This issue of La Voz is dedicated to all of the part-time instructors who have dedicated their love of teaching to their students.

These overworked and underpaid faculty members deserve what our college prides itself on — equality.

Part-time faculty members receive 37 pennies to a full-timer’s dollar for teaching identical courses.

They receive no free health benefits. They are given classes offered at the least favorable times. They have no job security.

Yet, in many cases, part-time faculty members are better qualified than their full-time counterparts — having Ph.D.s from top-notch institutions.

The truth is pure and simple: the community college system is utterly dependent upon part-time faculty, who teach the majority of community college classes.

Without part-time faculty, the community college edifice would come immediately crashing down.

Relying on part-timers both saves districts money and gives them flexibility. And, it keeps the state from having to consider fee increases.

This treatment of part-time faculty by community colleges is exploitation.

And you, the student, gets the brunt of the administration’s greed. We are denied access to our teachers because part-timers are not paid to meet with us outside of class.

It is this fact that has gained wide recognition to the governor and administration. It is not the fact that our part-time instructors, whom many we look up to, are denied the same rights and priveledges as our full-time professors.

So, perhaps it’s not a strange voice in my head saying that the governor and administration will listen to students, perhaps more than our part-time faculty. Perhaps, it’s the truth.

We, students, need to communicate this a little further. We need to tell them how we don’t appreciate seeing our part-time instructors as stressed out, tired, and hungry freeway flyers.

More than ever before, part-time instructors from around the country are more organized than ever to demand equal pay for equal work, health benefits, job security, paid office hours.

We have chosen to give this issue a lot of attention because it is as simple as 1-2-3. We feel that the districts should hire more teachers as full-time instructors.

After all, students’ educational environment changes greatly when they cannot respond or communicate with teachers.

This issue is a tribute to the devotion and dedication that these underpaid, overworked instructors manage quarter after quarter.

This effort would not be possible if it weren’t for the enthusiasm of these teachers.

Politicians, major newspapers and teachers throughout the nation have all joined in an effort to show these instructors the respect that they deserve.