After nearly two months of negotiations and campaigning, Simmons University adjunct faculty won their union election with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 509 on June 2.
Adjunct faculty are continuing the unionization process, after successfully organizing and voting by mail for their union. Now, they are completing their bargaining survey and solidifying their priorities and needs for contract negotiations.
“We need to improve the experiences of Simmons adjuncts and by association, the experience of our students,” said adjunct faculty Sarah Phenix in an interview with the Voice. “An adjunct’s working condition is a student’s learning condition.”
According to Phenix, an adjunct of 14 years, the conversation of a union began around two years ago “just out of [herself] and a few…colleagues actually talking to each other and learning about each other’s experiences.”
It was through these conversations that they became “acutely aware of very important things that needed to change.”
According to the Simmons Adjunct Union Community Support Letter, adjunct faculty are receiving pay below a living wage for the Boston area, “lacking course support and other basic benefits, like transportation passes or free parking in Simmons’ garage.”
Kit von Campe, an adjunct faculty member in the humanities department, also noted they would be given courses shortly before the course began.
“I don’t always have the most time to update the syllabus or bring in my own expertise,” said von Campe, who began working at Simmons University in 2021.
Adjunct professors make up three-quarters of the Simmons faculty, including professors emeritus, who have retired and no longer work for the school. Yet before the unionization process began, von Campe and Phenix noted that many of them did not know each other.
“I never really met my fellow adjuncts. One of the important things …is to build that community and coalition,” said von Campe, “learn what my fellow adjuncts are experiencing and strengthen the community. ”
This sense of community is a common mission that keeps adjuncts drawn to the cause and to Simmons. Prior to teaching, von Campe attended graduate school at Simmons and earned her master’s degree in Children’s and Adolescent Literature. When their former professors reached out, von Campe described it as a “no-brainer to be a part of this community again.”
Current and former students continue to show support for these adjunct professors, liking, commenting or following Instagram posts on the SEIU 509 page.
Sam Bruetsch, a senior double majoring in Arts Administration and Art History, shared their appreciation for adjunct faculty members.
“Being in a program with few full-time professors, I would not be able to graduate without my incredible adjunct professors,” said Bruetsch. “I know many students are in similar situations, even in non-sunsetted programs. I fully support my professors advocating for the treatment they deserve.”
