Part-time instructors protest pay

Jeffrey Libby

Friday, Dec. 1, 2000 | 10:28 a.m.

Part-time instructors at UNLV say they have not seen a pay raise or a cost-of-living adjustment since 1991.

Led by Carol Condor, an English composition teacher since 1989, about a dozen instructors pinned on demonstration signs Thursday and staged a peaceful, almost meek, protest outside the Board of Regents meeting on the UNLV campus.

Part-time instructors teach the majority of introductory classes at UNLV. The university employs about 530 part-time instructors. Most earn $8,600 per semester for teaching four classes, a workload they say is a full-time, Monday-through-Friday job.

Elaine Bunker, also a part-time English instructor, warned that as the financial situation worsens, many more people who like teaching will nevertheless be forced to find other jobs.

Many already have, Bunker said. That trend has forced UNLV to request that more part-time teachers take on four classes rather than three, which was a more common practice in the past.

Condor sent a petition with 30 signatures asking for a pay raise to the Board of Regents, the chancellor and the governor in November, but received no response. The request for a pay raise was not on the November agenda for the regents.

Regent Mark Alden said he understands the complaint from part-time instructors. But every biennium the Legislature cuts any proposed increases, he said.

Condor arrived at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, long before the start of the 9 a.m. meeting. She was still standing outside the front lobby of the Foundation Building at sundown when the meeting dispersed. She said she will also be out front today.

"I just want them to see me as they arrive," Condor said.