• Juggling different rules, policies, and procedures for each college. Managing multiple emails. Not being able to participate in staff development meetings and professional development opportunities. At Citrus college they would let me participate in department meetings and pay for my conferences. I also got to teach there! When my hours for some schools wouldn’t be approved until after the semester started. Nothing felt consistent and I didn’t feel safe. Nearly 2/3rd of our faculty at ECC are adjunct faculty. We need to do more to support them to ensure our college can operate and communicate effectively.

~ Kelsey Iino, Ed.D., Counseling, 13years

• The challenges are many. Multiple obligations across numerous institutions or organizations. The constant threat of income instability. Having to spend 1/3 of your monthly teaching income on health insurance you must pay out of pocket. Having to constantly seek out work – both long-term and short term. Losing classes when full-time faculty are hired. Getting the same classes over and over again. Never being able to take advantage of a sabbatical even after 15 or more years of service. Feeling voiceless to impact departmental policy decisions. Feeling like a temporary worker year-after-year. Yes, this list is long, but it is all something that many of us can relate to. The social isolation that many full-timers are experiencing now is just like what adjunct faculty members experience continually. When participating in the evening information sessions/open houses on campus and talking about the major in your department. Prospective students, and even students already enrolled, have no idea that you are part-time and what that means institutionally. I would say that teaching in the evening and online is very different from the hustle and bustle of daytime classes. There is little to no peer-faculty interaction. There are less people in the halls. You kind of just pick up your mail, head to your class and then leave once it is over. While there are many rewards in teaching, each year, more and more non-teaching responsibility falls on the laps of part-timers. SLOs. Mandated training. Learning and adapting to new technologies. No teaching assistants for part-timers, either. This all must be accomplished in what already feels like a frantic race to stay afloat economically in Los Angeles. The cumbersome evaluation process . . . although many of us love lecturing, the administrative detail threatens the passion of instruction.

~ ECC Faculty Warrior

• The challenges are many. Multiple obligations across numerous institutions or organizations. The constant threat of income instability. Having to spend 1/3 of your monthly teaching income on health insurance you must pay out of pocket. Having to constantly seek out work – both long-term and short term. Losing classes when full-time faculty are hired. Getting the same classes over and over again. Never being able to take advantage of a sabbatical even after 15 or more years of service. Feeling voiceless to impact departmental policy decisions. Feeling like a temporary worker year-after-year. Yes, this list is long, but it is all something that many of us can relate to. The social isolation that many full-timers are experiencing now is just like what adjunct faculty members experience continually. When participating in the evening information sessions/open houses on campus and talking about the major in your department. Prospective students, and even students already enrolled, have no idea that you are part-time and what that means institutionally. I would say that teaching in the evening and online is very different from the hustle and bustle of daytime classes. There is little to no peer-faculty interaction. There are less people in the halls. You kind of just pick up your mail, head to your class and then leave once it is over. While there are many rewards in teaching, each year, more and more non-teaching responsibility falls on the laps of part-timers. SLOs. Mandated training. Learning and adapting to new technologies. No teaching assistants for part-timers, either. This all must be accomplished in what already feels like a frantic race to stay afloat economically in Los Angeles. The cumbersome evaluation process . . . although many of us love lecturing, the administrative detail threatens the passion of instruction.

~ ECC Faculty Warrior

• One of the difficulties I notice is the expectation of the work output similar to a Full-time faculty. I personally enjoy working part-time for multiple schools; yet, I sometimes find it insulting to expect me to contribute energy to certain projects as if I am Full-Time faculty. I am committed to providing the best work for all of my 3 Part-Time jobs; however, I am not yet Full-Time. Being confident enough to say no to certain things or to certain people may require some confidence. One must stand firm on the decision to advise that we are only Part-Time, and therefore, contribute partially, yet professionally, and do so with a smile. I am very appreciative to be representing this college. It has some great fellow faculty support for all levels of teaching. I feel at home and very taken care of.

~ ECC Faculty Warrior

• I do not have access to job security. Sometimes, I am notified that I will not have work for a term a few days before the semester. Needless to say, it is stressful and discouraging because I love my job. I enjoy collaborating with colleagues when it comes to norming sessions and/or discussing best practices. Social activities are also a fun way to build community. There was one semester when my chair did not include me on a department-wide email. Because I never received the email, I did not respond and, therefore, was not offered an assignment for the following term. This is one of the many times I don’t feel part of the community. I wish the best for all adjunct faculty.

~ ECC Faculty Warrior

• I think my biggest challenge is time management. To be “successful” we have added challenges of keeping up with happenings with the college, our students, and balancing job#2 or job seeking for job#2 to compensate for the only having part-time employment. When I volunteered for College Night last fall was a great experience for me! Being present and seeing all the staff friendly and encouraging prospective students to become a Warrior. I was able to meet other faces in the other departments that I have had relations with. More importantly, I was able to see faces of students who I encouraged to come to College Night. Being there to support the students and seeing their smile when they see a familiar face is truly what El Camino is about- someone with a smile to support students every step of the way! Recently, on my personal laptop, I mistakenly downloaded a file from one of those phishing emails that was posing to be the dean through my ECC. I was so fearful that my computer (newly purchased) was going to crash and or personal information would be taken. I called IT and they told me since I am only part-time and I am using my personal computer they can’t help me nor can they work on my laptop. I specifically purchased this laptop to better serve my students. I get screwed and they reply that they can’t help me because I’m not full-time. That hurt. I love El Camino and all those that we serve!

~ECC Faculty Warrior

• I worked as an adjunct faculty Librarian with the Los Rios Community College District surfing two of their campuses Folsom Lake College and Sacramento City College. Also, I worked with the Sierra College on Sundays as an adjunct faculty librarian. These three campuses were at least 30 minutes drive from each other during “No Traffic Hour”. I worked at all three colleges just to make 20 hours a week, so I could pay my rent. There was a moment when I was laid off due to budget from two campuses that left me working only on Sunday’s at eight hours a week. There was a moment during a summer shift that I drove sixteen hours in one day of the week to work a reference desk at Sacramento City College. I did not tell this to my colleagues or dean at Sacramento City College for fear they would not have allowed me to work because I was driving from a whole other state. I pretended I was still living in the area just so I could make money to survive. I surfed 6 homes, stayed in three states, and everything I owned fit in my car. Sometimes I slept on a couch, on a bed, and on the floor. I even spent time resting my head in the back sit of my car. Sometimes I had my own room when I could pay my full rent and when I could not afford the whole room I was told to sleep on the sofa or floor. I would pray that my friend and or his sister would go out of town because it was during those times I was offered a bed. Once, when I was absolutely unemployed I stayed with a grand aunt who set a twin bed up in her living room and a beautiful Japanese screen to section off my sleeping quarters from the common areas. I was unemployed on and off for a total of three years and when there was absolutely no work I lived off my unemployment check.  I used both my unemployment money and whatever money earned from these part time faculty gigs to fund each interview. There was a moment Orange County interviewed me for several positions costing me around $600.00 per interview. I flew on airplanes, drove in a car, caught trains, and paid for bus tickets just to attend interviews walking down streets unfamiliar in hopes I would get a librarian position and or I wouldn’t get mugged. Walking down an industrial street in downtown Los Angeles to the city human resources was by far the scariest walk I’ve ever had to walk. That day I got off a plane, got on a bus at the airport to Union Station, then asked strangers what train to get on in hopes no one lied and placed me on the appropriate train, and then I had to walk down an unknown street. These were definitely moments of unsure and depressing times. There was a moment that my unemployment ran its course and I was now only receiving about $197.00 in food stamps. One of the homes I lived took the entirety of my food stamps as a form of rent. In June of 2016 I was invited to an interview with the El Camino College (ECC) and was hired as an adjunct faculty librarian. Not long after, I applied for one of the college’s full time faculty librarians position. The day I had my second interview with ECC I had nowhere to live and so at about 2:30pm after my interview with Dr. Maloney I got in my car and decided to head up to Sacramento with everything I own fitting into my car. I was sitting in traffic on the 405 headed to the 5 and just talking story with God asking him “What now, where to?” I had only $2.00 to my name and food stamps. I got up as far as Pyramid Lake in the mountains when I received the call from ECC asking if I would accept the position of Reference Services Librarian. I pulled to the side of the road balling my eyes out and filled with tears wondering how wicked the humor of God is and of course here I am four years in, and I just made tenure.  The last day of August 2016 I received a month’s pay at ECC and I felt confused by the amount because it was no longer $2.00, but thousands of dollars. I said to payroll I think there was a mistake I only attended PD and worked a few days and I don’t deserve this amount of money. They said, “Mr. Josephides, you deserve every penny of it and welcome to ECC!” Again, I balled crying being so thankful. I wanted to move into my own space and out of the kind samaritans home where I was living in their parlor, but I didn’t have the full funding, so I went with faith to the Pechanga casino in Temecula and placed $20.00 in a Buffalo machine, I hit the max button, and I won the jackpot that placed me in my current living situation. I now sleep in my own room, on my own bed, and work full time at only one college campus.   I just wanted to share my story and I always wish adjuncts the very best. I am a strong advocate for our adjuncts overall because I truly know what it takes to survive being an adjunct.

~ECC Faculty Warrior