U.S.
30m
Director: Barbara Wolff
Synopsis: Exploitation of part-time faculty in American higher education.
In 1960 Edward R. Murrow made a television documentary about the plight of migrant farm workers. Harvest of Shame examined the working conditions and economic realities of those least respected but absolutely vital workers in the agricultural industry, the harvesters.
To Barbara Wolf, a Cincinnati-based video documentarian, the economic situation and working conditions of adjunct professors suggested an information economy parallel to migrant farm workers. As with migrant farm workers, hiring of adjuncts is often done at the last minute, the extremely low pay is based on the number of courses taught, there are no benefits, there is no job security, and many adjuncts teach at more than one institution (often in different cities) trying to piece together a living.
Following the logic of Harvest of Shame, Ms. Wolf interviews a variety of adjunct faculty, who make visible the working lives of these faculty members who now do more than 40% of the teaching in America’s institutions of higher education. Interviews with university administration officials, union leaders, legislators, and other observers document both the problem and possible solutions.
Murrow concluded Harvest of Shame by asking his viewers to cultivate “an enlightened, aroused and perhaps angered public opinion” and to demand a change. Wolf sees her documentary as both informational and, in Murrow’s tradition, as a tool for change.
order from:
Barbara Wolf Video Work
1709 Pomona Court
Cincinnati, Ohio 45206
Phone (513) 861-2462
Br_wolf@hotmail.com
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