Tomorrow is the first National Adjunct Walkout Day, and while Syracuse University professors are not organizing an official walkout, this day should still raise awareness for the needs and concerns of a large portion of the faculty at SU. Adjunct professors should take time in classes tomorrow to describe their challenges within the currently flawed system, and educate students on this national issue affecting higher education.

According to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, a total of 544 instructors, or approximately 32 percent of the faculty, at SU are part-time non-tenured. According to the American Association of University Professors, 51.4 percent of the total faculty in higher education are part-time.

Often times adjunct professors teach lower level and prerequisite courses that all students have to take. Few students complete their academic careers without spending time in class with an adjunct professor. Adjunct professors play a vital role in the undergraduate experience and students should be aware of their instructors’ situation. The more people educated on the topic, the more advocates the adjunct professors will have.

Last week the Labor Studies Working Group of the Maxwell School’s Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration met to discuss National Adjunct Walk Out Day. Gretchen Purser, a professor of sociology, expressed that while situations for adjunct professors vary across campuses, there are some common conditions. “The first is egregiously low pay, the second is a lack of benefits and the third is a lack in job security,” she said.

Adjuncts United, the union that represents Syracuse University’s part-time instructors, reports that the College of Arts and Sciences employs 147 adjunct professors, more than any other college at SU, and the rough estimate of an average compensation for a 3-credit course is $5,283.

The Labor Studies Working Group created a presentation, “Mobilizing the Academic Precariat: The Contingent Faculty Labor Movement at SU and Beyond” that professors should consider reviewing with their students. Professors do not have to take part in a physical walkout to “insist (for) fair wages and working conditions,” as the day is meant to do.

Educating the SU community about the inequality that many members of the SU faculty face will make National Adjunct Walkout Day a success — even without an actual walkout.