Nearly 200 non-tenure track (NTT) faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) are walking off the job this week in an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike. Our two-day strike comes in protest of the administration’s violations of labor law during negotiations for our first union contract. We’re also concerned that USD is planning mass course cuts in CAS for fall 2025 to punish us for forming a union last year with SEIU Local 721. 

We can’t reach a fair contract if USD continues to break the law and threatens mass course cuts without negotiating over the impact on NTT faculty. The administration’s behavior gives us no confidence that they are working with us productively to reach an agreement that finally starts reversing decades of diminishing worker protections for NTT faculty.

To help our student and community supporters get a better sense of why we formed a union last year and why we’re planning to strike this week, we put together this backgrounder page.

Traditionally, the majority of teaching at colleges and universities was done by professors in  tenure-track positions, which meant job security and academic freedom for professors. The idea was to protect educators so they could teach and research freely — even if their ideas challenged powerful interests or conventional wisdom. Tenure was meant to ensure that professors couldn’t be fired for speaking the truth.

But starting in the 1980s, as colleges began adopting for-profit business models, that system began to erode. To cut costs, schools stopped hiring full-time, tenure-track professors and instead replaced them with adjuncts (also called non-tenure-track faculty). These were instructors hired on short-term contracts with little or no benefits or job security.

This shift allowed universities to treat teachers as disposable, often splitting one full-time position into two or three low-paid part-time jobs to avoid paying benefits like health insurance or retirement.

• Nearly 1 in 4 adjuncts rely on public assistance to get by.
  
• 40% struggle to cover basic household expenses.
  
• The average pay per course is around $3,500, and many are only hired semester to semester.
  

Today, over 70% of faculty in American higher education are adjuncts — and many are paid poverty-level wages. A 2020 report by the American Federation of Teachers found that:

Meanwhile, tuition continues to rise, and students are paying more than ever.

Here at the University of San Diego College of Arts and Sciences, non-tenure-track faculty teach over 50% of undergraduate students. That means adjuncts do the majority of the teaching and bring in most of the tuition revenue but are paid only a small fraction of that money.

At USD, non-tenure track (NTT) faculty teaching in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) typically earn between around $68,00 per year for full-time positions, and as little as $2,228 per unit when teaching part-time. These low salaries put USD NTT faculty well below the low-income threshold in San Diego County, one of the most expensive places to live in the country.

Part-time faculty, who make up the majority of the adjunct faculty in CAS, often:

• Work multiple jobs to survive
  
• Receive no health care, retirement, or job security
  
• Are rehired on a semester-to-semester basis — sometimes with just weeks of notice

Yes. USD recently received a $75 million donation — the largest ever given to a private Catholic university in U.S. history. USD’s endowment is up 8.4% from last year, putting the total at $714 million. The school is expanding rapidly, with new buildings, marketing efforts, and luxury amenities. Yet the faculty doing the bulk of the teaching are paid the least and treated as disposable.

In 2024, non-tenure-track faculty at USD voted overwhelmingly to form a union. We’re fighting for:

• Fair pay
  
• Basic benefits
  
• Job security
  

But since we started bargaining, the university has:

• Failed to bargain in good faith, offering little movement on salary, benefits, or job security
  
• Hired an outside anti-union attorney, who specializes in helping employers fight union efforts

USD has also appeared ready to cut a large number of CAS NTT faculty members. Some 25% of NTT faculty members who taught in fall 2024 are not currently listed for classes in fall 2025, according to our review of the course schedule

After 14 bargaining sessions, USD has:

• Failed to make any meaningful compromises on issues like compensation and eligibility for healthcare (they won’t even agree to allow adjunct faculty to go to the vaccine clinics that are available to students!)
  
• Said it “can’t control the cost of living” in San Diego
  
• Ignored our stories of struggling to survive while dedicating our lives to teaching
  

• Your tuition goes up every year, but the money isn’t going to your teachers.
  
• The people most responsible for your learning are being pushed out, disrespected, and underpaid.
  
• This is part of a national trend — but you can help push back.
  

We’re not alone. Adjunct unions at schools like Fordham University and Santa Clara University have successfully fought for:

• Major pay raises
  
• Multi-year contracts
  
• Health care and retirement benefits
  

Why Are We Striking?

Because USD broke the law and won’t negotiate fairly, our union has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board. We are planning to strike May 7 and May 8 to demand USD follow the law and agree to fair treatment for all faculty.

In particular, we will speak out on the picket lines against USD’s unilateral illegal decision to cut courses that affected union members in the current spring semester, and deprived our students of the chance to study with some of their favorite professors.

Because, really, we’re doing this not just for ourselves — but for our students, for the future of higher education careers which we love, and for the principle that people who do essential work deserve dignity and stability.

Want to Learn More or Get Involved?

Join us on the picket line near the main entrance of campus on Wednesday May 7th and Thursday May 8th between 7am and 6pm. Come talk to us. Ask questions. Walk with us. We’re fighting for a better university — and we want you with us.