I’ll add my two cents. The scarcity of positions is absolutely nothing new. In the 1980’s it was not unusual for there to be 300-400 applicants or more for positions in any kind of organismal biology. It was during that decade that doing a post-doc in ecology became the norm as a holding place for the emerging cohort. I don’t mean to plead a sad tale, but I was a post-doc at a major lab, published many papers, and later taught and taught before getting a tenure-track job after way too many years. I stuck with it, through the tough times, when I perhaps should have recognized my giving-up-time. I was financially insecure most of the time but that was price I was willing to pay to achieve my dream. Perhaps the question ought to be how much one is willing to sacrifice with the knowledge that you may never achieve your dream. This isn’t fair and I, more than most, feel badly for all the young scientists who won’t get what they so badly want. And deserve. But it just won’t happen for any number of reasons which speak nothing of the quality of the candidates passed over.
As for the preponderance of adjunct or part-time faculty, one only has to look at the corporate model of governance at most colleges and universities to see where the real growth in higher education has been. While the quality of education has been taking hits, the quality, quantity, and salaries of administrators has been growing enormously. In real terms the salary of most faculty has not grown in perhaps 40 years. I can’t speak for administrators, but I am willing to bet that they make more than they did in 1970. I make about the same in actual dollars (unadjusted for inflation) for teaching a course now as I did in 1985. And with no benefits and I have had my PhD since before many of the new cohort was born. Unfair? You bet. Did anyone ever say that life was fair? No. But I can’t imagine doing anything else so I take what I can get and march on. Maybe there’ll be a job next year….sort of like the Cubs and the World Series. Steve Schwartz, PhD
