b you are correct, nitpicking is good in this case.

It was only the part-time or adjunct faculty. But in this department there are only 3 or 4 Full time hires. So the majority of this departments classes are taught day to day by the adjuncts. When 12 get notices they are not coming back into to the Fine Arts department out of 28 part time teachers that seems like a big cleaning house. Really disappointing that a past healthy and progressive dept. is choosing to treat the long and short term teachers with such disrespect. Go figure?

I have a fantasy of new schools being established. Could this happen? Could there be a new, unseen location for these out of work teachers to take part in? Is there (conceptual) space somewhere for a new teaching community?

I don’t think it’s clear how reprehensible this is.

The New School will pay me $6000 this year. This is without health insurance, despite that I have a 6 month year beautiful (and healthy, thank god) baby boy.

I wince at tooting my own horn, but am an Ivy League graduate and published, respected author.

More importantly (and again wincing), my students love my classes. I have yet to see ANY negative feedback whatsoever. We watch La Jette, go see Andy Goldsworthy exhibits, we have cannoli’s together (at my expense), we read James Baldwin, we laugh, we cry, we learn, etc. Many of my students have gone on to publish and have used me as a recommendation source to go on to PHd programs. I spend more than twice my average class-time (nonpaid and without an office), emailing students, giving them feedback, designing fun classes, emailing librarians, guest lecturers, maintaining a community blog. . . .

I love to teach. I only do this because it’s what I love to do.

Last year I taught 17 classes (in various NYC universities). Total pay, $22,120. No vacations, no going out, nothing but paying the diaper bill. How much have universities MADE from my classes? About $260,000 gross. Please look at that math.

Since I started teaching, I have gone into debt about $12,000 a year.

This all sounds like just so much whining.

But how is it that the New School cannot afford to keep me, or many of the other adjuncts, around? I cost $6000! TOTAL! That’s not a problem with me, it’s a problem with management. Or it’s just plain asinine. Any company in the world would find a good use for me at (dare I say?) quintiple the salary.

We were also given this news during Spring Break, when other schools had filled in their teaching position for the next semester. So no chance of finding new work.

This is a bad business decision. Bad for me, bad for the school, bad for the students.

I feel awful for myself, let down by the University and very, very sad that I’m not going to be able to help the students of Parson’s and The New School. I miss them already.

Andrew Zornoza