To Leave or to Fight?

The above link is to an article in the Nation online magazine which describes the present attempt of adjunct professors to organize under a union. I believe such an attempt will most certainly fail. Because of that I have chosen to leave academia because I don't believe that it is a fight that can be won by adjuncts. There may be small victories here and there, but the overall war is a losing one. The fact is that higher education is beholden to a model that cannot serve the interests of the teachers/professors. To familiarize yourself with the concrete data, here is a link to the facts about "contingent faculty" on the American Association of University Professors website. Let me give some considerations as to why the current attempt to unionize is bound to fail.

1. There is a perennial oversupply of Phd's in any quarter of academia with the exception of certain niche disciplines like biomedical technology or nursing administration.
2. The modern university is economically built around sports, entertainment, engineering, and nursing. Most academic disciplines have nothing to offer these fields.
3. The long term demographic trends (i.e., numbers of matriculating students) will not support the current oversupply of Phd's.
4. Tuition at colleges and universities has far outstripped inflation for the last ten years. This trend cannot continue and thus, economics dictates that there will not be more money to go around.
5. Many schools lack an endowment capable of furnishing decent wages and benefits for its teaching corps. Those that do have witnessed large hits to their portfolios on account of the financial crisis.

So, unless you are rich and can afford the social battle, you really can't put up a fight against these facts. Those that do are going to be sadly disappointed.

So, to leave is itself the only honorable course.

And that is just what I've done.