before the start of the semester, after the department head notified me of a paycut. AITA?
(There are some stark similarities to this previous Ask, but enough specifics to warrant a new post imo!)
I was planning to teach a course this spring that I had taught once before in the summer. Small Department at Big University had sent me an offer letter in Dec that mirrored the first go-round of the course, and agreed to pay $X. I was feeling stressed about the course, as over the summer, I struggled with adding teaching on top of my full time other job + quarantine stuff. But I planned to make it work and muster up energy to do it again b/c the money would be very helpful for savings goals.
Just eight days before the start of the semester (!), the department head told me that b/c enrollment was low, they were falling back to a new department policy and would only pay me per student, as enrollment was below a certain threshold (this was totally new to me and hadn't been described in the appointment letter. The Head blamed it on a new policy from upstream in a "yeah isn't that crazy?" kind of way). That meant my pay would only be 50%-75% of original agreed upon amount (depending on final enrollment), even though this was actually the same # of students I taught in the summer. The head asked me whether I was okay with this change.
As soon as they asked me, I realized that I really, really didn't want to go through with teaching if not for the full amount. I said I would get back to them by the end of the night with my final answer. I asked them about the impact on students and it didn't seem that any of the handful of students who enrolled would be too drastically impacted (I hope) given where they are in their program, and none was completing a graduation requirement etc. I read up about adjunct positions and changes and it seemed like this kind of precarity is pretty normal, although usually the department cuts the course entirely.
So I decided that I would let the Head know I am unable to teach for $0.5X as I can't justify that time and energy right now for less than X. I said that I would be available for the next 2 weeks for any training/prep/handoff if another instructor grabbed it, and spent time today getting the materials online in better shape (although I'm not sure what will happen with the course, if someone will pick it up, etc.). The Head was terse but said they understood and thanked me for being flexible and offering support.
Do you think this was an okay way to respond? Was this fair to the students (my main concern) and the Head (who has been kind and I know is trying here)? I'm having trouble with the guilt. I think that doing this will ultimately be healthy and positive for me, as I spent a lot of time feeling like I was doing 2 things badly this summer and really could use more focus on my primary work obligations. I'm also totally fine with burning through this particular adjunct relationship as I've decided that I don't want to continue teaching college courses, but I know reputational damage can happen kind of sideways too. Mostly I think I feel conflicted because one part of me feels I did not honor a commitment and others could be harmed by that, and another part feels that I enforced my boundaries and limits when they suddenly altered the terms of the agreement and it's healthy to make this kind of decision, even if it's hard. I would love some perspective.
Thank you! |
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