Part-time faculty members at Columbia College in Chicago say a department-level report, submitted to the administration without seeming to raise any eyebrows, demonstrates the kind of status-, age- and even gender-based bias they face on a regular basis.
The report suggests that fashion studies needs to diversify because there is a disproportionate number of female adjuncts “over 50,” and that the part-time faculty union contract is holding the department back because of new job protections for long-serving instructors.
The college disputes the adjuncts’ characterization of the report and says it’s committed to equal employment opportunity and diversity in every way.
