Lecturers teach about one-third of undergraduate classes. However, we work under vastly different conditions from professors. We make less money, have limited access to benefits, and are far more likely to be forced to teach part time. But the big difference is this: For our first six years of teaching, we have no job security. This means that an instructor who has been teaching a course successfully and is getting solid student evaluations can be replaced by somebody new from the outside who has never taught the course without a whisper of explanation.
This forced turnover has become the University’s tacit go-to employment policy for teaching faculty. It makes us cheap and easy to get rid of. The administration enjoys this “management flexibility,” knowing that there are dozens of highly qualified people who will be happy to have a UCLA gig, even if it is just for a quarter.
Op-ed: UC must revise employment policies to provide lecturers with job security
