Hearing of the Joint Committee on Public Service
HB 189 (Retirement Benefits for Part-Time Faculty)
SB 1535 (Group Health Insurance Benefits for Part-Time Faculty)
Testimony by David A. Goodof
Instructor, School of Business,
Salem State College
September 22, 2005

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee;

My name is David Goodof and I am an adjunct instructor at Salem State College. I am an attorney as well but from the time I taught my first class at Salem in 1997, I knew that I wanted to teach more than practice law. So I have essentially put aside my law practice to teach and be available to students at Salem State College.

I will talk about myself but most of what I say will also apply to a large number of "part-time" adjunct faculty. I know I spend as many hours at school as many full time faculty members. I teach three day courses on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I have office hours and I spend hours as an informal advisor to a great many students. By the way, we may be adjuncts, part time faculty, but that does not mean that we don't care about the students we teach. We are available to those students more than the forty hours per week most people spend at full time jobs. I am advising an honors student on her honors project and have done so for others in the past. I served on the Salem State Strategic Planning Committee as the adjunct faculty representative this past year and will probably do so again this year. I developed a hospitality management program for the School of Business that has been approved by the management department and has gone to the campus wide curriculum committee. Additionally, I have published an article on noncompetition clauses and presented at a conference of business law professors. This is not a testament to my ego, but a statement as to how much I love what I do and the school and students that I serve.

I am not unique. I see other adjunct faculty doing the same things I do. I know that many of us would like to be full time but we have not been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. We spend hours and hours trying to be better teachers, advisors, and mentors. We can never be sure of classes to teach but we are always available when asked and will teach extra courses when we can. The contract gives us about $3000 per course. Averaging that out by the number of hours in a classroom we may be well paid. But if you look at the actual number of hours spent, we are woefully underpaid and when we have to pay health insurance premiums as well, we have little left for discretionary spending.

I am one of the more fortunate of the adjuncts. I have insurance through my former spouse although I do pay a portion of the premiums. My coverage is at her whim. If she decides to retire or resign from the job that provides my health insurance benefits, I will have to provide them for my son. I have a twenty year old son who is in college in Florida. He has had a number of medical problems as have I. Obviously, my life would be much less unsettled with health benefits.

I woke up two days ago on my birthday and realized that I am not getting any younger. Where others may have provided for the future with savings, IRA's and other retirement vehicles, I have not been able to do so. Again, retirement benefits would be extremely beneficial to my long term plans. Because I do not have any at this point, I am resigned to working "forever".

I would ask this committee to please consider the plight of the adjunct instructors who play such a large role in the post secondary education of the citizens of Massachusetts. We are essential to the operation of the state's college system. These caring individuals need your help to be able to continue to do the jobs they love. I need you to help me so that I can continue to become the best teacher and guide for these students I have come to care so much about.

Thank you for listening to me so attentively.