At Macalester and across academia, contingent faculty — professors who are not tenured or tenure-track — report enduring low pay, job instability and other unfavorable working conditions in order to keep teaching and avoid being forced out of the profession entirely.
“I love what I do; I love teaching,” a professor, who wishes to remain anonymous due to job security concerns and who will be referred to as “Professor A,” said. “I love spending time with [students], and maybe for that reason, [I] willingly accept all the sh-t that goes with the job.”
Professor A no longer teaches at Macalester.
In an academic system that can be brutal for non-tenure track (NTT) faculty, Macalester professors widely see the college as a better workplace than many other higher education institutions. Macalester offers higher job security, compensation and other benefits, often as a result of faculty advocacy. Still, systemic and institutional practices complicate these professors’ careers and lives.
According to a 2024 institutional research report, Macalester has roughly 250 instructional faculty working in our classrooms. Of those people, slightly more than half are in tenured or tenure-track positions. The rest are contingent, though some Macalester professors have started to favor the term ‘special appointment faculty.’
Associate Professor (NTT) of media studies Michael Griffin*, who has been teaching at Macalester for over 20 years, explained how many types of professors are considered contingent.
“Contingent faculty is a general, global term for any faculty that are working just at the pleasure of the college administration.” Griffin said. “It’s just a descriptor of anybody that doesn’t have job security. All the adjunct faculty, all the visiting instructors, all the visiting assistant professors, visiting associate professors, NTT Series people — would be considered contingent. They don’t have the protections of tenure, and they could just be dismissed tomorrow if [the college] decided they just wanted to.”
Higher education institutions have long relied on the existence of short-term, contingent faculty to support the operations of colleges and universities. This reliance is growing.
“The number of non-tenure track people employed by colleges and universities over the last 20 or 25 years has skyrocketed,” Griffin said. “Over half of all courses that are taught at colleges and universities are taught by non-tenure track faculty.”
In 2023, 68% of faculty at higher education institutions in the United States held non-tenure track positions, compared to 47% in 1987.
Some faculty see this increase as benefiting institutions and their tenured and tenure-track professors — not the contingent faculty carrying out the work.
“The irony is that I know that I’m essential,” Professor A added. “I know that my low pay subsidizes the sabbaticals and the higher pay for other people … The irony is that institutions across the board of higher ed rely more and more and more on contingent faculty, and it’s like we’re subsidizing the whole operation with blood, sweat and tears.”
“[Special appointment faculty are] a fundamental piece of the faculty structure here.” Visiting Assistant Professor of environmental studies Tony Siebenaler-Ransom said. “[We] are absolutely necessary for things like sabbaticals, parental leave and unique classes that aren’t necessarily given every year. … [We’re] all necessary, but historically, [we’ve] been looked at as a necessary evil.”
Job stability
Although contingent faculty’s work is a key part of higher education systems, these professors broadly face workplace issues that their tenured and tenure-track colleagues do not.
While tenured faculty can only be fired if the “institution declares financial exigency, discontinues a program or department of instruction, or proves that the faculty member cannot fulfill his/her professional responsibilities,” according to the Macalester webpage on the faculty tenure process, special appointment faculty have no such guarantee. In addition, they do not always know which or how many courses they will be teaching the next semester — or if they will be teaching at all.
“The biggest thing for me has … been the uncertainty: not knowing absolutely for sure that I’m going to have a full-time position with full-time benefits, and not finding out, usually, until June before the next school year,” Griffin said.
Macalester allocates a certain number of courses to each academic department each year. When departments’ allocations are lowered, the cuts disproportionately fall on special appointment faculty. Some department chairs will fight for their special appointment faculty to retain their course load, though these allocation cuts have the potential to drastically alter faculty’s livelihoods.
“Cutting back from four or five to two courses is not just reducing the salary by half,” Griffin said. “It’s actually much more than that. It’s reducing the salary by [around] 70% and eliminating benefits, health insurance, retirement benefits, all of those kind[s] of things that are all tied to having what they consider a full-time position.”
Department chairs do not always realize that cutting special appointment faculty’s course load can have this impact, according to Associate Professor (NTT) of linguistics and environmental studies Marianne Milligan.
Communication in recent years with department chairs has aimed to close those gaps in understanding and create more stability. For instance, special appointment faculty and Dean of Faculty Tom Halverson has encouraged chairs to keep track of sabbaticals and other changes several years out, aiming to reduce the number of semester-to-semester surprises for special appointment faculty.
Macalester’s NTT Series, a set of benefits and possible promotions, also aims to increase stability for NTT professors. The series was created during the 2015-2016 academic year in the wake of a failed unionization push by special appointment faculty.
Special appointment faculty are eligible for the NTT Series after working at Macalester for four years. In their fifth year, if the Dean of Faculty determines an ongoing need for their appointment at the college, special appointment faculty undergo a review in which they are evaluated primarily on their teaching. Professors under review reflect on their teaching, including changes in their practices; submit artifacts such as syllabi and assignments; and invite students to write evaluations and letters on the faculty’s behalf. The Faculty Personnel Committee (FPC), which conducts NTT Series, pretenure and tenure reviews, also surveys students and considers professors’ non-teaching service, such as official and unofficial advising.
If faculty do not pass the review, they are not eligible to keep their job at Macalester, according to Halverson. The same is true for tenure-track professors undergoing pretenure and tenure review.
While faculty in the NTT Series still do not have a guarantee of the courses they will teach, departments set aside a certain number of courses for them as individuals each year. Griffin said he has often been able to teach the same classes year to year, partially as a result of this process. In addition, departments will not lower NTT Series faculty’s teaching load for a given semester less than 15 months prior to that semester, giving those professors more advance notice to plan for any changes, according to Halverson. NTT Series faculty also hold the right of first refusal for the classes they normally teach, which helps to prevent department chairs from hiring someone else to teach those classes. These policies help stabilize the percentage of full-time equivalent (FTE) employment that NTT Series faculty work.
“That gives you a little more job security,” Griffin said. “Most colleges and universities don’t do that. Macalester is really better than most places because they’ve created this NTT Series category.”
Faculty in the NTT Series also receive some extra benefits. For instance, they are eligible for a two-course sabbatical at full pay after six years of full-time work, as well as $1,750 in Faculty Travel and Research Funds reimbursement, adjusted to their FTE.
Compensation
Contingent faculty have consistently earned less than tenured and tenure-track professors. At Macalester, this pay discrepancy was especially prevalent before faculty advocacy brought increased wages. When Milligan began teaching at Macalester 16 years ago, compensation looked different than it does today.
“When I started here, you got $5,000 a class until you were full time, and then [you got] like $50,000,” Milligan said. “And so the math for some people was wild, because if they taught four classes, it was $20,000, maybe $25,000 — and then if they suddenly [are offered] an extra class … they’re making 50 [thousand dollars].”
Though wages have increased since then, many special appointment faculty say their payment per course still falls short, in proportion to the work that they do.
“I teach four classes, which is three-quarters time, and I get [paid] about two-thirds of what a full-time salary would be,” Milligan said.
“The college rationale for lower prorated salaries for ‘less than full-time’ faculty is that non-tenure track faculty in general are not expected to engage in research and publishing,” Griffin said, “nor are they expected to do student academic advising, serve on department or college committees, advise student media or other student organizations, serve as liaisons to athletics or be involved in other campus activities.
“In reality, nearly all college faculty with doctorate degrees are engaged in writing and research — how else would they have achieved the disciplinary experience and credentials to teach as college professors?” Griffin continued. “And nearly all long-term non-tenure-track faculty have rosters of advisees that carry over from year-to-year regardless of their teaching contract. They also regularly advise students on career matters, as well as writing letters of recommendation for students, advising independent studies and internships, and supporting students in a variety of other ways. It is also very common for NTT faculty to serve on college committees, advise student organizations and do a variety of other college service activities, such as volunteering for admission and alumni events.”
For some faculty members, including some with access to another source of income, the convenience and flexibility of these positions outweighs these compensation issues.
“I’m in a lucky position that my wife is very successful, and part of what is really attractive for me for being a contingent faculty is the flexibility in hours,” Siebenaler-Ransom said. “If I’m teaching two courses, I can usually be stacked up on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and so I can be the shuttle for my children’s after school events. … [There have been a] couple of years I’ve managed to have enough classes over the course of the year that I’ve gotten benefits, and that’s been incredible. But … [I am] in a privileged position to not have to be as concerned about that.”
Senior Instructor (NTT) of computer science, Paul Cantrell, explained why many part-time contingent faculty positions’ compensation structures are formulated in this manner.
“[Many special appointment faculty members] have some other thing that’s [their] real job, and teaching is a thing [they] do on the side,” Cantrell said. “The pay structure is designed to not waste the college’s money paying people who also have ‘real jobs’, and that maybe works fine for somebody who really does have a well-paying career and is doing a little teaching on the side. For somebody who’s teaching part-time at three different local colleges, that low pay is a serious problem.”
This pay structure, combined with inconsistent benefits, makes being a special appointment faculty member an “impoverishing career,” as Professor A described it. They worked other positions while teaching to fill in the gaps in benefits.
“Caribou [Coffee] will give me health insurance for working 20 hours [per week], but I can’t get health insurance for teaching a college class,” they said. “So I either relied on part-time work at places that provide health insurance … or I relied on Medicaid.”
In order to qualify for health insurance through their employment at Macalester, part-time faculty must teach three courses over a given academic year, which is considered 0.58 FTE. Faculty who reach 0.75 FTE — or four classes — pay significantly lower premiums on their health insurance. According to the Macalester website, part-time employees pay a premium of $321.54 per month for an individual, high deductible plan, or $1,176.32 for an “employee+family” plan. Employees over 0.75 FTE, who are considered full-time for the purposes of insurance coverage, only pay $160.77 for the individual and $705.79 for the “employee+family” high-deductible plan.
Health insurance is not the only area where special appointment faculty lack the benefits their tenured and tenure-track colleagues receive.
“I don’t get to participate in the [retirement] benefits that full time staff and faculty do,” Professor A said. “And at Macalester, [the benefits are] quite good, in that if you’re full time, they will contribute 10 percent of your salary to a retirement savings account for you on your behalf.”
Hamline University’s adjunct faculty unionized in 2016 after wages had remained stagnant for over 10 years. Their current contract states that undergraduate adjunct professors earn $5,581 per four-credit course for the 2025-2026 school year. While the exact compensation rates for special appointment faculty at Macalester are not publicly available, Professor A stated that they were paid roughly $6,300 per course.
In addition, Macalester’s special appointment faculty get offices, computers, funds to attend conferences and access to the gym at the Leonard Center Athletic and Wellness Complex. Their counterparts at other colleges and universities do not always receive these amenities.
Workplace culture
Many special appointment faculty at Macalester said they are treated the same as their tenured or tenure-track colleagues, which is not always the case outside of Macalester.
“My experience here at Macalester has been much more comfortable, embracing,” Siebenaler-Ransom said. “I feel like I’m part of a community in a way that I didn’t really feel at the other schools.”
Professor A did not feel as welcomed.
“My experience [was] of being an afterthought,” Professor A said. “And this is not just [at] Macalester. This is everywhere [I’ve taught.] … My relationship is transient, so why would they invest in me?”
Siebenaler-Ransom and other professors with relatively positive experiences said that they feel lucky to be in a welcoming department. Some noted that special appointment faculty’s experiences can vary between departments.
Special appointment faculty activism
Over the years, and with a variety of approaches, Macalester’s special appointment faculty have fought to improve their working conditions. While they have seen a number of significant wins, many issues remain.
On April 24, 2014, a group of Macalester professors announced that they had filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board in hopes of unionizing the college’s contingent faculty. However, on June 2, 2014, the Service Employees International Union, which was supporting the unionization efforts, called off the vote, which had been scheduled to begin the next day. The administration wrote in a letter that “many on both sides of the issue believe that more time is necessary to consider this decision.” A new vote was never held.
In the wake of the canceled election, former Macalester president Brian Rosenberg — whose administration had written a memo opposing the unionization efforts — expressed that contingent faculty’s grievances were clearly still pertinent. He decided that a committee should study the issue. Some contingent faculty responded that the committee “can’t study it without us in the room,” Milligan recalled. Rosenberg added two positions to the existing Resources and Planning Committee (RPC), and Milligan and Associate Professor (NTT) of German studies Britt Abel ran and won.
For a semester, RPC studied contingent faculty issues. They produced a report and recommendations that contributed to influential policy changes. These changes included creating the NTT Series; raising the FTE of professors teaching four classes to 0.75, up from 0.66, so that these professors would receive full-time benefits; and boosting professors teaching three courses from 0.5 FTE to 0.58 in recognition of other service they perform for the college.
Following RPC’s semester-long focus on contingent faculty, some special appointment faculty continued to gather informally, discussing and acting on issues they continued to face. Energy around finding solutions was high again after the COVID-19 pandemic. In a meeting with Provost Lisa Anderson-Levy in spring 2024, some NTT faculty asked for a committee, and the provost created an ad hoc committee for them.
In October 2025, Macalester faculty voted unanimously to turn that ad hoc committee into a standing committee, a designation that protects the group from being removed by a future administration. This six-faculty group, called the Committee on Special Appointment Faculty (CSAF), ran elections in November 2025 and has met weekly this semester. Halverson said that he attends CSAF meetings about every other week and that Anderson-Levy attends around once a month.
Over the past two years, the ad hoc committee and CSAF have made several policy-level changes aimed at improving special appointment faculty experiences. Many of these changes aim to improve communication. For instance, the groups revised the special appointment faculty handbook, and, in so doing, defined policies such as the number of years NTT Series professors must teach before getting a sabbatical. The committees also created a site of resources and information for special appointment faculty. Similarly, they set up an email line with which to clarify faculty members’ and department chairs’ misunderstandings and expectations.
Outside of communication-centered changes, the committees established a requirement that department chairs make a seven-year staffing plan to create more stability for special appointment faculty.
In addition to policy work, CSAF and its predecessor have taken a bigger-picture lens in analyzing special appointment faculty’s place at Macalester and in academia.
“We wanted a guiding principle of, like, if Macalester has certain ethics, and the reality is we need, basically, temp workers, how do we guide all the policies around contingent faculty to align as best as possible with Macalester values?” Milligan said.
The opportunities for communication and collaboration that the committees have provided have been important for Siebenaler-Ransom. The third-year professor got involved with the ad hoc committee in his first semester at Macalester.
“I was immediately in the room where it happens, and I don’t think there was ever a time that I was in one of those meetings that I felt like I was not supposed to be there,” Siebenaler-Ransom said. “I know there are issues, because also, being on the committee, I get to hear a lot of those … concerns that other my colleagues that are contingent faculty have. But it just felt like there was absolutely a place where I could voice concerns and be a part [of solutions].”
Special appointment professors may not know that they, as individuals, can schedule a meeting with higher-ups like the provost “because we’re coming from a wider system that can be so abusive,” Milligan said.
“The lines of communication are the best part,” Halverson said. “We built up trust, which I think is really important [in] both directions. … And, when I do my work, that group is more front-of-mind for me.”
To Halverson, CSAF’s continued existence is important — and necessary.
“How higher ed is going to change in five or 10 years is a real question,” Halverson said. “The financial model is hard. I don’t see any case where we’re not going to need non-tenure track faculty. So I’m really happy that they’re positioned this way to be a real part of changes that happen.”
While Macalester is not alone in having an NTT Series, Milligan does not know of other colleges or universities with a special appointment faculty committee. She sees a tension between the relative ease with which Macalester’s special appointment faculty have won the ability to gather in committees and investigate policy, and the continued, systemic struggles that those professors face.
“There is lots of support for making changes — and we still don’t have job security,” Milligan said. “We get paid less. And I don’t know that those things are fixable, not without totally changing how all of academia works.”
The work that CSAF and former committees have done has not solved everything. Special appointment faculty continue to be underpaid relative to their colleagues and to struggle with job security, and the steepest impacts fall on those who are not in the NTT Series.
Contingent faculty also continue to work within a U.S. higher education system that relies on their ability to fill gaps — one that some see as being built around their being “cheap and expendable,” as Milligan put it, referencing the system as a whole, not Macalester.
Yet, they have made tangible changes. Because they have done so, Macalester professors widely view the college as a better place than most to be special appointment, and pay and stability have increased for many faculty.
“All the things that people have been working for here have made a difference,” Griffin said. “They haven’t made it perfect yet; there’s still a lot of improvement to be made, but they’ve gone a long way.”
*Michael Griffin is a former advisor to The Mac Weekly.
