The Olympian

Issue date: 11/7/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Sophie Siemion We're not gonna take it. Faculty union president Dr. Nat Hong speaks to legislators and a crowd of about 50 people at the legislative forum held Thursday. Hong and other faculty are asking for better compensation. [Click to enlarge]

Kitsap legislators
convened at Olympic
College Bremerton
Thursday for a legislative
forum hosted in part by
the Associated Students
of Olympic College, the
Washington Education
Association and the OC
Association of Higher
Education.
ASOC President Leslie
Miller moderated the
forum, which has been
held for many years and
now occurs in the wake of
Gov. Christine Gregoire's
new adjunct faculty
proclamation, and included
arguments for adjunct
faculty pay raises by faculty
union President Dr. Nat
Hong and Vice President
Jack Longmate.
Longmate, who was the
fi rst to speak, addressed
issues of salaries and how
little adjuncts are forced to
survive on despite what the
extrapolated data reads.
"It's very diffi cult to earn
a living on a faculty salary,
especially for an adjunct
faculty member," Longmate
said. "It is positively
deceptive."
Hong, who has played an
important role in lobbying
for adjunct equity, talked
briefl y about appreciation
for those who "do the heavy
lifting" in education. Hong
presented three graphs that
displayed the disparity
between Washington
state's behavior towards its
adjunct faculty and other
states in the nation.
"We are treated quite
differently than any other
state treats their faculty,"
Hong said. "Success is not
rewarded."
Hong also stated that
he would be content
with a 3 percent increase
beyond the cost of living
adjustment numbers which
theoretically decide what a
salary should be.
Although progress is
being made, it has been a
slow and drawn out process
which some have hardly
had the patience for.
"We are chipping away at this issue,"
State Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor
said. "All of us know a lot more needs to
be done."
With Washington state well in the lower
portion of the graphs, the need to pay
adjunct faculty more was reiterated several
times over.
"We are so underpaid that this is not
a one or two year project," Hong said. "I
would be happy to be average. I don't want
to be the worst."
The faculty themselves weren't the only
ones lobbying for a change however.
"We lose as an economy if we fail to
retain great faculty," Kilmer said.
Hong, along with the assistance of the legislative
board, hope to meet with Gregoire
soon to convey their concerns and bring
these issues to a whole new level.
"I want to show her we are the worst in
the nation," Hong said.
Other issues brought forward included
running start and extending baccalaureate
opportunities, ways to keep tuition costs
down and the role of labor in society.
Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, was
a strong voice for a change in societal
views. He explained the dreary statistics
surrounding education in modern America
and the focus on teachers.
"The role of the teacher in our society
needs to be raised," Seaquist said.
The overall tone of Thursday's forum
was one of gratitude towards the work
being done, but a genuine urge to pick up
the pace and get things fixed before bigger
problems occur.
"A pissed off teacher is not a good teacher,"
Hong said. "I want them to commit to a
five-year plan."

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