The vote, part of the Ser­vice Employ­ees Inter­na­tion­al Union’s (SEIU) Adjunct Action and Fac­ul­ty For­ward actions, saw over­whelm­ing sup­port from the adjuncts, with 319 votes for and 158 against — a mar­gin of almost 2‑to‑1 in favor. The vote will affect a total of more than 750 instructors.

Boston Uni­ver­si­ty adjunct fac­ul­ty vot­ed to orga­nize on Feb­ru­ary 4, con­tin­u­ing a string of vic­to­ries for con­tin­gent fac­ul­ty across the coun­try and in Boston.

The cam­paigns have focused on cre­at­ing a bet­ter learn­ing envi­ron­ment for stu­dents. With over 50 per­cent of fac­ul­ty nation­wide work­ing as con­tin­gent fac­ul­ty, accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion of Uni­ver­si­ty Pro­fes­sors, their impact on stu­dents and high­er edu­ca­tion is immense. Ensur­ing instruc­tors have the resources to both make a liv­ing and do their jobs is at the fore­front of the campaigns.

“Every adjunct I’ve spo­ken with, our num­ber-one pri­or­i­ty is being able to focus on our stu­dents and focus on our teach­ing,” Bay­la Ostra­ch, a mem­ber of the BU orga­niz­ing com­mit­tee, told the Boston Globe. ​“And it’s real­ly hard to do that when you don’t know until the first week whether you’re going to have class.”

The Fac­ul­ty For­ward move­ment and Adjunct Action are fight­ing for their mem­bers as well. For orga­niz­ers and fac­ul­ty, a bet­ter work envi­ron­ment will mean a bet­ter learn­ing experience.

“BU adjuncts have made a clear deci­sion, over­whelm­ing­ly choos­ing union­iza­tion as the best way to make our uni­ver­si­ty a bet­ter place to teach and to learn,” said Dan Hunter, a play­writ­ing instruc­tor with 15 years at BU. ​“I am proud to be part of a nation­al move­ment work­ing for bet­ter pay, improved sta­bil­i­ty and a real voice in the deci­sions that impact edu­ca­tors and our students.”

Among Fac­ul­ty Forward’s goals is a stan­dard $15,000 com­pen­sa­tion per course—a mon­u­men­tal increase over the cur­rent nation­al aver­age of $3,000. SEIU also states that 80 per­cent of adjuncts do not receive employ­er health ben­e­fits and 86 per­cent do not receive retire­ment ben­e­fits. And some adjuncts, despite teach­ing mul­ti­ple cours­es, are still eli­gi­ble for Med­ic­aid and food stamps.

“Last year the Mass­a­chu­setts tax­pay­ers were sub­si­diz­ing Boston University’s prof­its,” Ostra­ch told the Boston Globe. ​“When I taught a class of 58, 57 of those stu­dents’ tuition was pure prof­it for the university.”

After the vote, BU admin­is­tra­tion was amenable to the new sta­tus quo.

“We look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to work with the SEIU,” said Judi­tra Burgess, BU’s labor direc­tor. ​“We have a long his­to­ry of more than 60 years of work­ing togeth­er, and we look for­ward to nego­ti­at­ing a new con­tract for our part-time faculty.”

Accord­ing to the SEIU, 2,600 adjunct fac­ul­ty are now union mem­bers in the Boston area. For the last few years, they have been orga­niz­ing adjuncts on a city-wide basis. In Boston, North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty, Les­ley Uni­ver­si­ty and Tufts Uni­ver­si­ty have begun con­tract nego­ti­a­tions for adjuncts. Tufts’ full-time fac­ul­ty, Sim­mons Col­lege and Bent­ley Uni­ver­si­ty adjuncts are also prepar­ing for union votes in the near future.