The UNC Adjunct Faculty Speak Out was inspired by the National Adjunct Walkout Day, an event meant to bring awareness to issues facing adjunct professors around the country.
The event included students and professors speaking out against what they call unfair treatment toward non-tenure-track professors. At UNC, they include fixed-term faculty, who are on one- to four-year contracts, and adjuncts, who have less job security.
Some professors with tenure attended the event — among them was Altha Cravey, a geography professor and one of the event’s main speakers.
She said the percentage of UNC professors who are not on the tenure track had jumped to about 59 percent in 2013.
She said she wants the speak out to create awareness.
“I hope that we educate students about the effect this is having on their classrooms, their educations,” Cravey said. “I hope we can educate my peers who are tenured faculty. A lot of them don’t realize how bad it is for individuals.”
Robert Porter, a lecturer in the Department of African, African American and Diaspora Studies, was one of the few professors without tenure who attended and spoke during the event.
He said despite the consequences that could come as a result of him speaking against UNC’s treatment of non-tenure-track professors, he participated because he thinks major changes need to be made.