August 25th 2008

Laugh, Cry, Hell's Bells...You Decide

Tyler Junior College in East Texas serves 12,000 students. According to the JC's web site, 250 of its 456 faculty are full-time. For some odd reason, the part-time faculty are getting a pay raise this year.

I say for some odd reason, because the part-time faculty per course pay at Tyler Junior College has not risen in 25 years, since the founder of "Reganomics" roamed the Oval Office. The last time the president of Tyler Junior College gave part-timers a pay hike, Margaret Thatcher had just been elected Prime Minister and Sally Ride became the first woman in space when she went up on the Space Shuttle Challenger. Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings both took the airwaves that year, and Microsoft Word was first released. Tennessee Williams, Gloria Swanson, Buckminster Fuller, Ira Gershwin and Slim Pickens died that year, and Polish activist Lech Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize.

According to this piece from the Tyler Morning Paragraph, Mike Metke, President of Tyler, decided that "We just did not want to go and say after all your hard work and everything you've done and your loyalty and with the cost of living going up the way it is, we just did not want to say there would be no increase." For part-timers, that meant an extra $150 per course.

The JC's 2008-09 proposed $57,498,474 budget includes $518,000 for the part-time faculty raise.

Posted By Part-Time T. at 8:00 AM

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