Pay teachers, let trustees buy snacks

Pay teachers, let trustees buy snacks

Thank you, Bob Johnson, for your letter regarding the importance of community colleges. You failed to explain, though, what trustees do that requires so much training that a single trustee should be reimbursed in two years what my husband, an adjunct professor with a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, earns in a year.

I might suggest that if a trustee requires $13,000 to $14,000 a year in remediation, perhaps that person shouldn't be a trustee.

For those unfamiliar, an adjunct professor is essentially a part time teacher. I'm sure the original intent of an adjunct program was to get qualified people to teach a class or two a semester while working full time in their given field. With changes in the economy and in the educational system, it has become a way for colleges and universities to provide a first-class education at Walmart wages and avoid paying benefits, to boot.

On the same day that your letter appeared in the Daily Herald, an article ran regarding how some governmental entities are saving money on seminars by attending them remotely. Community college teachers are also being encouraged to develop (on their own time and expense) and offer remote learning opportunities for their students (and, coincidentally, to save on the costs of classrooms, supplies and support staff).

If trustees are leading their respective institutions, why are they not leading the way on this front? No infrastructure for this? There are a number of businesses that offer the infrastructure for remote meetings, probably at a fraction of what that one trustee was reimbursed and the savings could be used to pay the adjunct teachers what they are worth.

Pay your teachers, and let the trustees pay for their own $130 late night snacks while staying in an expensive hotel located within 60 minutes of their own homes.

Mary Hunter

Carpentersville