EDITOR’S NOTE: Earlier versions of the story referred to Adjunct Faculty and Teaching Lecturers as ‘non-tenured faculty.’ The terminology was revised to ‘teaching faculty’ to more accurately describe the union’s membership.”
The Santa Clara University Adjunct and Lecturer Union’s second contract negotiation with the University has led to a stalemate, with parties unable to agree on compensation raises for the coming years. With no agreement reached regarding their second negotiation, union members worry that the administration’s lack of flexibility around increasing wages will make them unable to afford living expenses, or continue working at the University.
SALU is composed of teaching professors—non-tenure faculty members hired on fixed, sometimes non-renewable contracts, often referred to as lecturers. The union officially formed in 2022.
“We could end up with people who wouldn’t be able to pay their bills, who would have to leave and find other jobs,” said professor Andy Wolfe, head of the SALU bargaining team. “We don’t want that. Almost 100% of our faculty want to stay here. We just want to find a way to do that.”
To raise awareness for the ongoing issue and call for the University to address concerns, SALU is co-hosting a three-pronged effort with the Associated Student Government, titled the Academic Justice Festival. The effort includes on-campus tabling by union members, a demonstration called THINK ASYNC, and a rally on Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. The rally is scheduled to take place near the Bronco statue and end before the Holy Mass at 12 p.m. It will include short speeches and skits from faculty, followed by a march around campus. For THINK ASYNC, participating lecturers will go asynchronous for one or more classes in the first two weeks of the quarter.
Union members started tabling on move in day, and will continue to table until Friday, Oct. 29. They offer lemonade, flyers and other merchandise such as pins, notebooks and stickers. Union members hope the consistent effort will encourage students to stop by and learn more about the campaign.
“Student involvement is so crucial to make sure that this school is working for the students,” ASG Vice President Bella Rene ’27 said.
A History of Negotiation
This will be the second contract negotiation between the office of Provost and the union. Since creating an initial union contract, the bargaining team has been meeting with the office of the Provost every two weeks.
The current offer from administration is a five year contract, which offers a 3% increase in salary this year, 3% the next year, and no promises following that, meaning three years where faculty would have no guarantee or idea of what they will get paid.
“You can’t really sign a contract that says, ‘Oh, yeah, the other person gets to decide how much you get paid later,’” Wolfe said. “That’s not a contract.”
Wolfe explained that progress has been made regarding working conditions for teaching faculty, but money is where there’s been a stalemate during this particular negotiation.
“It’s made several dozen changes that we’ve wanted to see,” Wolfe said. “It’s opened up new channels of communication with the administration that have been productive. And in the past, it’s helped us to get some reasonable raises. But this year, we’re stalled on the raises.”
Professor Madeline Cronin serves as part of the contract action team, which communicates information about SALU’s contracts to the public. She provided insight to TSC as to why the union is not satisfied with the administration’s proposed contract.
“The 3% raise doesn’t keep up with inflation or cost of living with faculty who are already struggling,” Cronin said.
In discussions with the University, the bargaining team proposed a 7% raise in compensation—which does not mean a 7% base raise, but a 5% base increase, plus a 2% seniority increase. As of currently, SALU faculty do not receive any benefits or recognition for their seniority.
“You could be here 20 years in a row, and if they hire somebody right out of school, they pretty much get paid the same thing as you do,” Wolfe said. “So we want to see at least a 2% increase per year for becoming a deeper part of the institution and committing more of your career to Santa Clara.”
Wolfe explained multiple factors behind the union’s contract proposal—inflation, the growing cost of housing in the bay, and a large disparity between non-tenure and tenure faculty compensation.
Per the University’s official report on annual faculty salaries, the greatest disparity between tenure-track professors and full time lecturers is within instructors in the “business” cluster, with average annual salaries of $271,871 and $97,133, respectively. Instructors in the arts and humanities and at the Jesuit School of Theology were listed as the smallest disparity between tenure-track professors and full time lecturers, with average annual salaries of $146,485 and $95,738, respectively.
While underpaying non-tenure faculty is a nationwide issue, the root of the struggle for many schools is a lack of funds to increase wages. But for many union members at Santa Clara University, it feels as though money isn’t the problem for the University—rather, it’s a matter of willingness to pay.
Matt Kennedy, a field representative of Service Employees International Union, which SALU has been working through, reports that the University is financially able to provide teaching faculty with higher compensation.
“Santa Clara is financially very healthy,” said Kennedy. “Things are very bad in higher education. Other chapters I represent are not faring as well, especially higher education in the public sector. Santa Clara is one of the few institutions that is doing very well in terms of their assets.”
Kennedy further explained that Santa Clara University had 2.5 billion in assets as of the fiscal year of 2025, and their endowment is up to 1.67 billion dollars. The official Santa Clara University website confirms this value for the 2024-2025 academic year as of June 30, 2025.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of whether or not they can pay our members what they’re owed, rather, it’s whether or not they’re willing to pay our members what they’re owed,” Kennedy said.
“The University’s not in financial straints, and we don’t understand why they’re not more flexible in terms of compensation,” Wolfe said.
Struggle at a High Price
Members of the union expressed concern that teaching faculty are not receiving adequate compensation for their passion and workload, or salaries which measure up to the cost of living in the bay.
“They just don’t seem to be prioritizing faculty salaries,” Wolfe said. “It’s taking advantage of the fact that faculty aren’t here because it’s the highest paying job that they can get. Faculty are here because they love teaching, the values of the institution, and the students. So most faculty aren’t going to leave if they get paid too little. And I think they’ve just been taking advantage of that for decades.”
Multiple teaching faculty expressed that they were only able to work at Santa Clara University because of spousal support. Professor Claudia Moutray notes she was grateful to have a partner who works in tech.
“We have to have jobs here that don’t require that people in them have access to money from a partner’s help or a family’s help,” said professor and union member Kristen Kusanovich. “We need people to be able to be self-sufficient.”
“Exactly,” Moutray responded to Kusanovich’s sentiment. “I want to be self-sufficient.”
Moutray also commutes all the way from San Francisco to teach. For teaching faculty, this kind of commute is not uncommon.
“People cannot afford the area,” said union member and professor Jaime Wright. “And so people are coming up with incredibly creative ways to make it work. That can only last for so long. And sometimes we crumble under the pressure of that.”
Many University faculty have to find temporary housing when teaching because of the high prices in the area. Wright noted he was able to buy a house with his wife in the early 2000s, when housing was much more affordable. He lives in Santa Rosa, a two hour commute from campus, and stays at a friend’s place in Japantown during the week, only a 10-15 minute car or bike ride from campus.
In comparison to some other colleagues, this situation is more than ideal. Wright mentioned a former colleague who had to fly out from San Diego to teach, and another who had to commute from Bakersfield.
“You start making sacrifices,” Wright said. “Man, a lot of people, we love what we do. This is why we chose this, it’s a calling in life. It’s not like we’re asking for the world. We just want to be able to survive.”
Cronin noted that the financial stress is just one aspect—another is the instability behind being adjunct faculty. She is currently on a teaching track line, but had been part of the adjunct faculty before, taking on one year contracts with the school. When asked about how this impacted her experience, she noted the sadness that came with the end of every year. And, similarly to Wright, Cronin noted one aspect that was constantly intertwined with this stress, making it all the more heavy, and inspiring her to fight for it—a love for teaching at Santa Clara University.
“There’s this stress that comes at the end where you realize all those new classes that I was designing or plans I was making for how I would teach this next year… I don’t actually know if I’m going to be able to teach it next year,” Cronin noted. “I don’t actually know if I’m going to get to stay being a teacher, which is my calling. It’s really meaningful work to me. And I think a lot of my colleagues are in that similar position of not only is this, like, yes, I probably could get another job doing something different, you know, and find a way to make ends meet. But that’s not the only thing I would lose in losing my job. I would lose my sense of purpose in this meaningful work.”
Moutray—who is currently on a two year contract, but has been on one year contracts in the past—attests to the similar experience of ending the year with anxiety. She explains how her new contract reduces her levels of anxiety without constant worry about her ability to return.
“Every year around March I would start to get nervous,” Moutray said. “Am I going to be able to provide for my family? Am I going to be able to do the things that I need to do? Do I need to start looking for another job? It was very nerve wracking.”
“We do love what we do, we want to be here, and we just want to be treated with dignity,” Wright said.
THINK ASYNC – For The Classroom
Faculty also noted the role that working conditions play in the community as a whole—having financial needs met and stability at work means a greater ability to show up for students in the best way possible.
“The THINK ASYNC action is drawing attention to our central focus—student learning, which is facilitated by faculty conditions,” Cronin said.
Wright, who is currently on yearly contracts, participated in the THINK ASYNC event by having his class go asynchronous last Thursday, Sept. 24.
“It’s a small gesture to raise awareness,” Wright said. “By talking to other teaching faculty about this, it helps to reestablish and strengthen our social network. In that sense, it makes us stronger.”
“Going async is our way of saying to the University, ‘we’d like you to be better in sync with your teaching mission, and put the resources into the teaching that students expect and deserve,’” said union member and professor Matthew Specter.
THINK ASYNC focuses the campaign on student learning—specifically, how faculty conditions are what create learning conditions. Union members note that this contract directly impacts student learning, and THINK ASYNC is intended to make this fact unavoidable. Cronin notes how faculty who have been consistently teaching the same classes for many years will teach more sections, and even take second and third jobs just to make ends meet. For those making such sacrifices, these conditions have a direct impact on the classroom environment.
“We want to be fully there for the students,” Cronin said. “We want to be fully there with a well researched, carefully sought out, constantly revised curriculum. It’s getting harder and harder to not show the fact that we’re exhausted.”
Rene emphasized the importance of student involvement in creating a school environment optimal for their learning. The public campaign has been spearheaded not only by faculty, but by student involvement, particularly by ASG.
“We do have a voice,” Rene said. “The student voice is so important. We bring a lot of value to the school. A school is nothing without its students, staff and faculty, so it’s really important that we make this the school that we want it to be.”
Making Progress
SALU’s biweekly meetings with the office of Provost have created a space for the union to communicate with administration regarding concerns around working conditions and compensation. Through this form of communication, progress regarding working conditions have improved.
“Every time a faculty member would say, ‘hey this is really terrible, this is unfair,’ we would have a venue,” Wolfe said. “The union is a venue for us to collectively discuss these matters with them, and try to reach some compromises. So that’s been really valuable to us faculty.”
Wolfe also noted how certain policies regarding teaching faculty have improved through union efforts. For example, teaching faculty previously had to re-apply for their job every year. Wolfe explained that previously, he had to re-apply for his job every year for twelve years at Santa Clara University. This policy was only changed this year.
“My department had to go out and interview other people for my job, even though they knew they wanted me to come back,” Wolfe said. “There have just been these silly rules and people didn’t even know why they were there. And very slowly, the administration has been working with us to simplify and eliminate some of the worst ones. But there’s still a lot of them out there.”
Kusanovich noted recent small improvements regarding working conditions for lecturers—such as being provided a desk, laptop and a place to hold office hours.
“The more that people realize what they have is really special and powerful, then the stronger the union comes,” Kennedy said.
Although progress has been made, the union is still fighting for what they deem as a more fair contract.
“The Union members are unsatisfied with what’s been offered so far,” Wolfe said. “They’re gonna make that dissatisfaction known.”
Kennedy explained that public pressure often has direct impacts on how universities respond to union demands.
“Anybody who does my job will tell you that it’s always about power,” Kennedy said. “Employers, whether they’re universities, corporations, cities or municipalities don’t typically put their best foot forward unless they are feeling pressure publicly.”
When asked if Santa Clara University was experiencing public pressure, he paused a moment before providing a response.
“At the moment, that’s really just starting to happen,” Kennedy said.
The office of the Provost declined to provide comment to TSC on the matter of faculty salary discussions, citing an agreement to keep bargaining discussions private.