Guest Opinion | Shannon Maraghy: Making the Case for ALL Faculty at PCC to Participate in Shared Governance through Voting/Petitions

I am a part-time faculty member at Pasadena City College. Part-timers like myself are barred from participating in typical faculty shared governance activities such as voting and petitions. On March 27, I addressed the college’s Academic Senate (a board that was established in 1967 to represent the interests of ALL faculty at PCC) to explain why part-timers should finally be given voting rights.

On Feb. 21, the Bylaws Committee, which I am a member of, met and discussed voting rights for part-timers, who make up 60% of the faculty here, teach the same classes and are required to have the same qualifications as you, our full-time colleagues, but we are disenfranchised by our school bylaws, barred from participating in voting or petitions.

I was told that the reason is because the Local Handbook for the statewide Academic Senate for California Community Colleges doesn’t recommend it. So I shared my screen and read from the handbook, which DOES NOT anywhere say that part-timers shouldn’t be allowed to participate in voting/petitions. It actually states that “The full-time faculty may provide for the membership and participation of part-time faculty members.” I was told that while that may be true, it didn’t matter because there were other reasons:

For one, part-timers can’t be expected to vote because they may be busy working at multiple colleges. I asked what the harm was. Sure, those who were too busy to pay attention, wouldn’t. But those who wanted to be involved, could.

Next, I was told that part-timers aren’t invested. We’re here for a semester or two and then gone to a full-time position. Maybe it once was like that, before colleges started hiring mostly part-timers, but these days, full-time positions are scarce. Being an adjunct is a career for many. I’ve been an adjunct here for 15 years, and of the 90 adjuncts in Noncredit, where I teach, 59 have been here for at least 10 years. We’re very invested.

Then, I was told that if part-timers could vote, maybe a part-timer would vote for something and then get a full-time job elsewhere, and faculty here would be left to live with the result. But how far-fetched! This fear would only be justified if many part-timers all voted the same way and then all got full-time jobs and left en masse.

Finally, I was told that full-timers just aren’t ready for part-timers to vote. But I am looking at you, my full-time colleagues, and I don’t believe that. It’s 2023, and especially in academia, we understand that suppressing people’s right to vote is not ok.

I pointed out that many other colleges regard ALL faculty’s participation as valuable and allow them to vote, etc. Nothing terrible has happened as a result.

I cited California Ed Code, which encourages colleges to let all faculty participate effectively in shared governance. I was told we had to move on.

My fellow colleagues, you may not know me well, but please look at me and consider my message. This is a social justice issue, an equality issue. Take a stand for the humanity, inclusion, and full participation of ALL the part-timers in your own department, whose interests you are duty-bound to represent and vote for. Thank you.

Shannon Maraghy is a part-time faculty member at Pasadena City College.